B2 Bravado
These presses are proving that the importance of a press cannot be measured by size alone.
The B2 format (half-size) can be found in all modes of printing whether it be offset, digital, or inkjet, and while these smaller presses generally produce smaller goods, their significance is anything but short of the mark.
Though the size of what comes off these presses (typically 19.7 x 27.8, or thereabouts) is different than any “traditional” B1, the challenges and customer “wish lists” are quite similar. More variety of substrates, additional ink capabilities, shorter runs, and color match consistency are what users are asking for, and manufacturers are striving to deliver.
Applications galore
Applications for a B2 press are endless and include many common ones in the commercial print space including packaging, brochures, retail signage, business cards, and greeting cards, as well as pocket folders and marketing materials.
“There are two notable areas that have opened up with the advent of high-quality inkjet that we do see which include high-end booklets and shorter run/reprint applications,” notes Ed Pierce, J Press 720S marketing manager, Fujifilm North America Corporation. “High-end applications pose difficult to reproduce images and pages including smooth and consistent neutral grays, solids without streaks, flesh tones, and perfect crossovers where each side was printed on a separate form. Today’s technology brings consistency and capabilities even better than traditional offset.”
“[B2] presses provide a very versatile and cost-effective solution for majority of all commercial print applications, photo specialty applications, production mail applications, book publishing application, prime label applications, flexible packaging applications, and corrugated applications,” explains Avi Basu, director, marketing and business development, Graphics Solutions Business, Americas, HP. “In addition, many other specialty applications enabled by special inks, print effects, etc., are also produced on [B2] HP press solutions.”
Shorter runs, reprints, color quality
Customers are continuing to look for presses that can produce quality color consistency and shorter runs. Basu says the trends geared towards the future indicate the continued migration of application volumes to B2 platforms based on an industry shift to short run, on-demand, increased personalization, and automation needs. HP offers PSPs the HP Indigo 12000 Digital Press as just one of its B2 format presses in its catalog of options, which is capable of printing at 4,600 B2 sheets per hour.
“Quality levels previously unobtainable with a digital platform that can be achieved today will continue to influence the adoption of inkjet technology,” notes Pierce. “Print buyers continue to see the reality of production inkjet technology and the benefits from the offset quality, durability, and consistency. More and more printed sheets will be coming off of B2 size production inkjet platforms.”
The print market for packaging industry is poised for disruption based on digital press solutions, Basu says. “The critical mass of installed press continues to grow and brand owners are more aware of the capabilities. The market for labels, shrink sleeves, pouches, folding cartons, and corrugated boxes will rapidly adopt the value and benefits of digital,” he explains.
Dan Maurer, VP of Digital, Heidelberg, notes that the adoption of folding carton printers seeking investment into B2 and B1 size digital and fast makeready offset presses is a trend he is seeing increase.
Maurer poises the question: “Are they buying into smaller runs of localized and personalized products, or going to less SKUs for cost efficiencies?” He says the ultimate driver of what a job is run on is based on the cost and potential profit the printer can make; the most efficient offset printers are breaking even at 200 B2 offset sheets against digital. In the B2 format market, Heidelberg offers PSPs its sheetfed offset Speedmaster XL 75.
“The technology is not the driver,” Maurer, says, breaking it down like so: “On larger digital sheet sizes you need to first calculate if you can attain the volume required to fill the sub 200 run lengths, secondly does that volume really need a larger sheet or can they be fulfilled more economically using a smaller A3+ size digital press? For commercial applications, these unique larger sheet applications could include book covers, pocket folders, posters, 8 page or 16 page signatures for stitched or perfect bound books, or wet glue labels that can benefit from being nested in more “ups” per sheet.
"Folding carton applications are another application where nesting on larger sheets gets cost benefits. But, the finishing in all these applications needs to be considered because with digital the short run, cost benefit is negated if the finishing makeready time is long. Building on that, with finishing makeready a printer needs to run extra waste sheets, which is at odds with entire idea of printing digitally. For folding carton, if the printer has the tooling for the diecutter already made then the larger sheet size of B1 makes it consistent, but otherwise they need to invest in a B2 size diecutter with fast makeready features and comprehends the variability in image registration of many digital presses, or uses non-tradition methods such as laser die cutters," says Maurer.
Accurate and repeatable color has traditionally been a showstopper for most offset, as well as digital platforms. With today’s technology, color consistency throughout a print job and from reprint to reprint is spot on accurate and doesn’t require any make ready or special press calibrations. This technology allows the operator to simply call up the job and run it again with results that are spot on consistent. Pierce points to Fujifilm’s J Press 720S, as the company’s solution for reliable color.
KBA North America, Inc. takes color quality and consistency very seriously. That is why its Rapida 75 PRO, a B2 sheetfed press, is equipped with QualiTronic/ErgoTronic Instrument Flight, a multidimensional system brunner color/gray balance control strategy. It takes into account more than 30 print-influencing variables in every ink slide zone. Five different balance control priorities can be selected. It also ensures flexibility and compliance with international standards and methods like Globalstandard, ISO/PSO, G7, etc. “QualiTronic/ErgoTronic Instrument Flight keeps gray balance, overprints, and single colors, mid tone TVI, and solid tones in Balance,” explains Walter Chmura, VP of technical sales, KBA North America, Inc.
In addition: B2+
Some manufacturers like Konica Minolta are offering print service providers a little something extra, 6 inches to be exact. Konica Minolta’s AccurioJet KM-1 UV Inkjet Press is not a typical B2 press with capabilities of printing on sheets 19.7 x 27.8, but prints on 23 x 29.5 sheets. That extra bit of oomph gives this press the B2+ designation.
The AccurioJet KM-1, launched at Drupa last year, is said to combine the speed and flexibility of offset presses with the digital benefits of variable data printing and zero makeready and prints on a range of .06mm up to 24pt and automatically perfects (duplexes) in-line up to 18pt weight. The KM-1 incorporates reliable press style paper feeding with UV ink jet, yielding low heat and little pressure applied to the sheet, resulting in the flexibility of media types including coated or uncoated stock, art papers, textured stock, synthetics, canvas, and heat-sensitive label stock, all without any pre-coat or special papers.
This B2+ press prints 3,000 sheets per hour. “This yields greater imposition gain than B2, with 6 full bleed letter size images on a single page,” notes Bill Troxil, Sr. VP, Strategic Business Development, Konica Minolta Business Solutions. “That’s 18,000 full bleed letter size images per hour – more on the page means faster job turnaround and reduced labor costs.”
Troxil says that today, and in the future, more traditional digital toner-based applications have, and will, shift to B2 presses for operational efficiencies and savings. Today, print service providers print shells on the press and then cut them down to a size that can print on traditional laser production color printers. “The AccurioJet KM-1 UV Inkjet Press enables this laborious, multi-step process in one pass digitally. The KM-1 eliminates the need for multiple presses because of sheet size, resulting in a smaller footprint as well.”
Adding value to print will become the cost of entry for print service providers, says Barbara Stainbrook, VP, Ink Jet Business, Konica Minolta Business Solutions. “Marketing firms and print service providers will seek ways to increase the response rate of their print advertising and effectiveness of their nurturing campaigns. It is exciting to watch our clients who have purchased the AccurioJet KM-1 expand with new applications, vertical markets, and win new business,” she explains.
B2 outlook
We are at the point in time with B2 and B1 digital press technology where A3+ size presses were in the year 2000, says Maurer. “We will see the early adoption of these presses and then their technological maturity happen with increases in reliability, speed, and application range. This will allow for the production print environment where the decision of which technology to print a job on is economic and not a function of the limitations (or advantages) of a particular technology.”
