Nürtingen, 22nd June 2016: Following its appearance at drupa, IST METZ GmbH has once again demonstrated its prowess as the leading market player with the largest product portfolio of UV systems worldwide. Its new Hot Swap technology provides customers with maximum flexibility in all things drying.

Four times a day a live demo on a Heidelberg XL 75 six color with coater Anicolor 2 machine equipped with IST LAMPcure traditional UV technology and IST LEDcure LED UV technology took place. The trade fair appearance got an outstanding reception and the order books are well filled.

The purpose of the demonstration was to offer an up close and personal real time view of two different printing job formats, one representing packaging with five colors, a special drip off varnish and iridescent coating on board substrate, and the second representing a commercial job with five colors. The packaging job was produced at full press operating speed using an IST LAMPcure UV system with two interdecks and end of press lamps.

Upon the completion of the packaging job, while the press operators changed plates, colors and substrate, one IST LAMPcure UV interdeck was exchanged with an IST LEDcure interdeck using IST’s exclusive “Hot Swap” technology. From the finish of the packaging job to the start of the commercial job spans an average time of just seven minutes, the actual UV exchange is only roughly two minutes. The commercial job was also run at full press rated speed using just one IST LED UV curing module and no end of press UV lamps, then turned over and run back thru the press again. Both forms were up to color, in perfect register and on the counter in only a few sheets.

Of the two jobs, one was part of the printed brochure selection available from IST, the other was actually the vehicle for the exclusive IST Virtual Reality Glasses, which deliver a tour of the inside of the press and the installed IST UV system to people attending the demo. According to Holger Kuehn, Managing Director Sales of IST METZ, “We were seeing crowds in excess of 200 people for each event every day. As we did this four times a day you can imagine the excitement at the stand.” IST was the only UV manufacturer at drupa with an operating printing press doing live print demos. “We much prefer to show people what we can do and provide solid information and education regarding the differences between traditional and LED UV curing, rather than simply surrounding the subject with hype and hearsay“, says Kuehn.

One of three world premiere technologies introduced at IST’s stand, the exclusive “Hot Swap” is based on an electronic power supply produced by IST that provides power for both traditional UV lamps (LAMPcure) and LED UV modules (LEDcure). Both UV light sources connect to the same cables, mount to the same point, are controlled by the same interface and are automatically identified with no input required by the operator.

IST, along with their subsidiary Integration Technology Limited (ITL) offers UV curing and conventional drying solutions for Sheetfed, Narrow Web, Wide Web, Label, Converting, Digital Printing, Bonding and other industrial applications.