In a recession, few departments escape cost-cutting initiatives. However, for a press manufacturer, there's one area of the business where it may be unwise for the bean-counters to start slashing too vigorously: research and development (R&D).
If money hadn't been committed to R&D over the years, then shows like Ipex and Drupa would be pretty dull affairs. But the downturn has hit the industry hard, and some of the press manufacturers have been hit the hardest.
In order to get a snapshot of just how financially constrained press manufacturers are, you only have to look at the recent financial results of the major players. Last month, Heidelberg chief executive Bernhard Schreier described 2008/2009 as the "worst year" in the 150-year history of the company. A 20% fall in incoming orders in 2008/09 ensured that the firm's report and accounts made for grim reading.
Manroland has also seen its sales plummet - 11% to be exact with operating profits down by 58%. Meanwhile, KBA has posted a pre-tax loss of £77.7m with a 10.1% drop in sales.
As a result, these manufacturers have had to reduce headcount and scale back on some facilities - Komori, for example, has stopped hosting demonstrations at its UK base, using a centralised facility in Utrecht, the Netherlands instead, and only this week Mitsubishi pulled out of direct UK sales, choosing to market its presses via an agency deal with Litho Supplies. However, despite the turmoil, feedback suggests that the press manufacturers are still committed to R&D.
"For us, innovation is how we differentiate ourselves in the market and spending in R&D is key for us," explains KBA UK managing director Christian Knapp. "If anything we have no choice. While we have to prioritise, we do work on areas that give us a quicker return."
Markus Rall, executive board member for sheetfed at Manroland, adds that his firm is also still committed to R&D. "What we spend on research is proportionately about the same as before the financial downturn. Naturally, when sales decline, the budgets for all the firm's departments need to be adjusted accordingly and R&D is no exception. The important thing is that resources are used in a targeted area."
Typical resources thrown at this particular area are not small beer. Between 2004 and 2008, Heidelberg spent around €800m (£680m) on new products and innovation, according to a spokesman for the German manufacturer. He claims that this is two to three times more than Heidelberg's nearest competitors and that spend is now at around €150m a year - that's down by €50m.
"The financial crisis has hurt us and we have introduced cost-cutting measures," adds the spokesman, "but we will continue to work on innovations in order to keep our top position in the market."
Spending priorities
So how is this money being spent? For Heidelberg, it's going on both hardware and software; alongside improving automation to reduce makeready times, workflow is also being refined. The manufacturer has its eye on the very-large format market and has set its sights on packaging.
"We are customer driven and listening very carefully to the market," says the Heidelberg spokesman. "Customers need more productivity and better makeready times."
This appears to be where the majority of sheetfed manufacturers are concentrating their efforts. Manroland's Rall adds that his firm is "focused on increasing efficiency and productivity". Products, such as the Roland 700 DirectDrive and Inline Color Pilot, show some success in automating areas such as plate changing as well as improving colour control.
"In order to make printing faster and cheaper, we invest in innovations that simplify press operation," he says. "Although printers in Germany or the UK are very well qualified, this is not the case in many other countries. What is needed is a press where the operator only has to push a button. Automation and workflows, used correctly, give added value and provide these technological and economical advantages."
KBA is also pushing the advantages of faster makeready. Knapp points out that in 2004, KBA launched the Rapida 105, a digitally controlled press. Four years later it developed a press that went a significant step further: the Rapida 106 pushed the boundaries for automatic plate changing. At Drupa 2008, an eight-colour long perfector churned out 15 jobs in 59 minutes - that's 14 makereadies comprising blanket washes, 120 plate changes and 14 changes of delivery pile.
Trimming makeready times is another key area in R&D terms. Alongside Heidelberg, Manroland and KBA, Komori's Lithrone SX40 is capable of changing six plates in two minutes. It's another example of a shift in R&D thinking; press speeds are not nearly as important as makeready.
"The issue is not perfecting press speed," adds Knapp. "Getting to 18,000 or 20,000 sheets per hour (sph) is not key any more. It is the speed of makeready that is key."
"If we talk about faster presses, Manroland offers speeds of 18,000sph, but speed is only one element in the complex production process," adds Rall. "The whole challenge is to reach more efficiency and more value. And the technological innovations are only the base to reach these goals. We introduced innovations like DirectDrive and the InlineFoiler Prindor."
Ground work
However, these enhancements didn't just simply burst onto the scene. For KBA, much of the development work was done on its web presses; the clever brains in the R&D department had worked hard to adapt automated plate-changing technology onto the sheetfed presses. And the next innovation from KBA has followed the same journey. Automatically changing plates on the fly is what the press manufacturer is pinning its hopes on (see box). "This is the next step - improving the changeover in jobs is necessary as run lengths decrease," explains Knapp.
It's an exciting possibility that has taken around 10 years to develop, having previously been incorporated on newspaper and commercial web presses. But Knapp adds that, while these kind of developments have made their way onto the market, several ideas have been tested that haven't. "However, I don't have a precise percentage," he says.
The situation is different at Heidelberg, according to the company spokesman, who claims that every bit of product development makes it onto the market. "You can't compare us with, for example, the chemicals industry, which does a lot of research that doesn't always make it onto the market. Our R&D investments go into production for our customers."
All the major players remain tight-lipped as to what their R&D departments will come up with for Ipex 2010. But the chances are that what will come out at the show will only aid the speed of makereadies and improve workflows. For Manroland's Rall, the R&D department is already tackling several important questions.
"How can you produce faster and cheaper in order to increase production efficiency? How can you raise value and quality? Which applications can you offer that grow customers' businesses as well? Besides that, production should be based on effective, efficient and ecologically sustainable processes. But at the end of the day it's about cutting costs and raising revenues to turn a profit. These are questions that a print company has to answer in order to deal with a recession."
The questions being posed by printers are driving the R&D departments at press manufacturers to even greater heights. Far from winding down this area of the business, the major players are relying more on R&D to come up with enhancements that will aid companies through the recession. While at Ipex, it's unlikely that presses will physically go any faster, the drive towards making presses more efficient should give visitors an indication of what the R&D departments have been up to for the last couple of years.
IN DEVELOPMENT: MANUFACTURERS' PROJECTS
Press manufacturers are naturally reluctant to divulge the secrets of their current R&D projects. But there have been some hints as to what we might see at Ipex 2010.
KBA has been the first to blink and demonstrated its latest on-the-fly plate-changing technology last month. Called Flying JobChange, the manufacturer showed at its open house how the plates could be changed while the press was running at 10,000sph. On a four-unit Rapida 106, two of the units would change the plates while the remaining two continued to run. Once the operation was complete, the press returned to its production speed of 15,000sph. According to KBA, on a 2/2 press with Flying JobChange and simultaneous plate changing, there will be a 50% upturn in productivity.
From Manroland, there is still plenty of R&D work to be done according to Rall, who says that the possible maximum level of automation has not been reached. That’s likely to be reflected with One Touch newspaper press automation. While the press remains a vital cog, Rall adds that workflow is the area that Manroland is aiming to enhance further. In 2010 the company will unveil its Value Added Printing and EcoLogic marques, which should give the market an indication of where the company’s priorities lie.
Please understand that I can’t give away details but I can assure you there will be exciting innovations, says Rall.
In less than a year, the market will be able to judge for itself just how innovative Manroland’s R&D department has been.
