Pressnet  Sakurai  appointments  printing - sheetfed 
Sakurai Graphic Systems has appointed Pressnet Graphic Machinery agents for their range of offset printing equipment. Whilst there are many Sakurai presses in the Australian market, there had not been a substantial focus on sales or service in Australia prior to the appointment of Pressnet, whose principals, Charlie and Rufia Scandrett intend to aggressively market the Sakurai brand locally.

Pressnet is already well-known in the used equipment sector and has a long and proud history in print. Says Charlie Scandrett, "my family first entered the printing industry in 1860, with the co-founding by James Scandrett of the Northern Star and then the Kapunda Herald in Kapunda, SA."

According to Scandrett, the first Kapunda Herald editorial, "Will the Settlement of Adelaide Survive?" was printed on an Albion iron hand press and the rest, as they say, is history. As a member of a pioneering Australian printing family, Charlie Scandrett now represents a pioneering Japanese printing press manufacturing family, Sakurai Graphic Systems (SGS).

When current SGS president, Yoshikuni Sakurai, was a schoolboy, he served as parts clerk at his father Ryuzo’s Sakurai Machinery Works after school. Similarly, when Scandrett was a boy, he was the windmill and motor mechanic on his father Rob’s north Queensland cattle station. After university studies, he joined the traditional industry of his family, printing. This eventually led to the founding of Pressnet Pty Ltd to sell graphic arts equipment.

"Machines have always been important in my life," says Scandrett. "Keeping machines operating at all costs is a theme common to both cattle grazing and printing. Sakurai understand this, and we at Pressnet understand this. We are factory-training 11 engineers and training a further nine electricians Australia-wide to service initial installations of the new generation Sakurai machines. Everybody who works with Pressnet will be trained in machine service."

Both Pressnet and Sakurai are investing heavily in building Sakurai’s sales in Australia. Says Yohikuni Sakurai, "Sakurai Graphic Systems will continue to develop new technology and to satisfy customer demand. In the Gifu factory, which is the centre of production, we strive to produce high quality products and to reduce costs."

Sakurai Graphic Systems Corporation is in the top 5000 companies in Japan in terms of taxable income, and has a Dunn & Bradstreet (D&B) rating of 4A 2. According to D&B, SGS profitability, judged by the ratio of recurring profit (profit before deducting extraordinary income and expenses) to sales is above average at 9.224 per cent.

Approximately 55 per cent of manufactured output is exported with the balance being supplied to the domestic Japanese industry. Whilst 25 per cent of exports are destined for Europe, the United States and China each receive approximately 10 per cent of SGS export ouput.

In addition to traditional offset presses in the robust and technologically advanced Oliver range from single colour presses to six-colour straight and perfecting presses, Sakurai manufactures screen printing equipment at its 12,210 sq m Gifu factory near Osaka.

The Gifu plant has been ISO 9001 accredited since 1998.

"The elegance and reliability of Sakurai’s PLC and PC controlled machines is a huge leap forward in press design," says Scandrett.

"The ability to support global brand name components running Sakurai software reduces the proprietary hardware in the machine and thus the cost."

"Eliminating expensive, custom processor boards in favour of PLC and PC processors is a ground breaking development in offset press manufacture."

"Our industry is just catching up with world manufacturing practice and other press manufacturers will follow Sakurai."

Sakurai launched its highly successful Oliver 66 SI/SIP press series in 2001 and has since expanded the lineup to include 10 different models, including four- and five-colour B3 and A2 size presses, each with straight and perfecting options.

The newest addition to the lineup, the 75 SD series was launched at IGAS 2003 and replaces the ED series. The Oliver 475SD B2 incorporates all the elements of Sakurai’s 4H/IR development concept, including high quality printing, superior, trouble-free performance, high productivity with a full complement of labour-saving features, safe and environmentally friendly operation, all for a reasonable investment with the promise of a high return.

The Oliver 66 SD series is being launched at JGAS in Tokyo this October and this highly automated press will enter the market niche occupied by 52cm multicolour presses.

Sakurai understands the importance of the thickness and rigidity of printing cylinders and ink rollers as well as the overall press configuration in achieving the highest print quality. To this end, the SD series employs plate and blanket cylinders with a diameter of 240mm, wider than usual for machines of this class, as well as an impression cylinder twice this width, at 480mm.

The press employs the 7 oÂ’clock cylinder configuration, said to be ideal for optimum printing in colour and of solids. Large diameter rollers have also been used to guard against uneven inking and problems with roller teeth.

The 475SD can print everything from the thinnest 0.04mm paper to 0.6mm board without any major adjustment at up to 15,000iph. Designed with room to spare to handle extended B2 size sheets of 765x600mm, it is also half-size B compatible, capable of printing four B4 sheets. Options features include the Total Quick Standby System (TQSS) for enhanced productivity and a coating unit that reduces spray for a faster start to back printing.

"On our last visit to the Sakurai factory with a group of Australian printers, I saw 26 multi-colour Sakurai machines in final assembly and testing," says Scandrett.

"All but one had been pre-sold. Another print unit was coming off the highly robotised production line every two hours. Yet with all this productivity, we unfortunately still have a three and a half month backlog for orders. Sakurais are selling like pies at a footy match."