A number of these new innovations will be on show at Drupa 2004 in Dusseldorf. Solutions for packaging on display will include the PrintVision/Jupiter, the PrintVision/Argus with a colour LCCD camera and the PrintVision/Apollo. Solutions for narrow web and labels applications will include the PrintVision/Jupiter-Compact and the PrintVision/Helios Colour as well as the enhanced offline verification tool, ProoFit.
PrintVision/Helios handles quality assurance when installed on finishing equipment and drives the cost of quality down when handling process control on presses by ensuring register, colour, eliminating faults, and inspecting die cutting and matrix removal.
AVT will also be demonstrating new features such as PrintFlow and PrintFlow Manager software, which extends the reach of AVT's systems to managerial level. Supervisors, quality assurance managers and production managers can use the technology to evaluate press performance and print quality.
PrintFlow is an optional tool used in conjunction with any one of AVT's PrintVision automatic web inspection solutions. The enhanced PrintFlow option features a versatile, standard SQL database platform.
This software has been reconfigured to provide comprehensive job information including the ability to study defects by type, frequency, duration, and even view images of the master and defect images. Operators can edit the report, accepting or rejecting detected defects, can print the report and keep it as a file for further use.
More improved options include RiteSeal 100 per cent cold seal inspection, pRegister for register pre-setting and control, ABCV - Automatic Bar Code Verification - and IDEal for delta-E colour measurement.
WorkFlow Link is an add-on feature that links the press and the rewinder in a PrintVision production environment. WorkFlow link integrates with PrintFlow and PrintFlow Manager and enables increased control over waste removal from a printed roll while reducing the time of preparing a finished roll.
Used with a PrintVision system on press, WorkFlow Link will place a mark on the web at pre-determined intervals. These marks can be numbers or bar codes printed in the trim area, or on the reverse of the web, or self-adhesive labels that are applied to the web.
When the printed roll is delivered to the rewinder, the WorkFlow Link information is sent to the rewinder. A reader on the rewinder ensures that the physical web is synchronised with the defect information contained in the roll report - even if sections of the roll have been removed as a part of the quality assurance process.
Using the markings on the web, WorkFlow Link controls the rewinder, slowing it down and stopping the web at the beginning of the defective area on the splicing table, ready for removal.
AVT says that Drupa 2004 will be the first time that all these innovations and enhancements will be on show together. More than 750 AVT systems are now installed around the world at companies ranging from international packaging groups to specialised label printers.