Falkland installs cooling device to aid Push to Stop

Falkland Press has invested in a central cooling system from Technotrans to help minimise waste on its ‘Push to Stop’ Speedmaster XL 106.

The system, which was included in the price of the Speedmaster, was installed just after the press went live in early December, along with a new Heidelberg Stahlfolder TH 82, with the view of minimising waste heat from its ancillary cabinets.

The water-based cooling system reduces air movement in the pressroom, which keeps airborne dust to a minimum. According to Heidelberg this provides quality and maintenance benefits, allowing operators to work at maximum efficiency. 

Falkland managing director Jon Lancaster said: “This wasn’t something we would have known about because we weren’t a UV printer before, but Heidelberg encouraged us to do it. It is essential for cooling because there are lamps throughout the press and in the delivery you need to get that heat away in order not to damage things, so it’s kind of a must really.” 

The folder, Falkland’s fourth Stahlfolder, was brought in to accompany the newly installed Kolbus KM 610 PUR binder when it converted to B1, as Falkland’s pre-existing folders could only fold maximum SRA1 size. The binder was the first of its kind to be installed in the UK.

£5m-turnover Falkland Press was one of the first companies in the UK to invest in a Drupa-specification Speedmaster, which came in as part of a multimillion-pound spend. The business followed this with new investment in a raft of pre-media and finishing kit for its 4,000sqm Letchworth facility.

Lancaster said the move to B1 and ‘Push to Stop’ had quickly enabled the 41-staff commercial printer to take on more work, especially carton work, and it has been taking longer runs of jobs from its web-to-print arm PrintedEasy.com.

“This is standard now; any press sold is going to be Push to Stop if it’s a B1. If you don’t buy Autoplate you won’t get it but if you’ve got an Autoplate press, which most are getting nowadays, then you’ll get Push to Stop,” concluded Lancaster.