COVER STORY: CYBER

Australia’s leading wholesale trade printer CMYKhub is able to bring to market increased productivity and quality control, as well as better colour management and stock compatibility following the installation of a new press by Cyber A/NZ towards the end of last year.

The company now owns a new eight-colour RMGT 970PF-8 LED press, which includes PQS-D and Smart Assist Printing capabilities.

The machine has been installed at CMYKhub’s Brisbane production centre, yielding many benefits for the business. Replacing the site’s older RMGT 920, the RMGT 970PF-8 LED install is an Australian first and builds on the partnership that CMYKhub and Cyber have established over many years.

The companies started their relationship in 2007 when the original owners of CMYKhub bought its first press from the RMGT distributor. Exceptionally happy with the performance of this machine, they have continued to buy more units from Cyber over the years.

Since then, CMYKhub has purchased 15 offset presses from Cyber, with the RMGT 970PF-8 LED being the fifth eight-colour UV/LED machine that it has bought.

CMYKhub CEO Dayne Nankervis said, “The machines that we have purchased from Cyber have always been highly productive and profitable for our business. They have always performed the way we expected them to. So, when it came to making the decision to purchase another new machine, it was an easy decision for us to choose Cyber again”.

“The RMGT 970PF-8 LED delivers on value, and it’s a good quality Japanese machine that suits our business perfectly. It’s the only offset machine in our Brisbane site and it works seamlessly with our other machines.”

Nankervis mentioned that investment into its Brisbane facility has seen increased productivity, and quality from all its sites, and that small to medium size print shops and print resellers across Australia can continue to depend on CMYKhub to support them in growing their businesses without having to invest in more equipment.

“Our Brisbane site was due for an asset upgrade. Our older RMGT 920 didn’t have any significant issues, but it was starting to age. RMGT’s release of the larger 970 press with improved make ready times and quality management made it an easy decision. We requested many tests from Cyber and the press passed every test we put at it,” Nankervis said.

“We chose the RMGT 970PF-8 LED as it’s a modern machine with some improvements. It is a larger press that allows for a greater use of products produced, better imposition planning, better paper transfer, a better in-feed system as well as a camera system with automation for quality control.

“Our operators and production managers have been noting the ease of use of the machine relative to the older model. There’s a noticeable improvement.”

Nankervis added that Queensland is a particularly large state geographically, and with a high level of tourism as well as local and international events, trade customers in this region require more support.

The business also has a Melbourne site which services Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, a Sydney site that services NSW and ACT, a site in Cairns servicing the far north Queensland region and another site in Perth that services Western Australia and Northern Territory.

According to Nankervis, the installation of the press has provided CMYKhub with greater confidence and control over the quality and productivity of the press, allowing CMYKhub to focus on servicing it’s resellers.

“We're expecting this to become one of our highest productive machines in our fleet over the coming year. To do this we need to the best operational business with the latest and best technology,” he said.

“It has already passed our expectations through one of our busiest periods on record. Since its installation, we’ve produced typical gang, trim and pack work like flyers and brochures, perfect bound books, saddle-stitched books and posters.”

Cyber general manager Greg Knight, who was involved in the sale and installation of the press at CMYKhub, said that since he had dealt with the company for many years, he knew that they were always looking to maintain a competitive edge over their competition.

“CMYKhub is a company that strongly believes in upgrading its equipment on a regular basis ensuring they always gain all the advantages of working with the most up to date technology.

“The company was looking for a machine that delivered on quicker make-ready times and less make-ready sheets, which the 970 – with some new features on it – is able to achieve.”

The RMGT 970PF-8 LED is just one of the machine configurations within new RMGT 970 series, which is an A1-plus size multicolour offset press. The 970 model is based on a blend of RMGT’s R&D emanating from the 920 series and the 10 series presses.

With the offset market seeing rising global demands for presses offering greater productivity and cost performance, RMGT produced this series as it saw a trend towards enhancing production capacity by enabling offset presses to handle a wide range of paper sizes.

The machine is built for a maximum 650mm by 965mm sheet size.

“The 970 size is something that our customers have been asking for, for quite a while. They wanted a machine that could produce a 650mm by 910mm sheet size, which its predecessor the RMGT 920 was not able to do,” Knight said.

The series now has new features that aim to help print service providers improve business. Some of these features include advanced automation and labour-saving mechanisms to assist the operator, short make-ready times and LED UV technology enabling instant drying for fast turnarounds all adding up to a highly productive and profitable press

It also features improved printing stability from thin to heavy stock, the option of a coating unit enabling special printing for higher value added work.

“RMGT listened to the market’s wants and needs. They then developed this new press, which was built from the ground-up. It has new cylinder configurations, more rollers and bigger rollers, and the operating system on the machine has also been upgraded,” Knight said.

“It’s a very operator-friendly press, which is a welcomed feature in the industry. It’s getting harder and harder finding skilled operators. The machines of today must be easy to operate and be automated.”

The 970 range offers versatility, durability, and advanced automation, according to Cyber A/NZ managing director Bernard Cheong, who added that the range will further improve profitability of users.

“RMGT has been combining the two founding companies’ strengths of energysaving designs that incorporate new ideas with high-precision manufacturing technology and highly durable construction for long-term use,” he said.

“The new RMGT 970 has many advanced features based on the 920/940 presses, known for their superior quality and productivity. The new 970 model incorporates the latest technologies in addition to many features found on the flagship RMGT 10 series.

“In the face of rising paper and printing supply costs, the RMGT 970 is perfectly positioned to meet the needs of the times by handling the most popular A1-plus paper sizes used around the world.”

The series can handle a comprehensive range of print jobs, such as multi-page materials, displays and packaging.

Cheong said the 650mm by 910mm model is a popular format in Australasia, giving print service providers the ability to generate output without the need to trim. It also has a benderless plate clamp, feeder and delivery operation touch panel, along with other automation features.

“Users are moving to the SRA1 format to stay lean and profitable. The SRA1 format can do both shorter runs and long runs at the volume end of the market, so it’s a very versatile solution,” Cheong said.

The Smart Assist Printing capabilities enables advanced automation and autonomous press operation in the 8 UP+ press format.

With the system, the pressman touches one button and the entire printing process – from ink and paper pre-setting, blanket and impression cleaning, and plate changing through verification of test printing, register adjustment, ink density adjustment, and full sheet inspection – are all autonomously processed without the need to pull a sheet.

“Enhanced profitability comes from the incremental cost reductions that Smart Assist Printing provides and the additional time opened up in the production schedule adds to a customer’s ability to grow their business,” Cheong said.

As for the PQS-D system, it uses a highprecision in-press CCD camera to inspect each printed sheet with superior reliability. It lets users perform three key functions in-press with a single camera (per side of sheet), namely quality inspection, printing density tracking and automatic register adjustment.

The scanning process can be archived to provide back-up quality control data to a printer’s end user.

Suitable for commercial printing and very short-run digital-like runs through to packaging printing, it eliminates the need to pull out sample sheets during the run and defective sheets are automatically sorted out, enhancing quality assurance, and further automating printing.

“This press has a wide marketplace – it can go into your general commercial plants and can find a place in the packaging market. Or as in the case of CMYKhub, it fits in very well into the trade printing market,” Knight said.

Nankervis said CMYKhub looks forward to adding more kit to its fleet later this year and grow its wide-format business, which it recently invested in. Its relationship with Cyber will also be pivotal in its future plans.

“The last two years were about replacing and upgrading our machinery and expanding our areas of business. We’ve significantly invested in our wide format department and have just relocated our wide format business in Melbourne. So, we’ll be putting an emphasis on that in the early part of the year,” he said.

“Our partnership with Cyber will also continue as a very strong and close relationship. We understand and support each other.

“CMYKhub is continually advancing and growing and Cyber has always supported us along that journey, which has involved many machines and replacements. Cyber has been there for us the whole time and will continue to be there in the coming years as we continue to invest in our offset fleet.”

Knight added that CMYKhub’s close relationship with Cyber over the years is a testament to the quality of RMGT’s presses and the service it provides.

“It's always nice to sell a customer one machine, but they won't buy a second machine from you if the performance of the first press doesn’t meet expectations.“ The fact that CMYKhub has purchased 15 machines from us over the years is the strongest recommendation we could ask for acknowledging the quality and performance of our presses,” he said.

“Having the number one trade printer in Australia buy from us also enhances our reputation in the marketplace. We are now seeing some signs that the market is starting to bounce back, so I am hoping for a very successful year.”