The principle is straightforward: media can be loaded onto the printing table from both the front and rear. While printing is underway on one side, the operator loads the other side, and vice versa – so work continues without interruption.

The vacuum table has front and rear sections, both with the usual continuous adjustment. A side benefit is that vacuum to the rear section can be shut off when normal jobs are being printed on the front section only – no masking needed.

This technique brings huge time savings, especially with the Step & Repeat and Shadow files printing modes.

Practical test

Producing 700 × 1000 mm panels on a Nyala in speed mode, with tandem.

The result: 235 panels per hour. That is 71% higher productivity compared to the conventional process without tandem (143 panels/hour).

Conclusion

High-volume producers of identical (Step & Repeat) or differing (Shadow files) media stand to benefit most from the tandem function. With personalised printed materials in particular, this option is worth its weight in gold.