Well fed: Patras rail system for Europe's largest multi-lane digital printing installation.

It’s a component of our new warehousing concept that has helped restructure and optimise our internal materials flows. The installation of the Patras rail systems was planned and prepared even before the HP PageWide T1100S had been installed or the storage depot set up in early 2019. The system went live after six weeks of construction and one week of test operation.

Giant paper webs, which can weigh up to four tonnes each, can be transported by the rail system along eight an meters path, through the new storage area and digital printing hall directly to the HP PageWide. The system also includes an unpacking station with integrated weighing function: this eliminates web packaging from the printing hall and simplifies the transport of the webs through the hall, providing better order and workplace safety. The system is operated using a safe and convenient pedal button. “Our warehouse employees furnish the webs. It takes just one press of the button to get one aligned, and another to get it moving,” explains Björn Vorlop, the managing operations engineer in Ilsenburg.

With the rail system already a well-established part of our flexo preprint installation, it was high time for the technology to become part of our digital production. For Björn Vorlop: “Top material flow, a high degree of safety and an increased share of added value for our printers - that is reflected in better performance for our customers, in terms of increased reliability and speed of deliveries.”