dcos-succes_stories_torgau-druck

Torgau Dryck Northern Saxony, Germany

Torgau Druck in Northern Saxony, Germany is a medium-sized printing house specializing in newspapers and magazines, as well as digital printing. Well-known for being creative and reliable, Torgau Druck certainly has to be up-to-date when it comes to equipment. As for any other printer, there comes a time for reviewing the status of the production process and decide what to do.

The life cycle of a press is often said to be 15 years–at best. This means printing houses will need to invest a lot of money when their presses approach the end. Unless, that is, they choose instead to extend their life cycle. Retrofit is an attractive solution to many printers facing the challenge of updating their equipment. At a fraction of the cost, compared to investing in new machinery.

THE NEED
After performing a review, Torgau Druck wanted to meet DCOS and discuss potential solutions. There was a need for a new register system, and that’s where the discussion started. DCOS is known in the business for innovative camera solutions. Andreas Plaul at Torgau Druck expresses another reason for contacting DCOS:

– To a company like ours it is also important that DCOS is not a big company. While some printing houses are indeed huge, most are not. It is much easier for us to deal with someone equal.

So, sometimes size matters. Being small is why DCOS has proven to be an interesting alternative to many printers. There’s an obvious flexibility, and discussions will be kept on an equal basis. Our discussions with Andreas led to an agreement to carry out an analysis.

THE ANALYSIS
In close collaboration with Andreas Plaul, we performed an analysis of Torgau Druck’s situation. It turned out that there was an additional need for upgrading the control system. Combining the camera project and the control system project into one would be the most cost-efficient. So our assignment turned into a mix between new installations and retrofit, which is something we’re used to.

THE SOLUTION
At Torgau Druck, two towers are able to print 64 pages tabloid in all, double round and double wide. This was not going to change. Our proposal was to upgrade the control system into a fully modern and efficient one, integrate a new register system and incorporate a new control desk into the printing process. We also proposed to upgrade the drive system in several steps over time, in order to make the investment less intense. This was all agreed upon.

IMPLEMENTATION
Before arriving at Torgau Druck, we spent several months back home preparing. We performed a technical study, we built electric constructions and made sure everything would be running smoothly once we were on location. Then, in the early fall of 2011, we came to Torgau to spend the next 10 weeks implementing everything, without interrupting daily production. This is usually an absolute condition, since few printers can afford stoppages. Still it goes without saying that it takes quite some planning to make this work. In November, 2011 we were done and Torgau Druck was ready for a fresh start.

THE RESULT
Today, and for a long time to come, Torgau Druck is a modern, efficient and secure printing house. They have easy access to support at a reasonable cost, and the amount of waste copies is massively reduced. This is of great importance, since less waste copies means the investment is paying off.

– We are really happy with the result, says Andreas Plaul. Working closely together with the people from DCOS has been nothing but positive all the way. At Torgau Druck we value being creative and flexible, and I think our collaborators at DCOS feel the same way.

This is not the end, of course. We will continue to work together. In fact, Torgau Druck came back in early 2012 with an order of the all new SoftProof, a software product that lets you preview an image of what you are about to print. At DCOS we are convinced that Torgau Druck will continue to be at the front edge among creative printers.