Phased Equipment Upgrades Toward an All advance EX Edition Fleet

Sansho Printing Co., Ltd. was founded in 1977 as a prepress company specializing in plate making. Over the years, it has established an integrated production system covering prepress, printing, finishing, and delivery. Today, subcontract printing is its core business, serving a wide range of customer needs, including catalogs, posters, and books.

The company has used Komori presses since its founding. It currently operates eight presses in 37-inch, 40-inch, 44-inch, strategically allocating jobs according to format size, number of jobs, and production requirements to maximize productivity.

Operating an all-Komori fleet has enabled the standardization of press operation, maintenance procedures, and spare parts management. This also allows operators to work across multiple presses as production demands change. In addition, the company places a high level of trust in Komori's service network, which provides prompt support whenever issues arise through its nationwide service organization and large team of service engineers.

"When we look 20 or 30 years ahead, we believe Komori is the only choice," says President Kanazawa.

Built on this long-standing relationship of trust, Sansho Printing has highly evaluated the advance EX Edition not only for its performance, but also for its operational efficiency and support system, and is steadily moving forward with phased equipment upgrades.

The trigger for the investment came from a printing test of the Lithrone GX40RP advance EX Edition conducted at KGC in March 2023.
"The key question was whether it could handle ultra-thin paper," recalls President Kanazawa. During the test, deliberately challenging thin paper were used, including A-size gloss 25.9 kg and A3 coated 35 kg paper. The results far exceeded expectations.
"The print quality was remarkably great. I felt it was an outstanding press, and on the drive home I thought, 'I want to replace all of our presses with advance EX Edition.'"

To strengthen its capabilities in thin and ultra-thin paper printing, the company installed a Lithrone G37 specially configured for enhanced ultra-thin paper handling in November 2024, positioning it as a press for short-run jobs. Building on the success of that investment, the company installed two 44-inch presses, Lithrone G44 advance EX Edition (GL-544A and GL-444A) in November 2025. With the addition of these two presses, the company now operates a total of five 44-inch presses.

"The three existing presses are mainly used for thick stock applications, while the two newly installed advance EX Edition presses take full advantage of their performance capabilities to handle thin and ultra-thin paper jobs," says President Kanazawa.

The company plans to continue upgrading its equipment in phases. A project is also underway to replace one of its 40-inch presses with a Lithrone GX40RP advance EX Edition this summer.

Enhanced Feeding and Delivery Performance with e-Mist

When asked why he highly values the advance EX Edition, President Kanazawa points to its improved feeding and delivery performance.

"The improvements that stand out most are the wider front lay width in the feeder section, e-Mist, and the fan zone control in the delivery section," he says.

Speaking about the benefits seen on the production floor, General Manager Yoshida explains:

"The sensor area of the front lays has been improved so that sheets are properly registered even when the paper has curl or other irregularities. In the past, thin paper could occasionally overshoot the front lays and cause feeder stoppages, but that is now rarely a concern."

He also highlights the significant effect of e-Mist in suppressing static electricity.

"Thanks to e-Mist, we no longer experience situations where static electricity causes the next sheet to be pulled in unintentionally," he says, emphasizing the improvement in feeding stability.

Plant Manager Oba also notes the benefits in day-to-day production.

"We can clearly see the improvements in registration accuracy and sheet alignment. Because the sheets are delivered in neat, well-aligned piles, we can turn the pile over and immediately start printing the second side without having to re-stack the paper."

He adds that these improvements have reduced setup time and contributed to higher production efficiency.

As a result of these benefits, the company is now considering retrofitting e-Mist to all of its existing presses in the future.

Productivity Increased by 10%; Higher Press Speeds and Reduced Waste

The introduction of the new presses has led to significant productivity gains.

"Since installing the advance EX Edition, our productivity has improved by approximately 10% to 15% compared with our previous presses," says President Kanazawa.

Regarding thin paper production, General Manager Yoshida notes:

"We have been able to increase printing speeds by 1,000 to 2,000 sheets per hour or more compared with before."

One of the key features of the advance EX Edition is its Smart Inking Flow, which incorporates an optimized roller configuration based on advanced analytical technology. This design improves responsiveness to changes in ink conditions, making color adjustment during makeready more stable and consistent.

Plant Manager Oba comments:

"The system responds more quickly and accurately, making it easier for press operators to make decisions. As a result, we have been able to reduce the amount of waste paper used during makeready."

He values the contribution this makes to shorter makeready times and improved production efficiency.

General Manager Yoshida also highlights the maintenance benefits:

"With fewer rollers, roller replacement and maintenance have become much easier. We can check the roller nip simply by removing the cover, and routine daily maintenance can be completed in about five minutes."

Plant Manager Oba also points to the energy-saving benefits of the DC blower.
"We have been using DC blowers since our previous Komori presses, and they have contributed to reducing our electricity costs."

These improvements in productivity, maintenance efficiency, and energy savings have further strengthened the company's confidence in the advance EX Edition.

"Advancing Through Technology" and Expectations for Komori's Continued Innovation

Looking ahead, President Kanazawa reaffirmed the company's commitment to its corporate slogan, "Advancing Through Technology."

"We will continue striving to enhance customer satisfaction, with our sales team working hard to secure orders and our production team dedicated to delivering high-quality printed products. We will continue to put our corporate slogan into practice."

The company utilizes KP-Connect Pro to centrally manage all eight presses.
"From the office, we can monitor the status of every job in progress and track production efficiency as well," says Plant Manager Oba. The system has made progress sharing much smoother and reduced the amount of communication required between the production floor and the office.

The Lithrone G44 advance EX Edition and the Sansho Printing team. For the installation of the new presses, the company made use of both energy-efficiency subsidies and financial support programs provided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
"We replaced three presses within approximately one year, which represented a significant financial investment. However, Komori's support played a key role in helping us move the project forward," says President Kanazawa.