We Didn't Reinvent the Wheel; We Improved It!
A new era will begin for Heidelberg at drupa 2008: starting
from May 29, the company will be presenting presses in formats
6 (40.2 x 55.9 inches) and 7b (47.2 x 63.8 inches) to the public
for the first time ever. Heidelberg News spoke with the developer
of the gigantic printing units for the Speedmasters XL 145 and XL
162, Gerd Merkel, about a special challenge: proving Heidelberg's
tradition of masterful engineering in a new dimension and in only a
very short time.
Mr. Merkel, when did you first hear about the plans to build machines in formats 6 and 7b?
Gerd Merkel: In March of 2004. At that time, I was still active in the development of the Speedmaster CD 74 until my boss, Burkhard Maaß, suddenly came up to me and said, "We're considering a large format. What do you think?" The idea was really exciting to me, of course. After all, with machines of this size, you begin to approach physical boundaries. When you have to work out the exact construction and design the corresponding parts, it's bound to be thrilling.
And when exactly did you start researching?
Gerd Merkel: That went really fast. We started working on the concept right after drupa 2004. The time was ripe for this project, so we dug right in.
Which research areas were you assigned?
Gerd Merkel: My job was to make the idea of a modular printing unit assembly become reality. That included the entire configuration of sheet travel - from feeder to offset, coating, the drying unit if applicable, and the delivery. I made drafts of the corresponding components, including all of the individual parts, and in order to test the feasibility of my drafts, I was also assigned the planning and execution of tests. We also needed to consider optimizing assembly and production. We paid particular attention to the machine's ergonomics because the new format class needed to be just as convenient to operate as the smaller models - despite its size.
That sounds like a lot of work …
Gerd Merkel: (laughs) That's certainly true, when I think back to our first full-scale model! It was impressive seeing the true dimensions of the machine. The wooden one-color press with coating was 49.2 feet (15 meters) long, 16.4 feet (5 meters) wide, and over 9.8 feet (3 meters) high. That, of course, makes a very different impression from that of my virtual 3-D models on the screen. By the way, it was with the wooden model that we noticed that we had set a handrail too high on the rise - but that's another story. Back to the subject. Naturally, I didn't develop the machine by myself. That's no longer possible with complex systems like this. In fact, numerous colleagues from various departments were involved. Some concentrated specifically on the Preset Plus feeder or delivery, while others focused on the electrical drives. Another group of colleagues worked on hardware and software for the central control station, or Prinect functions. Finally some colleagues from assembly and production also contributed their valuable know-how to the project - and naturally there were also service technicians and product managers involved as well.
And potential customers?
Gerd Merkel: They were also involved of course - right from the beginning as a matter of fact! We listened closely to ideas and requests from publishing and packaging printers from all over Europe, China and the USA, so that we could incorporate their needs during the development phase of the machines.
You can download the complete interview on the top right-hand side.
Mr. Merkel, when did you first hear about the plans to build machines in formats 6 and 7b?
Gerd Merkel: In March of 2004. At that time, I was still active in the development of the Speedmaster CD 74 until my boss, Burkhard Maaß, suddenly came up to me and said, "We're considering a large format. What do you think?" The idea was really exciting to me, of course. After all, with machines of this size, you begin to approach physical boundaries. When you have to work out the exact construction and design the corresponding parts, it's bound to be thrilling.
And when exactly did you start researching?
Gerd Merkel: That went really fast. We started working on the concept right after drupa 2004. The time was ripe for this project, so we dug right in.
Which research areas were you assigned?
Gerd Merkel: My job was to make the idea of a modular printing unit assembly become reality. That included the entire configuration of sheet travel - from feeder to offset, coating, the drying unit if applicable, and the delivery. I made drafts of the corresponding components, including all of the individual parts, and in order to test the feasibility of my drafts, I was also assigned the planning and execution of tests. We also needed to consider optimizing assembly and production. We paid particular attention to the machine's ergonomics because the new format class needed to be just as convenient to operate as the smaller models - despite its size.
That sounds like a lot of work …
Gerd Merkel: (laughs) That's certainly true, when I think back to our first full-scale model! It was impressive seeing the true dimensions of the machine. The wooden one-color press with coating was 49.2 feet (15 meters) long, 16.4 feet (5 meters) wide, and over 9.8 feet (3 meters) high. That, of course, makes a very different impression from that of my virtual 3-D models on the screen. By the way, it was with the wooden model that we noticed that we had set a handrail too high on the rise - but that's another story. Back to the subject. Naturally, I didn't develop the machine by myself. That's no longer possible with complex systems like this. In fact, numerous colleagues from various departments were involved. Some concentrated specifically on the Preset Plus feeder or delivery, while others focused on the electrical drives. Another group of colleagues worked on hardware and software for the central control station, or Prinect functions. Finally some colleagues from assembly and production also contributed their valuable know-how to the project - and naturally there were also service technicians and product managers involved as well.
And potential customers?
Gerd Merkel: They were also involved of course - right from the beginning as a matter of fact! We listened closely to ideas and requests from publishing and packaging printers from all over Europe, China and the USA, so that we could incorporate their needs during the development phase of the machines.
You can download the complete interview on the top right-hand side.
pdf Document
Here you may download the complete article in pdf format in English, French or Spanish.
