Tailored specifically to Solopress’ new ten-colour B1 machine, which came online in November 2022, the software will improve production efficiency by cutting the time needed for each makeready.
The package, consisting of PressProfiler CIP3 and PressProfiler Report and installed over much of June, complements packages installed in the past decade for Solopress’ other Heidelberg presses, including three XL 75 ten-colour perfectors and its five original SM 74 presses.
It was the first installation of PressProfiler software on a Heidelberg XL3.
Ken McDonald, Solopress’ production manager, was complimentary of the software’s effect on production: “We are a high-volume print business – we are performing a good 80 or 90 makereadies per shift.
“PressProfiler gives us ink data for jobs, allowing us to make a fast start, shaving off minutes per makeready, and saving a whole bunch of waste sheets as well.
“Take all of those small bits of time and cost, then multiply them by the makereadies per shift and by four presses, and that equals three to five extra jobs per press per shift.”
PressProfiler’s Report software, likewise, provides data on job progress, production costs, bottlenecks and downtime, providing real-time reports to users’ computers or phones.
Jack Clifford, Solopress’ head of operations, said: “Data is critical to the success of our business model, and the customisations that the Prepress UK team have made for us to the standard PressProfiler Report software, allowing data to be automatically fed into our bespoke management information system, have been a tremendous help to us.”
Part of the PressProfile team’s customisations for Solopress includes adding support for the printer’s custom XML job tickets in the CIP3 software, which has allowed the automatic setting on the press of job schedules, paper information, run lengths, and inking data.
PressProfiler Report then, through a custom API, pulls statistics straight into Solopress’ existing system, which consolidates data across the business into a single place.
Andrew Aldridge, technical manager of PressProfiler developer Prepress UK, said: “Bespoke software, designed specifically to address the problems experienced by a printer, is all in a day’s work for us.
“Large press suppliers are tremendous at the production of quality hardware, and very skilled at software creation too, but it’s software for 'every printer', but not for any printer specifically.
“Print covers a very wide range of customer needs, so we see it as our mission to work closely with print producers to address their specific needs.”
