CARROS, France—Vianord Engineering designs and builds innovative plate processing systems for the flexo industries, where the plate is somehow “delicate” and requires careful but high speed handling. Its automation department has, over the years, developed considerable expertise with, amongst other more traditional technologies, robotics and automation.
Unprocessed digital plates are difficult to handle, being sensitive and easily scratchable. When imaged in commercial volumes, they need to be moved quickly through the production process, so they are in danger of getting damaged and thus disrupting production. In the past, the solution was to count on the operator’s ability and carefulness to hold each plate, and move them to the exposing unit and processing line as it was imaged.
“We have addressed this issue by developing a dedicated high performance robotic system, in a very compact footprint, that can be tailored to any imager, independently if it is in a stand alone configuration or combined to a proprietary LED exposing unit,” said Riccardo de Caria, strategy advisor at Vianord Engineering. “The new concept complements our automated EVO lines, creating the first fully automated plate making system, from plate imaging to plate delivery. Our smart bridge can connect EVO lines to any imager via our Evo LED exposing units or, any proprietary LED exposing unit. It can connect up to two laser units to one Evo line. We developed a multidisciplinary automation system that combines all the popular elements of common automation into one compact, integrated, high performance system.”
The issue Vianord had to solve was receiving imaged plates and moving them to an EVO line with the help of a robotic system, which performs as a “Swiss watch.” For professionals who are familiar with the flexo plate making processes, it is easy to understand the magnitude of the challenge Vianord had to face. The solution developed sees a number of servo controlled mechanisms combined with an intelligent sensing system to warrant precision motion, control performance and enhanced operating efficiency.
Like all Vianord equipment, the Vianord Engineering EVO Smart Bridge is modular, easy to assemble, safe, and virtually maintenance free. Multiple level configurations are available and can be added to any existing EVO lines.
“By incorporating a smart bridge to the EVO line, we have been able to provide solutions for plate processing operations that need a way to handle increased volume as they grow. This well made and affordable option is a fantastic feature to aid the plate processing operations; customers who didn’t consider full automation before because they believed it was almost unachievable and therefore price prohibitive are now finding their way into it. The team at Vianord has worked very hard to develop a unique modular solution, which today is the only fully functioning commercially available option,” concluded Massimiliano Merlo, global marketing and sales director at Vianord Engineering.
The Vianord Customer Technology Centre in Carros answers any questions about the integration of innovative plate making technology in a real production environment. As a global leader in plate processing equipment, Vianord is bridging the gap between theory and reality by making full automation tangible to customers.