Installations News
Friesens Installs Massive Manroland XXL

Friesens Corporation of Altona, Manitoba, recognized as one of North America’s leading book, yearbook and packaging printers, has installed a new 8-colour, format 8, R900 HiPrint XXL perfecting press from Manroland Sheetfed.

With approximately 350,000 square feet of production space, Friesens’ new 73-inch wide XXL press provides for an imposition of up to 64 pages, printed both sides, in one pass. The company also has capabilities to slit down a 64-page format into a 2-up, 32-page imposition, inline.

“What Friesens has accomplished is very rare, they increased their productivity by four times their current workflow,” said Sean Springett, U.S. & Canadian Marketing Manager for Manroland Sheetfed. “The combination of perfecting, press speed and sheet size, all in a single pass press has afforded a competitive edge unmatched by other book printers in a sheetfed press, specifically in North America.”

Friesens’ R908 HiPrint XXL is equipped with InlineColorPilot for colour management, which, according to Manroland, is capable of registering full ink reads within three sheets, at full press speed. Once read, the ink train makes any required colour change parameters. Coupled with InlineRegister, Friesens is able to control circumferential, diagonal and lateral register on the fly, automatically during any sheet read sequence.

“We are extremely excited to push the boundaries of size, speed and automation with the addition of the XXL press to our production line-up,” said Curwin Friesen, CEO of Friesens. “This installation demonstrates our long-term commitment to our book publishing customers and ensures our employee owners have advanced equipment to help them succeed in the North American print market.”

The new sheetfed press is also equipped with Manroland’s press management system, called IntegratedPilotPlus, a CIP3- and JDF-compliant system where job parameters are automatically sent to the press from prepress, including air settings or ink profile changes. Any modifications to the original file are saved and automatically updated to the original job specifications.

“Our Manroland project is one of the most complex and involved expansions in our history,” said Byron Loeppky, Production Manager with Friesens. “Our staff and team did a tremendous job in achieving a successful installation all the while meeting the delivery needs of our customers. A major installation like this requires teamwork on every level and our staff and leaders delivered brilliantly.”