Printers are continuously looking for ways to maximize press performance, which, in turns, leads to more efficient, profitable performance. The costs of wasted paper and press time are important factors for printers. For ink suppliers, the key is to be able to provide their customers with the products and services they need to be most effective.
 
Providing compatible products such as fountain solutions and inks are one area where ink manufacturers can benefit their sheetfed and web offset ink customers. For example, Sun Chemical has developed its Virtual Inplant System, which designed to reduce unstable press-side conditions caused by paper, ink and contaminants.
 
“The Virtual Inplant System uses proprietary technology to control fountain solution chemistry and recycles all fountain solution, eliminating disposal costs,” added Dennis Sweet, VP of Rycoline Division, Sun Chemical. “It helps result in a more stable fountain system, using less fountain solution and reduces paper waste.”
 
Sweet noted that the creation of Sun Chemical’s Virtual Inplant System, as well as its Synergy combination of ink, fountain solution and wash, is driven by customers.
 
“Our customers are always looking for solutions that will help them reduce waste, improve productivity and maintain press consistency,” Sweet said. “As part of our ongoing efforts to find unique ways to help our customers achieve these goals, we collaborated with Metafix to develop a state-of-the-art system to control a printer’s fountain system conductivity and reduce paper waste. The goal that we achieved together in the collaboration was Virtual Inplant. 
 
“There is also the added benefit of the system being fully automated, allowing for our customers to be alerted via email and web monitoring to all variables in the fountain system, such as pH, temperature, conductivity and flow rates,” he added.
 
The ability to monitor changes in pH, temperature, flow rate and conductivity 24 hours a day provides useful benefits for printers.
 
“Changes in pH can impact the ability to clean plates,” Sweet noted. “Conductivity shifts can impact ink and water balance, adding to downtime and paper waste. Temperature shifts can lead to increase in water balance issues.”
 
Along the way, the new system has led Sun Chemical to add new products and enhancements to its portfolio.
 
“We learn more about ink/paper and fountain interaction every day,” he added. “We are customizing our fount treatment to remove specific contaminants and we are testing several press additives to enhance various pressroom performance concerns. For example, we have had good success with an additive that helps prevent plate staining.”
 
Sweet reported that the Virtual Inplant System has done well in the marketplace, and added that smaller ink companies are interested in the technology.
 
 
“We have more than 40 units in the field across multiple print platforms like sheetfed, heatset and UV,” Sweet said. “We utilize our Six Sigma team to document the savings to our customers. Sun Chemical has been working with smaller ink companies as a supplier of ink products, and is willing to offer this to our partners.”