ECT, developed by Gap Printing Sales, replaces the two separate blanket wash tubes on Heidelberg Speedmaster SM102s and CD102s with a single "twin tube" (pictured).

"It's simple what we've done, but it helps printers to save a fortune," said Gap director Alan Broadbent, who founded the firm with fellow director Ray Midgeley.

The on-site upgrade consists of the tungsten carbide coated ECT easy-clean tube  supplied with brackets and handles for the blanket wash cartridges to make removal much simpler, safer and faster.

According to Broadbent: "We just ask the customers, how often do you wash the machine? If it's once an hour, is the second wash by hand? If the answer is yes then they need this product.

"To wash automatically would take a couple of minutes, five minutes if it's by hand. Five minutes every hour equals two hours of lost production a day."

According to Broadbent, the cylinder wash system costs around 2,000 per unit (so a five-colour press conversion would cost 10,000). "So the payback time is just a few months," he added.

ECT has already been installed by Tyneside-based Elanders Hindson (EH) and another unnamed printer. "We have saved time by eliminating further hand washing after the automatic blanket wash, saving around 18 hours a week per press," said EH managing director Roy Hamilton.

ECT takes around eight hours to fit per unit, but the press can continue to be used while the tubes are fitted to the cassette off-press.

Gap is currently in talks with Heidelberg on the possibility of licensing the ECT design. Heidelberg was unavailable for comment as PrintWeek went to press.

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Story by Darryl Danielli