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Amedia Partnered up with DCOS for Extension and retrofit of its Goss Universal Press

The Group produces virtually all of its newspapers in their own print facilities that fall under the subsidiary, Amedia Trykk, with a total of seven wholly-owned and three partially owned print facilities. The Group is headquartered in Lilleström, also the location for their largest production unit.
In conjunction with an analysis on future production needs which was completed in 2014, Amedia decided to expand and future-proof (to replace obsolete electronics and software to extend the service life of the control system) their GOSS Universal press in Lilleström. The press, which originally consisted of six four-high printing towers and one folder would be extended by two second-hand printing towers and one folder from the printing plant in Stokke (Norway) that was facing closure.
The press in Lilleström was previously equipped with EAE control system and the press in Stokke with Honeywell control system. To future-proof the system from a spare parts and support standpoint while increasing productivity, Amedia chose to invest in a new control system and decided tp partner up with DCOS Sweden AB as a total supplier to move and reinstall the new equipment and carry out the complete retrofit of control systems.
“One reason we chose DCOS is their support, we have their systems in several of our print shops and feel very secure with them as a supplier. DCOS provides robust and transparent system solutions based on standard components and it is obviously very positive from my point of view”, says Trond Christensen, Maintenance Manager Amedia Trykk.
The project started in December last year and completed in June this year with the press being in full production throughout the project. In addition to the new printing towers and the folder, two used Amal AR60 reelstands was installed alongside the existing Amal AR75 reelstands.
Plant Manager Morten Kringler say; “The project has run in parallel with the expansion of our mailroom. It’s always a challenge to carry out these kind of projects in a time when our occupancy of the presses has increased considerably since we closed a printing plant. But we are very pleased with the performance and can now see a considerable saving in waste paper by the new control system. This was not part of our expectation and not accounted for since this was mainly a measure to future-proof the press. But it’s of course very positive since it also shortens setup time between runs.”
Universal is the sixth press type of GOSS International’s range that DCOS has performed replacement of control systems on. Similar project have previously been carried out on models; Uniliner, Magnum, Community, M600 and Urbanite.

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Daily Print Retrofits Its UNIMAN Press With DCOS Inspection System

One of the two buildings holds the headquarters and editorial offices of the Swedish dailies Västerbottens-Kuriren and Västerbottens Folkblad. In the other building, Daily Print i Umeå AB operates its newspaper printing business. Since 2006, the company is a fully-owned subsidiary of Västerbottens-Kuriren Media Aktiebolag. In addition to the Group’s own newspapers, the printing plant also prints the northern editions of the two large Swedish dailies Dagens Industri and Dagens Nyheter. Since 2012, the company has made considerable investments in its operations to secure and streamline its plant for the future. The existing Nohab/Uniman press from Manroland has now been expanded with an additional two second-hand Uniman printing towers, offering a capacity to print up to 160 tabloid pages. Currently, the control system in the packaging hall is being replaced and rebuilt.
Since 2013, Daily Print has considered and evaluated the possibility to invest in a new closed-loop color register and color density system for the press. Daily Print’s Technical and Production Manager Thomas Sandström elaborates: “We have used automated control of the color registers in our three oldest towers for quite some time, and we see this as an absolute necessity also for the two newer 4H towers. At the same time, I am confident that those printing plants who targets to stay competitive in a long term perspective will all be equipped with on-line closed-loop color control. The reduction of waste paper and ink together with the quality assurance that can be achieved with these systems will on the one hand contribute to financial savings and on the other guarantee uniform and high quality of printed products.”
Daily Print has recently placed an order for an inspection system from DCOS Sweden AB. The delivery includes automatic control of the color register for three 4H towers and cut-off control on five webs. The color register cameras are upgraded and fully compatible for future extension with closed-loop color control. The scope of the delivery also means that the existing Multicam color register system from Quad Tech will be dismantled and replaced on one 4H tower. The new system is prepared to replace the remaining parts of the Multicam system in the future. “After all, the use of closed-loop technology to control color density in newspaper printing is a relatively new trend, and to us it has been an exciting process to compare and evaluate the different technologies and system solutions on the different reference installations we have visited. Apart from mere technical aspects and the size of the investment, it was also important for us to find a long-term partner and a system with low operating and maintenance costs,” Thomas continues. The installation of the DCOS inspection system will commence in July-August this year and will be done in parallel with the daily production.
“We have seen a rising demand for this kind of investment where printing companies strive to streamline and increase their competitiveness through improved control of costs and quality. It is a thrill to work with these products. We often get deeply involved in pre-condition and ROI discussions with potential customers and this give a very good understanding of each customer’s operation, challenges and potential. It is highly instructive and it gives us a good insight that contributes to long-term relationships,” says Andreas Andersson (product owner of the inspection system and salesman at DCOS).

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Largest Closed-Loop Density Installation in Northern Europe

Nr1 Adressa-Trykk, located in Orkanger just outside Trondheim, is one of Norway’s most important printing companies with its 29 permanent newspaper titles. Half of the company is owned by Polaris Media A/S and the other half by Amedia A/S, two of Norway’s biggest players in newspaper publishing and production. 

Nr1 Adressa-Trykk Orkanger was established in 2007 and has since developed a new printing facility in the small community of Orkanger, which is strategically located to handle the logistics of the Norwegian midlands – an important requirement for the considerable number of titles they produce. A new Tensor T400 printing press was installed in 2008 with production starting on 1 January 2009.

Thanks to its two owners, Nr1 Adressa-Trykk Orkanger can offer an almost unrivalled level of experience when it comes to automatic closed-loop density control systems. Even before DCOS introduced its closed-loop density control system, Polaris had installed systems from a different supplier at its facilities in Ålesund in 2007, and Heimdal in 2011. In turn, A-Media chose to invest in the DCOS Inspection System for its new Manroland press in Biri in 2012.“In light of our client’s experience of automatic closed-loop density control systems, we’re incredibly proud that they chose our technology and solution for their facility in Orkanger which, with its 12 webs, will also become the largest installation of its kind in the Nordic region. This is an important milestone and a fantastic reference for us,” says Mattias Andersson, CEO of DCOS.

Nr1 Adressa-Trykk Orkanger took a couple of years to evaluate and negotiate an investment in an automated closed-loop density control system, and in March of this year, the Board took the decision to buy the DCOS Inspection System with density control. “We have a long-standing relationship with DCOS both here in Orkanger and at several other sites within the group that we are very pleased with. We’re attracted not only by the system’s simplicity, but the fact that the system is self-calibrating means that running costs are negligible, which is an important parameter. With our experience and results from the DCOS installation on the manroland press in Biri, we’re confident that we’re making the right investment,” says Ketil Danielsen, general manager at Nr1 Adressa-Trykk Orkanger.

All twelve printing lines will be equipped with two DCOS CRC4 cameras on each side of each web to continually measure the density and color register in all ink zones. The CRC4 cameras then send commands to the press to fine tune the opening of each ink keys and register motors. The DCOS control system takes ink coverage data for each printing plate from the pre-press and, for every production, the system learns how the press’s ink transfer characteristics look by linking all of the data from the press with the measurements from the CRC4 cameras and the pre-press.

All of this data helps the system to accurately preset the ink keys before a new printing job, which means that the press can, in principle, be started with the correct ink values and can rapidly produce saleable copies.

Joar Staveli, production manager at Nr1 Adressa-Trykk, said of the investment: “The two main arguments for us are, of course, reducing waste and being able to guarantee consistently high quality. Additionally, we already have quite a low level of staffing, so the investment will free up a lot of time that we can then devote to preparing for the next production run. This, combined with shorter start-up times, increases the time available on the press and gives us the opportunity to use this for additional production.” 

“The statistics and reporting capabilities of the system will also be important for us, not least for the optimisation of the press,” Ketil Danielsen adds.

The system will be installed this summer and will become the fifth printing press to be equipped with the DCOS CRC4 inspection system since it was first installed in January 2013, with currently two ongoing installations in Germany.

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Four presses in Turkey equipped with DCOS Inspection

Two Goss Universal presses and two Tensor T400BE presses have successfully been equipped with DCOS Inspection system. 

The Özgun Companies Group which consists of several printing and publishing firms has equipped two of its existing Goss Universal presses with closed loop register and cut-off control systems.

New features in the DCOS Inspection system like closed loop density control and web guiding was introduced at Drupa 2012. Turkish printer Ada Matbaacilik and the Özgun Companies Group were first out to go live on the web guiding feature on their new Tensor T400BE presses earlier this year. The web guiding feature controls the web lateral position in relation to the center of the former board and keeps the web centered at all times. The adjustments are made from the reel position in the splicers.

“This feature cannot be fully compared with a traditional web-guide with the capability to control the web position in the actual web-guiding unit. Even though the measuring accuracy is better with the DCOS system the web distance from reel to scanner is longer making the control loop slower. But for semi-commercial and coldset printing the performance is very satisfying and the investment is minimal since this feature is combined in the cut-off scanner”, says Andreas Andersson product manager DCOS Inspection systems.

All four installation was sold, installed and commissioned by DCOS local sales and service partner Pasifik Trading.

Two orders were signed last Drupa and IFRA for the DCOS Inspection system’s with closed loop density functionality, Nr1 Trykk in Norway (manroland Uniset press) and BOLD Printing Borås (KBA Colora). Both systems have been sucessfully installed this year and are in daily production. Andreas continues; “we have had a massive interest for the Inspection System since the density feature was introduced and especially since it is now up running, we look forward to share the experience from these installtions with new and existing customers at IFRA in Berlin. We believe closed loop inspection to be one of the most popular topics this year’s IFRA in combination with retorfit of drive & control systems and we look forward to some interesting days”.

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Two printers combine future-proofing with investment in quality and productivity

KINNA, SWEDEN, 11 April 2013 – Mittmedia Print recently finalised a new printing contract with the evening newspaper, Aftonbladet, for its plant in Örnsköldsvik. At the same time, an agreement was also reached to print Sweden’s other national evening paper, Expressen. In addition, the production of own titles will help ensure a bright future for the plant. For many years, Markbladet Tryckeri in Skene has been a stable and successful printing company. The company is run by the Hammarström family, in partnership with V-TAB. Now that the investment in a printing press in 2004 has been amortised, the firm is in a position to strengthen its competitiveness by increasing productivity at its plant and providing a high level of quality assurance. 

The first part of the GOSS press was installed in Örnsköldsvik in 1999, and it is now essential to review the control system to ensure reliable operation of the plant. DCOS and Mittmedia Print have jointly developed a stage-by-stage solution, with the existing drive and control systems being upgraded and spare parts from the original system freed up. Stage one involves a new main control system and the refurbishment of the drive & control system for one printing tower. This minimises the initial investment, while ensuring operational reliability, and enables future refurbishment to continue with a relatively short planning horizon by rebuilding printing towers as spare parts become available.

”We have had a close and fruitful relationship with DCOS for some considerable time. In 2009, they carried out a complete system upgrade at our plant in Falun, and we are very pleased with the result”, says Jan Andersson, CEO of Mittmedia Print. ”For us, DCOS  were the obvious choice”.

DCOS will also supply two new integrated control desks for the presses, and, at the same time, will replace and integrate the colour control system, which is independent at present.  The resulting improvement in efficiency and saving in paper, in combination with improved quality assurance, will ensure a rapid pay-back on the investment.

Dan Hammarström, CEO of Markbladet Tryckeri, has just given the go-ahead for a similar investment in their Manugraph press. Dan says; ”We can see an excellent opportunity to further improve the efficiency of our plant. The colour control system which came with the press is no longer working optimally, and it is wasting an unacceptable amount of paper on start-up. A few years ago, we bought a new control system for our infeeds from DCOS, and this improved our registration. We are now determined to take another major step forward with a new colour control system ”.

At the printing works in Skene, DCOS will take over the control of the existing ManuColor inking system. As well as providing a stage-by-stage solution to replace existing control cards when they expire, the new control system includes a connection to pre-setting data from prepress, and a learning function in the system, which enables the system to learn the colour transfer capability of the print unit on a continuous basis, and adjust the pre-set values to the optimal level.

”We have gained a strong position in the control of quality functions, both open and closed-loop over recent years. Our scalable, stage-by-stage solutions are highly successful, and these two projects are further evidence of their popularity. Both Markbladet Tryckeri and Mittmedia Print are successful players in Sweden, and we are very proud to be part of their future and progress”,says Mattias Andersson, CEO of DCOS.

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First Density & Registrer Control System istallation on a newspaper press in Sweden

KINNA, SWEDEN, October 25, 2012 – DCOS announces the sale of a full scale DRCS inspection system to Swedish printer Borås Tidning Tryckeri (BTT) and their KBA Colora press. This is the first closed loop density system installation on a newspaper press in Sweden.

The family of DRCS inspection systems is a full feature inspection system for newspaper presses and includes; density, register, fan-out, web guide and cut-off functions as well as print defect detection. In combination with the build-in data report functionality the printer will not only benefit from waste/time savings and quality improvement for its productions, the statistic report generator also provide an excellent tool to keep track on the press condition in order to optimize and maximize the productivity and minimize downtime.

The KBA Colora press at BTT has four 4-color towers and one single color unit, all webs will be equipped with the combined CRC4 density and register scanner for each web surface. And each of the 10 ribbons will be equipped with a PTC4 scanner for cut-off and web guide functionality.

Tommy Johnsson, CEO at BTT says; “We were exploring different alternatives to replace our existing register control system, and during this process DCOS presented their new cost-effective approach with combined scanners for density and register and our project grew into investing in a complete inspection system. This system will automate several of our labor intense processes, secure quality consistency and give us a lot of useful production related information”

The installation will take place early 2013 and follow right after the first DRCS density system currently being installed in Norway.

“We are very happy and excited that BTT made a decision in favor for our technology. BTT is a well-respected and successful printer and their plant is a perfect showroom for our DRCS system”, says Mattias Andersson, CEO at DCOS

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DCOS wins important Retrofit order as Herenco Press secures productivity int its KBA press

KINNA, SWEDEN, October 22, 2012 – Herenco Press, which belongs to the media group Hallpressen, had in 2011 announced plans to invest in a new printing press at its printing plant in Jönköping. In 2012, it moved the focus to develop and secure their existing printing press and mailroom to meet future challenges and demand. Herenco currently prints on a KBA Express where they are able to produce up to 160 pages tabloid distributed over two folders.

“In our quest to create a future secure and efficient production facility, one of our major areas of focus was the existing drive and control system from Honeywell. Large parts of the system consist of components that are currently running obsolete, also costly, and we have had to find a solution where we can secure the future operation and support” says Herenco’s project manager Håkan Sandstedt and continues:

“Now we have found a solution that not only secures future operation of our press but also provides a system platform under continual development and a supplier that besides drive and control system has an exciting offering in its inspection systems for color density and register. This is interesting from the perspective of efficiency and quality”.

DCOS will supply a complete drive and control system solution based on proven systems and components customized for the individual needs in this project. The scope of supply also includes three of the five new control desks will be equipped with Softproofing functionality and each plating position on the printing units will be equipped with a touch screen containing pagination and status information.

Björn Ross, production manager says,”DCOS solution has impressed us regarding the usability and user friendliness of the control desk and software, there is a clear idea in their concept and a simplicity that is very valuable to us as users. We have a very compressed production schedule and there is no room for downtime, DCOS provides redundant systems and a remote support solution that we feel very confident with.

The installation takes place in the spring of 2013 and the existing Honeywell system will be replaced function to function. The press will be fully operational throughout the installation period that will last approximately 14 weeks.

“We often say that we offer a new approach in the automation of printing presses and we are good at finding cost-effective solutions to our customers, this acquisition is a testament to that and we are very excited for this co-operation with Herenco. Drive and control systems are our basic offers but it is the combination of our inspection systems that makes us a total supplier and unique in the marketplace”, says Mattias Andersson, CEO at DCOS.

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New Manroland Uniset Press first in line for DCOS’ intelligent CRC4 inspection scanner system

DCOS Sweden AB’s CRC4 multi-function scanner, launched during the recent drupa, will be featured on NR1 Trykk’s new manroland UNISET press scheduled for installation this fall in Biri, Norway.

Olav Engum, project director at NR1 Trykk, impressed with the extended capability of the CRC4, purchased DCOS’ fourth-generation inspection system at drupa. “We could see the advantages of one closed-loop scanner that measures and immediately corrects the key quality criteria – color-to-color register, density, dot gain, fan-out and print defects,” stated Engum.

The CRC4 scanner will be integrated with the manroland PECOM control system on the four-tower, one-folder UNISET press. The press will run popular Norwegian dailies Oppland Arbeiderblad, Ringerikes blad, østlendingen and Avisa Hadeland.

A simple concept that uses densitometry instead of color measurement, the technology offers excellent performance, yet is highly cost effective. With the aid of a motorized profile bar, the intelligent scanner swipes the entire web width to pick up online data. The collected inspection data also detects paper toning (scumming) and web wrinkles.

“Developed for high-speed newspaper production, the CRC4 uses high intensity LED’s for better contrast, and the scanner’s compact design makes it possible to mount on an unsupported web between idle rollers,” said Mattias Andersson, managing director of DCOS. “With lower upfront equipment costs and the efficiencies gained during production, the CRC4 does offer exceptional cost benefits for newspapers.”

“NR1 Trykk has worked with DCOS on a number of projects, so we’re confident with DCOS’ capabilities and exceptional management of its various technologies,” stated Sven K. Johansen, NR1 Trykk’s technical manager.

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