2011 InterTech Awards for Technology Innovation

manroland autoprint APL- manroland, Inc.
autoprint APL is an innovative system for the newspaper industry that reduces times for plate change by up to 90 percent—an important feature in times when newspaper circulations are getting smaller and change-over more frequent. Using robotic technology on a printing press, autoprint APL uses a four-axis robotic arm to change plates on two cylinders with a positioning precision of 0.01 millimeter. With one button makeready, the system can simultaneously change plates in all or selected units within three minutes with no manual intervention necessary. A bar code reader can also verify that plates are in the correct position.