From the very time that a person became addicted to transferring his intentions to paper, many undertakings and projects have drowned in paperwork. Sometimes promising plans collapsed due to interference from bureaucrats, and sometimes the task of transferring a plan to a paper sheet overshadowed the idea itself with its complexity. There are such industries (for example, construction and construction design), where nothing gets off the ground without a paper presentation. Paper diagrams and drawings are a familiar language, which in its prevalence and versatility can compete with any other language in the world.
The age of electronics, which has been with us for tens of years, in fact, has not changed anything here: where they build, drawings are needed. Lots of drawings. Computers and the Internet have not eliminated the need for people in helmets to ponder over large-format paper sheets from time to time. But with the word "a lot" the computer and technology cope better, skillfully incorporating the concept of "fast" into the process. At first, this helped to reduce the catastrophic amount of manual work: copying drawings by hand would paralyze the work of any projector workshop today. Then the computer, the programs and the printer jointly decided the issue of the convenience of creating diagrams and their high-quality application on paper. These days, improvements in design software and plotter performance affect the efficiency and success of the design business as much as the renewal or expansion of staff.
LLC "Institute" Morissot "last year turned five years old, during which dozens of different projects were prepared in Russia and Kazakhstan. This organization also has its strong point: bridges. Designed for different operating conditions, bridges from the "Institute" Morissot "can be found in the Far North, South and Far East, they are built over the seas, rivers and roads. Despite the youth of the company, there are no newcomers working in it. Here they understand that the success of the project business is achieved not only by the reliability of the designed structures - in no small part it depends on the quality and accuracy of the preparation of project documentation, and in conditions of fierce competition, it is just as important to strictly adhere to the agreed terms of the design work. Since the work of the employees of the design organization only increased from year to year, production capacities had to be increased all the time. And although from the very beginning, the Morissot Institute had all the necessary computer equipment, the increasing flow of orders led to the fact that in 2009 there was a need for a new color plotter.
Since we are talking about bridges, you can imagine the development process of any construction project as a whole chain of "bridges" - from an idea to pressing the "Print" button. The number of "bridges" is large, and the "traffic jam" on any of them inevitably slows down the entire project. The plotter is at the very end of the chain, and the importance of erecting this "bridge" cannot be overemphasized: it is the printer that allows you to show the product with your face. Irina Sorokina, head of the documentation group, told about how this problem was solved at the Morissot Institute LLC. According to Irina, by the beginning of 2009, her department had two plotters at its disposal: monochrome and inkjet color. The color device turned out to be the weakest link requiring replacement. “The color plotter was slow to print,” says Irina, “and besides, it was difficult and time-consuming to change paper rolls in it. In addition, it took an average of thirty minutes to turn on the device. The print quality was good, but the shortcomings of the device seriously hampered the timely preparation of projects."
The company needed a color large-format plotter that had a low cost of color printing, since the design of drawings and diagrams in color was emphasized.
In general, with the development of technology, color printing began to crowd out monochrome on all fronts. Although project documentation is the last resort for decorative decoration of drawings, the fashion for color has reached here too. A document in color looks better, and highlighting details in color makes the drawing much easier to read. The statistics impassively testify: design workshops and institutes are making more and more of the final documentation in color. Unfortunately, these new "color standards" were not very actively supported by hardware manufacturers. Until 2009, Irina Sorokina's group had to work with two devices at once; in addition, the use of inkjet technology for color printing made it expensive. More precisely, expensive and inconvenient: the ink on each print had to be allowed to dry, and the water resistance of such prints was never exemplary. At the same time, it was inkjet devices that made it possible to achieve accurate printing and high-quality color reproduction. Fortunately, in 2009 the market already had the necessary solution: it turned out to be an Oce ColorWave 600 wide format printer. “We did not find any alternatives to the ColorWave 600,” recalls Irina. "The machine met all our requirements, including its own cost and the price of prints."
Now at the Morissot Institute LLC, a large-format printer from Océ works for two people, because the ColorWave 600 is a good compromise between electrographic and inkjet printing. It is based on CrystalPoint technology, the essence of which is as follows. In the ColorWave 600, the four-color toner is initially in a solid state - in the form of small balls, which, as they are consumed, fall into the printheads one by one. In them, the balls are melted, and the printing itself is performed with liquid toner, which makes the ColorWave 600 akin to inkjets. But unlike inks, Océ toner freezes as soon as it hits the media: after leaving the printer, the print can be used immediately, as is usually the case in electrography. The ColorWave 600's color print speed is much faster than an inkjet machine (one A0 sheet every three minutes at highest quality and one A0 sheet per minute in production mode). “On plain paper, the machine produces the best quality, producing a shiny and silky touch. In general, it gave us a tangible increase in productivity and quality with significant savings, says Irina Sorokina. "The Océ ColorWave 600 delivers dry prints that don't need to be dried before use or post-printing: we can fold and pack the drawings straight away."
In addition to the fact that the ColorWave 600 allows you to get the result on a simple, and not on a special expensive media, the device allows for the use of longer rolls. If the industry standard is 50 meters, the manufacturer ColorWave 600 has provided the ability to load rolls of 200 meters. At the time of purchase, the customer can choose for himself the configuration of the device with the possibility of simultaneous loading from two to six rolls, and switching between different types of media will be carried out automatically. The apparatus, which is run by Irina Sorokina and her subordinates, is usually loaded with two rolls with different media, and, according to Irina, the rolls have to be changed much less often - despite the fact that this has become much easier.
According to the specifications, the Océ ColorWave 600 can accurately reproduce lines with a thickness of 0.04 mm at a print resolution of 1200 dpi. The length of one print can be up to three meters while maintaining indents, but in principle it is limited only by the length of the roll. The print width ranges from 279 to 1067 mm. Color reproduction is excellent, so owners don't have to worry about the sacrifice of complex prints where line accuracy and color are important. The Océ ColorWave 600 allows you to achieve both without burning any bridges.
At the Morissot Institute, which knows a lot about bridges, the Océ ColorWave 600 is now nearly equally loaded with color and monochrome printing. The company uses media sizes from A3 to A0, and daily print volumes are 150-200 meters. The ColorWave 600 is also used for document duplication. Now reproduction is carried out by printing several copies of the document from a computer, and in the future, perhaps, the company will purchase a scanning module, which is supplied with the ColorWave 600, which will allow making copies without having a computer original.
Talking about the advantages of the device, Irina Sorokina did not fail to point out some of its disadvantages. As already mentioned, the ColorWave 600 is, albeit a very successful, but a compromise, which means the disadvantages are expected. Compared to a typical monochrome plotter, the machine is slightly slower when printing monochrome. However, according to Irina, along with the ColorWave 600, her department acquired a lot, a lot. Even in such seemingly trifles as print management. “The printer seems to us quite easy to operate,” says Irina. - The ColorWave 600 has a very informative display: all problems are displayed, whether it is jammed paper or an empty cartridge. Moreover, it is reported what needs to be done to continue the work."
How exactly the improvement of printing technologies contributes to the construction of bridges of iron and concrete, we figured out. However, in the Morissot Institute team, ColorWave 600 helps to build other, albeit invisible, but therefore no less important bridges - between people. “For the Defender of the Fatherland Day,” says Irina, “we designed and printed a wall newspaper with photographs of our men on the ColorWave 600 as a female team.” It turns out that the language of the press can express not only ambitious projects, but also people's sympathies. As for the misuse, we are sure: not a single bridge was damaged during the creation of the wall newspaper …
Alexander Osinev
