Article prepared by C. Clint Bolte, C. Clint Bolte & Associates, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. For additional information please call 717-263-5768, fax 717-263-8945, or e-mail to clint@clintbolte.com.

UV Cost Savings + Environmental Advantage

In the dubious 2009 economy printers are analyzing every aspect of their operations to uncover cost savings. Surprisingly enough several web and sheetfed printers may not be aware of a recently proven process whose ROI is infinite. Infinite because there is no investment – only cost savings. It pertains to the printing blankets and fortunately applies to every single brand of printing blanket.

All printers using energy curable inks and ultra violet drying techniques are aware of the fact that the printing image from the plate gets “burned into” the blanket appearing as a ghost or latent image of the previous job run. This occurs in a frustratingly short amount of time and often in far too few impressions on all UV blankets, whether utilizing hybrid inks or conventional UV inks.

This latent image results in the printing blankets failing prematurely relative to what all of these printers are accustomed to with conventional lithographic printing utilizing aqueous drying or spray powder drying only. UV printers at the higher end of the print quality spectrum very naturally change blankets ever more frequently to assure maximum print quality. This is truly one of the very few shortcomings of this increasingly popular lithographically drying technology. Until now!

A Third the Cost of a New Blanket

A small Canadian company, named Enviro Image Solutions (enviroimagesolutions.com), has a patent pending on a proprietary process it developed for refurbishing every brand of UV blankets. A printer simply accumulates spent UV blankets and ships them to EIS in Vancouver, Canada. In a couple of weeks the blankets are returned refurbished and ready to print quality work as good as new. The cost is barely one third that of a new blanket. So long as the blanket is not torn it can be refurbished many times.

Mike Winteringham, Vice President of Metropolitan Fine Printers, reports that his firm’s UV blankets are typically refurbished an average of four to five times with some blankets successfully undergoing 12-15 refurbishment cycles. Metropolitan Fine Printers, winner of numerous PIA international print quality awards (“Bennys”), specializes in the most sophisticated and increasingly complex projects. They use 10-micron Staccato screens as a standard on the refurbished blankets.

They rely upon a pair of manroland 708 presses with UV coaters. One press has two coaters and the other a single coater. The company has consistently realized six figured costs savings each year in not having to buy new printing blankets.

EIS InterTech Award Winner

Three years of development and Beta testing by numerous United States and Canadian printers concluded in 2006 with a PIA/GATF InterTech Award being issued to EIS in 2007 for its unique and revolutionary blanket refurbishment process. UV printers are spreading the word throughout the globe about this environmentally sensitive cost savings service.

The Outlook Group’s Print Production Leader. Cal Vesely, said he learned about EIS from the InterTech Award publicity and began a methodical testing program of his own in their Neenah, Wisconsin plant on their three 40” Komori presses. Their product mix is quite diversified ranging from post cards, folding cartons, to book covers. He remarked that his pressmen initially were “skeptical” because the EIS refurbished blankets “did not look new. Stains were often evident on the blankets” as they removed them from packaging to be remounted in press. When the EIS blankets worked flawlessly delivering exceptional print quality just like new blankets, “pressmen’s attitudes were quickly won over.” Mr. Vesely fully expects to reach his goal of $64,000 of annual savings from this one initiative. The fully recyclable service for damaged blankets is an additional bonus.

More Successful Case Studies

Chicago’s Quantum Group has been refurbishing all of their UV blankets from their Heidelberg 102 eight unit for nearly two years. Mr. Tony Novak, their Chief Operating Officer, feels the key to their success was educating their pressmen. As soon as the pressmen understood the potential cost savings and could witness firsthand the superb printability despite the slight stains on the blankets, the program has been successful. Mr. Novak reconfirmed that no EIS blanket had ever failed and they have been used on every type of printed product imaginable including Lenticular printing.

In concert with the arrival of its new eight unit Heidelberg XL105 Atlanta’s Geographics began using EIS to refurbish its UV blankets. Geographics is a classic general commercial printer with a predictably full array of printing products to match. The firm has two other perfecting, conventional Heidelbergs – a ten unit and 6 unit – both of which the firm has had since 2001.

Bill Turner, Geographics’ Pressroom Manager, described interesting uniqueness of this press. Their XL 105 has a single coater configured to run as aqueous or ultraviolet as customer specifications dictate. To accommodate this capability the press has been outfitted with Bottcher Chameleon rollers. This flexibility has quickly resulted in the press running 24/5. While there is no printing product that Turner would shy away from with the refurbished UV blankets, they continue to use two different brands of blankets for conventional and UV printing. It takes his two pressmen only about thirty minutes to swap the blankets on all eight units.

At this stage the firm does not really have any preconceived cost savings targets for this refurbishment program. However, they typically accumulate the UV blankets in the same wooden crate in which EIS ships the refurbished inventory. This gets returned full to Vancouver about each quarter. This latest shipment of refurbished blankets cost $3,300. The same quantity of new blankets would have been $11,000. If the product mix stays the same, this should yield an annual savings of about $30,000.

The Alexander Clark Business Forms, Inc. of Boise, Idaho has been utilizing UV drying on their eight-unit Sanden Quantum 1250 narrow web press for 12 years. This three-shift operation produces commercial magazines and brochures. They became aware of the EIS refurbishment process in 2007 and have gained much experience with these refurbished blankets in 2008. Mr. Marv Braun also reiterated the need to educate the pressmen on the potential savings and unique visual characteristics of these blankets. Additionally it is important that the pressman follow the blanket torqueing specification precisely so that over zealous torgueing does not stretch the blanket. This descipline would be recommended for all presses and all blankets.

Mr. Javier Velasquez enthusiastically described Royal Paper Box’s experiences out of their Montebello, California plant. They have had positive results refurbishing two different brands of blankets for their manroland 706 in their initial few months. This press prints higher end packaging and cosmetic jobs. Again they have had no premature failures with the EIS blankets nor are there any print quality demands that they would shy away from with their refurbished blankets. They expect to begin refurbishing blankets from their CD 74 and a lower usage, older 50” UV press shortly.

When the EIS’ inspection determines that a blanket cannot be refurbished due to it being torn or irreparably damaged, EIS recycles the blanket components. The aluminum bar is removed and recycled to the same sources as aluminum plates. The rest of the blanket is laid flat on a wooden skid. Once the blankets reach a height of 36” they are banded (plastic banding not metal) and then shipped to a concrete manufacturer, who has a rotary cement kiln. These kilns are fired to nearly 2600ºF and increasingly being run with alternative fuels such as tires and liquid and solid waste. This 100% recycling process is performed as a courtesy to their printer clients.

How To Recycle Conventional Blankets Locally

Printers that do not want to send their conventional printing blankets to the local landfill should contact their local concrete manufacturer to see if that firm utilizes a rotary cement kiln. Or they can Google “rotary cement kiln” and find the closest one to them. With oil prices being as low as they currently are the printer might still have to pay something to recycle their conventional blankets. As with recycling paper, each local market has its own economics. Hopefully in time recycling spent blankets can be a positive cash flow.

Print Action magazine acknowledged EIS in their most recent 2008 Environmental Printing Awards with a Gold for Most Environmentally Progressive Vendor in Canada and Silver for Most Progressive Environmental Process, Vendor.

Mike Winteringham offered a final piece of sage advice to maximize the number of refurbishment cycles and therefore the optimum cost savings available. “When removing a blanket to be later sent to EIS, don’t just throw it in a pile in some corner. Treat every blanket like a new one. For example, tape the edges of the bar so they don’t inadvertently guage the top surface of another blanket.”

Any UV printer wanting additional information should call EIS at 877-255-9544. EIS continues to offer new customers its first ten UV blankets refurbished free as a “no risk” trial to show the effectiveness of their refurbishment process. All UV printers are encouraged to attend the second annual Print UV 2009 Conference (printuv.com) planned for March 8-10, 2009 in Las Vegas and speak to users firsthand.

Article prepared by C. Clint Bolte, C. Clint Bolte & Associates, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. For additional information please call 717-263-5768, fax 717-263-8945, or e-mail to clint@clintbolte.com.