A great deal of water has passed under the bridge since printing was first introduced by Johannes Gutenberg, in Germany in the middle of the 15th century. Today the industry is moving rapidly towards electronic printing technology. Basically, printing is a technique for reproducing text and images in books and magazines, or on calendars, note pads and the like.
The modern printing process is carried out mainly in specialist industrial or small scale print shops. Machinery is involved in every phase of the process, from the actual printing through to the final assembling and binding.
Go into a printing and binding works and you will see a whole series of machines, from paper folders to offset-litho printing machines, paper cutters, die-cutters, stitching machines and cover binders, etc.. All these machines need to be operated by properly trained personnel and, at fixed intervals, serviced by qualified technicians. Printing equipment service engineers undertake the installation and commissioning, disassembly and re-assembly, relocation and calibration of all kinds of printing machinery, so to offer a truly professional service, they must have a van equipped with everything they need to work at customers’ sites.
Though the commercial vehicle in the photos above is only a small van, it is ideally suited for the job of
providing logistic support and transporting spares and tools for repairing printing machines. In order to be fully functional as a
mobile workshop for servicing and repairing printing and paper processing machinery, the van needs to satisfy the following basic requirements:
- It has to contain a number of removable and fixed containers for storing and carrying all the parts and materials needed for service work, in complete safety.
- It must be light enough to avoid high fuel consumption and to ensure compliance with road traffic regulations.
- It must provide service engineers with a work area for doing small jobs.
- It must have sufficient free floor space for carrying machine parts requiring further work back at base.
This upfit began with the installation of
linings to protect the interior bodywork against the corrosive action of some of the liquids and lubricants involved in the printing process, and to ensure that the vehicle enjoys a long working life. Once this was done, Syncro’s installers moved on to the racking itself.
They first fitted the
left side with a
wheel arch cabinet that can be partly closed by a door. Above this they then installed a
cabinet with metal drawers for holding component cases and a
set of shelves complete with anti-slip mats and metal dividers. A
vice with a pull-out support was also fitted to the outside wall of this unit.
On the
right side, the Syncro team installed a wheel arch cabinet with door. This serves as the base for a drawer unit dedicated to
transparent drawers and containers, all removable and all fitted with a practical automatic locking and release button.
This van also boasts a
roof transport system consisting of multi-purpose cargo bars with Syncro’s patented Ultrasilent profile for reduced vibration and wind noise on the road.
This
upfit for a printing machinery service van includes Syncro’s new large format transparent drawers. Compared to the old, coloured plastic type, these new drawers afford:
- a clear view of the contents without having to open them;
- greater practicality in terms of capacity, weight and cost, especially in shallow cabinets.