Ryobi MHI Graphic Technology (RMGT) has announced the introduction of GEW’s LeoLED system as its factory-fitted UV curing solution for new sheetfed offset machines, with immediate effect. 

In pursuit of continuous technology improvement and after many months of assessment of all major UV LED manufacturers, RMGT formally adopted the high performance GEW product as its definitive new solution.

Katsushi Hirokawa, president at RMGT, explains, “RMGT is committed to building relationships of trust with customers, peripheral device manufacturers and all others involved in the industry. We continually work with our partners to refine and perfect technologies, and to bring innovative new products to the world of printing. Inspired by this corporate philosophy, we have pioneered LED UV and it is our in-depth experience and knowledge of this technology that has enabled us to make a sound judgment about our future UV curing partner.”

The foundations of this new partnership were formed in 2018, following GEW’s drive into the sheetfed offset market. GEW is well known for its performance in the label and narrow web arena. The expertise gained from 30 years in this sector, and experience supporting all the major machine manufacturers, provided a strong base from which to expand into the offset business. The 2019 introduction of GEW’s compact, high performance LeoLED UV curing system, which is perfectly suited to sheetfed applications, drew attention from RMGT’s distribution network and this ultimately led to the first test installation at the company’s headquarters in Hiroshima in early 2020. The LeoLED system was exhaustively tested on several presses, in multiple configurations and the results surpassed all existing performance criteria.

The GEW LeoLED UV Lamphead is water-cooled with a compact 40 mm x 100 mm profile, and can be customized to seamlessly integrate into any sheetfed press.

Robert Rae, managing director of sales at GEW, comments, “This announcement affirms GEW as the leading supplier globally for UV LED curing systems. Our latest LeoLED system offers a very high power and is used in one form for all markets and applications. This means that it is produced in high volumes, bringing outstanding reliability at a highly competitive cost. In a sheetfed environment, GEW’s Modular Lamp Array (MLA) allows any number of lamps to be positioned and quickly moved anywhere throughout the press. This means the same LeoLED product can be used for low, medium and high-performance applications but arranged in single, double or triple MLA configuration dependent upon the application and speed requirements – always guaranteeing performance. It is this concept that appealed to RMGT, both for ultimate reliability and for the flexibility of configurations across their wide range of presses.”

Typical configuration of a GEW LeoLED Modular Lamp Array (MLA) system is complete with a Rhino power supply unit, chiller unit and HMI touchscreen.