Le Monde installs Baldwin Jetstream 100 Web Cleaner

8/29/2007

The largest daily newspaper in France, Le Monde, has equipped its Wifag OF 7/570 GTD press with a Baldwin Jetstream 1000. The contactless web cleaning system is becoming increasingly popular among European newspapers and commercial web offset houses, seeking an inexpensive way to reduce paper dust and debris in order to improve print quality and press productivity, while also reducing running costs.

The two Wifag presses in use at Le Monde’s Ivry-sur-Seine premises, on the outskirts of Paris, are equipped with Baldwin’s Litho Spray Optima spray dampening systems. The Wifag OF 370 GTD, which consists of six four-high units, is also fitted with Baldwin Impact® Global automatic blanket cleaning equipment. However, the company wanted to improve the efficiency of the 1,280 mm wide Wifag OF 7/570 without having to replace the existing blanket cleaning system. Baldwin’s Jetstream 1000 has proved to be the ideal solution.

Jetstream is a revolutionary approach to improving print quality, productivity and profitability on a web offset press, whether for commercial or newspaper applications. The special aerodynamic nozzle, positioned close to the web surface, works via a combination of vacuum in the cleaning module and a high velocity air flow, which moves along the web surface and into the cleaning module. The airflow breaks the boundary layer on the paper and forces the particles that were trapped in this layer into the cleaning module. An ionizing bar positioned upstream of the cleaning module reduces static electricity, enabling the loose particles to be removed more easily from the web surface. The compact system requires little space, maintenance is minimal and one module will clean both sides of the paper web.

A central filter unit extracts the dust particles from the air collected by all cleaning modules. Jetstream 1000 is simple to operate and has low energy consumption. The only consumables required by the system are the central filter elements and these can be quickly and easily changed when required. Le Monde reports that since commissioning the Jetstream 1000, the blanket cleaning system on the Wifag OF 7/570 has been used much less frequently while manual washing of the ink rollers has virtually ceased. This has led to significant time and material savings.

Le Monde is equally delighted with its Baldwin Impact Global automatic blanket cleaning system, which has been in operation at the site for three years. The company says it has been particularly impressed by the Prepac® washcloths, which are impregnated with a precisely defined quantity of low-VOC cleaning agent. The system does not require piping and protected pumping stations to feed washing agent to the 24 Impact Global wash bars fitted to the press. The 48 blanket cylinders on the Wifag press are cleaned automatically after the production of each title with virtually no operation intervention needed. Baldwin’s Impact Global system has resulted in a dramatic reduction in make-ready times on the press, substantially lower material usage and washing agent consumption, and improved working conditions for the press operators.

Le Monde has an average daily circulation of 450,000 copies, a figure augmented by the financial newspaper Les Echos (120,000 copies) and a special edition of the British Guardian (17,000 copies). Production at the site also includes several titles, such as Le Monde Diplomatique (300,000 copies), the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (250,000), and the tabloid Politis (22,000).

---