From left, showcasing LED UV technology on B&B’s new press are Baldwin’s Jonathan Fore and Craig Black and B&B’s John Galligan and Rick Dunn.
Baldwin Technology’s LED UV technology blazes trail straight out of the box on Bradford & Bigelow’s newest press
NEWBURYPORT, Massachusetts — North America’s newest high-speed web offset press doesn’t have a gas dryer. Thanks to a pioneering purchase by Bradford & Bigelow of a Manroland Goss Lithoman IV press equipped with an advanced LED-curing system from Baldwin Technology’s AMS Spectral UV brand. The combination of these two companies has given the market for high-speed web offset a new edge.
Bradford & Bigelow, based in Newburyport, Massachusetts, is one of North America’s leading printers of 8.5 x 11-inch textbooks and workbooks used for K-12 education. The new press, its second Lithoman, is a Manroland Goss. According to the printer, after producing books for years on a Lithoman, it was an easy decision for B&B to choose another Manroland Goss press.
B&B has been a pioneer in the use of UV inks. Several years ago, the printer converted its sheetfed and Timsons web presses to AMS Spectral UV’s LED UV ink technology successfully. But the technology wasn’t perfected yet for faster webs such as Manroland Goss, which can run at speeds of up to 30,000 impressions an hour.
Since then, LED UV ink technology has continued to improve and the B&B team along with St. Louis, Missouri-based Baldwin and Manroland Goss, headquartered in Augsburg, Germany, decided the time was right for B&B to be the beta site for this breakthrough technology on higher-speed web presses.
LED curing has many benefits including instant ink cure, a shorter make ready time, less waste of paper, a significant decrease in energy consumption and no need to exhaust the oven air. The most noticeable change is the replacement of a 45-foot chiller and oven with a 36″ LED system.
“It’s like replacing something longer than a school bus with something the size of a barbecue grill,” stated Craig Black, Baldwin VP Sales, Americas.
Some printers wonder if the performance of their presses will be affected by the switch to LED.
“Not at all,” said Jonathan Fore, Director of Product Management at Baldwin. “Our XP Quatro LED system is powerful enough to run these wide, high-speed web offset presses as fast as you can.” Bradford & Bigelow confirmed this, saying that the newly commissioned press is running well over 30,000 impressions an hour, with the LEDs not even set to full power.
Using LED curing on a new, high-speed web offset press was so unique that Bradford & Bigelow needed to make sure there would be enough LED ink for the millions of schoolbooks they print each year. Universal Color was able to provide the printer what they were looking for. The Woburn, Massachusetts-based company not only proved its LED ink would cure at top press speeds, but also guaranteed B&B’s annual supply of inks.
“This breakthrough technology was possible because Bradford & Bigelow, Manroland Goss, Baldwin’s AMS Spectral UV and Universal Color worked together as a team to ensure its success,” Bradford and Bigelow CEO John Galligan commented. “And yes, the team is delighted with the results!”
Watch Printing Impressions’ interview with John Galligan about the installation and partnership here.
Learn more at baldwintech.com.