Roland 705 vs Komori G540

[kroumoff]

Dear colleagues,

we are choosing between these two brand new presses. We plan to print 1000 to 30000 sheet runs on 100 gsm to 250 gsm papers.

May I ask for your experience and suggestions regarding makeready times, number of waste sheets, reliability and operation? We have been running a Heidelberg CD 104, but would not go for a similar machine.

Komori is not so popular here, there are only a few machines and people seem happy with them. Roland is a work horse.

Thank you for your posts.

Roland 705 vs Komori G540 ???

 

[Meny]

My opinion - clear win for the Komori.
nothing more to say - it is new tech , hi tech , works well , very fast Make Ready , very accurate and durrable , and even easy to learn.
Go for Komori...

 

[Ade]

Hi Kroumoff

That is a question that everyone will give a different answer to.
My own experience we had until Roland ran into trouble a couple of years ago been a regular user of Rolands and the odd Heidelberg both presses gave little trouble, when Roland were in trouble I was talked into getting a Komori it has given nothing but trouble we expect a ten year life cycle for each press we are now looking at overhauling the Komori after three years or replacing it messing up our presses life cycle I would rather get rid of it and spend the money on keeping the current Roland and Heidelberg going beyond their normal life cycle.
We expect to put 10K and hour on the floor so over 24hrs depending on the work and end of shift clean ups we normally expect produce 200.000-240.000 impressions we have Cip3 to the presses making ready in 300 Sheets, we mainly produce for the packaging industry so provide UV and Conventional mainly on carton work.

End of week done on a Sunday Night ready for Monday shift to do the weekly grease up and maintenance (engineers can also access the presses during this time for scheduled maintenance)

Roland are good press may not be up to date at the moment but reliability is more important.
Heidelberg is a good press the main trouble is the consumables it never used to be a problem but consumables are getting expensive.
Komroi made to a price cheap and cheerful, and rather a lot similarities to other presses!!!
It is OK if you have a low demand on it (one shift five days a week) but if you are expecting to run it Severn days a week it will not last and cause you nothing but problems.

What ever you decide make sure you keep up with maintenance and take out a maintenance contract as the electrical sides to these presses these days can very expensive if they go wrong and don't get caught up in the H-UV craze it is not as simple as it sounds.

Ade

 

[Meny]

Ade , what kind of Komori do you have ? sounds like a very ban one ????
And , do you have HUV in person so you can make an opinion on it ?

 

[rapida guy]

I think the press of choice does vary considerably depending on which country or even which part of a country.
In the US for the most part, MAN Roland has been plagued by some large reliability issues going back to the disaster with the fiber optic rollout 20 years ago. They are a well built machine and run well once installed and de-bugged. They are high upkeep and dependent on good upkeep and a good foundation. It seems in Europe they are more well received than here.
Heidelbergs are a solid performer anywhere you go. The XL 105 /106 has been a kick butt press and most reports are positive as well with the XL large format.
KBA's are gaining ground here in the states but it seems in Europe they are a thrid place press. Upkeep is again a big factor.
Komori's here in the states have been a solid low cost performer with a large loyal following. I have heard reports less than favorable about the GS machine. It seems it has been "cheapened up" from the LS or LSX.Any way you go, they are all good machines than have good points and bad. Pick one that has good service and support nearby.

 

[kroumoff]

Thank you, guys.

It is true that once a Rolland is installed and de-bugged, you get a reliable heavy-duty machine. The 700 print unit is a mechanically debugged piece of metal, as it has been present on the market with small modification for more than 20 years.

Same happened with the CD, where plate clamps springs were a bug and machine was losing register during runs.

Local Komori "sales" people are so greedy, they ask 25% more than Roland representatives for a similar machine. Of course, that is before ugly bargaining, but we expected to avoid this kind of game.

As I see, in USA Heidelbergs are top expensive, followed by KBA, Roland and Komori.

We were about to get into the H-UV fashion, but we are not happy with our tests on uncoated stock. Additional H-UV varnishing is needed to protect ink rub on bigger ink limit areas and with the current ink and varnish prices may be makes standard ink+coater solution for uncoated papers much more effective. What is your experience?

Can you give me an idea of the price range in USA for a similar new 5 color+coater Roland 705 and Komori G540 + coater presses?

Thank you in advance. Cheers!

 

[Ade]

Posted on UV section about H-UV thought it best to keep the threads in the correct place.