Taking up the concept of "Connected Automation" (Opening Doors to Production Innovation), Komori brought about innovation of commercial printing, package printing, and digital printing through Digital Transformation (DX) of the printing site and proposed a range of solutions that solve customers' issues. During the exhibition, many visitors from Japan as well as overseas visited the Komori booth and provided momentum to Komori, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2023.

Main exhibit contents

■ Commercial Solutions

• KP-Connect Pro [live demonstration]

• Lithrone G37P advance H-UV L (LED)-equipped Eight-Color 37-inch Convertible Perfecting Offset Printing Press [live demonstration]

• Apressia CTX115 Programmable Hydraulic Clamp Cutting System [live demonstration]

• MBO K80 B1 size Combi Folder [live demonstration]

• MBO CoBo-Stack Collaborative Robot [live demonstration]

• Hohner HSB9.000 Saddle Stitcher [live demonstration]

• SLIM AGV Auto unmanned forklift [live demonstration]

■ Package Solutions

• KP-Connect Pro [live demonstration]

• Lithrone GX40 advance UV-equipped 40-inch Seven-Color Sheetfed Offset Printing Press with Inline Double-Coater [live demonstration at KGC]

• Apressia MB110E High Performance Blanking System [printing samples/video]

• Apressia DC105 40-inch Automatic Flatbed Die Cutting and Creasing Machine [video]

■ Digital Printing Solutions

• KP-Connect Pro [live demonstration]

• Impremia IS29s 29-inch Sheetfed UV Inkjet Digital Printing System [printing samples/video]

• Impremia NS40 40-inch Sheetfed Nanographic Printing® System [printing samples/video]

• Duplo DSM-1000 Shape Maker [live demonstration]

The printing industry is facing a major problem: the drastic shrinking of the workforce. In response to this, there is an urgent need for labor-saving, manpower-saving, and unmanned production. To meet this challenge, Komori proposed DX for the entire manufacturing process and eco-trends based on the concept of "Connected Automation: Opening Doors to Production Innovation." The concept of Komori products is human- and robot-friendly. In the Smart Factory at the IGAS venue, we presented systems, products, and services that "can perform the same way no matter who is doing the work" while also solving environmental issues.

The equipment exhibited at the Komori booth was linked (automatically) by KP-Connect Pro and a Smart Factory for commercial printing was built with an "extremely automated printing press and postpress processes." In addition to automation and labor-saving with the new-age Lithrone G37P advance double-sided one-pass press, the latest Apressia CTX115 Programmable Hydraulic Clamp Cutting System, the MBO K80, the HSB9.000, the MBO CoBo-Stack and SLIM AGV robotics were incorporated into the production line, allowing the display of straight production with minimal human intervention (demonstrations 1 and 2).


■ Demonstration 1: Lithrone G37P advance and AGV

Watch the demonstration: https://youtu.be/2ZjOVWG0y1k

Products

• 32-page booklet (A4/16P)

• 500 sheets each of two designs

Demonstration machines

• KP-Connect Pro

• Lithrone G37P advance H-UV L (LED)-equipped Eight-Color 37-inch Convertible Perfecting Offset Printing Press

• SLIM AGV Auto unmanned forklift

The Lithrone G37P advance is equipped with press automation, autopilot, and parallel makeready that promote printing automation and achieve high productivity. Using these three state-of-the-art technologies, we demonstrated two jobs of 500 sheets each completed in about seven and a half minutes.

With the Lithrone G37P advance, density and register are automatically adjusted in no time from the start, and production of the first job starts at a maximum printing speed of 15,000 sph. When the first job is finished, press automation presets the next job information and the press automatically starts changeover. With parallel makeready, the three processes of blanket washing, plate changing, and pre-inking are performed simultaneously and changeover is completed in about three minutes. Then, when the plate changing on all units was completed by A-APC, the second job was started automatically. The new inline PDF Comparator function completes plate inspection without stopping the machine. True automatic operation is realized, reducing the operator load for changeovers, which used to be heavy work.
When the second job is finished, the AGV, which has received instructions from KP-Connect Pro, automatically receives paper from the delivery and transports it to the postpress zone.

■ Demonstration 2: Postpress (Apressia CTX115, MBO K80, Saddle stitching)

Watch the demonstration: https://youtu.be/G1X4tRpCUXo

Product

• 32-page booklet (A4/16P)

Demonstration machines

• KP-Connect Pro

• SLIM AGV Auto unmanned forklift

• Apressia CTX115 Programmable Hydraulic Clamp Cutting System

• MBO K80 B1 size Combi Folder

• MBO CoBo-Stack Collaborative Robot

• Hohner HSB9.000 Saddle Stitcher

The material printed in Demonstration 1 was processed into a 32-page booklet by folding, saddle stitching, and AGV connected by KP-Connect Pro. The autopilot of the folding machine read the pre-printed ID code with the camera of the MBO K80 feeder, compared it with the job data created by KP-Connect Pro and Datamanager, and automatically identified the job, thereby reducing management tasks such as the prevention of contamination in the folding process and small lot job management.

Next to the MBO K80 producing 12,000 sheets per hour at a high speed, the MBO CoBo-Stack palletizing robot loads bundles of signatures onto the pallet. The operator can focus on other tasks, such as quality checks.

When the second job is begun, the MBO CoBo-Stack automatically stacks on the pallet on the opposite side of the first job. At this time, the AGV begins transporting the first job pallet to the next process. Through these two demonstrations, visitors saw that under the scheduler function of KP-Connect Pro, the AGV automatically determined the progress of the preceding and following processes and self-propelled through multiple transport routes at the optimal timing.

At the end of demonstration 2, we also introduced cooperation with Hohner's HSB9.000 saddle stitcher. By linking KP-Connect Pro and Datamanager, signatures printed by the Lithrone G37P advance and folded by the MBO K80 were automatically transported to the HSB9.000. The HSB9.000 saddle stitcher can operate at 9,000 products per hour, and amid the demand for skill-less operation, the development concept is easy setting that minimizes the use of tools and can be counted on to reduce preparation time. Two piles of 16-page signatures transported from the MBO K80 by the AGV were stacked on the feeder by staff and 32-page saddle stitching began. The A4/32P product was finished in a short time.