The trend towards retrofit and upgrade has been evident for a long time and manroland web systems has established its pressupdate portfolio accordingly. Refurbishment, Retrofit, Reconfiguration and Upgrade are in demand from Luxembourg to India. At drupa as well, where large customers are opting for the services offered by manroland web systems.

COLORMAN expansion at HT Media
HT Media, the leading Indian media house and publisher of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest read English daily newspaper, has expanded its Greater Noida facility by adding one tower and one balloon former to one of their three existing COLORMAN presslines installed in 2005. All three printing systems are configured with three towers and a 2-5-5 folder capable of printing up to 32 pages with 16 pages in full color at a speed of 85,000 copies an hour. In their current expansion order, HT Media has also purchased a service upgrade to increase the speed of all the towers in their COLORMAN presses to 90,000 copies per hour. The enhanced speed will enable HT Media to meet its increasing circulation figures in the capital city of New Delhi. HT Media publishes a wide range of media products including the Hindustan Times (English) and Hindustan (Hindi), which have a combined daily circulation of 2.25 million copies and a readership base of 12.4 million to their credit. In addition, HT Media also publishes a national business newspaper, Mint. HT Media operates 19 printing facilities across India with an installed capacity of 1.5 million copies per hour.

ISP Luxembourg with a COLORMAN retrofit
The “Luxemburger Wort”, a newspaper that has been in business for 164 years, will soon produce even more efficient: the publishing house Imprimerie Saint Paul (ISP) Luxembourg is to refurbish its COLORMAN pressline installed in 1997. It is equipped with five eight-couple towers, two folders, and a PECOM 95 system, and now the electronics are to be completely retrofitted in stages through until March 2013. The retrofit will start with audits to establish the actual status of the pressline and in the next stage the section controls will be modified together with the shaftless drive system, and the planning and control console level is to be modernized with new control consoles and touch-screen operation. Finally, the printing unit and folder computers will be refurbished and converted to the latest Ethernet network technology. The objective of the retrofits is to ensure ongoing availability of all electronic components. One of the advantages of the new system is that it is less complex due to the significant reduction in the number of components. Efficiency is increased by the latestsoftware releases that improve the automation processes and as a result contribute to reducing paper waste. During the modifications to the two press sections, production will continue uninterrupted.

Impressions Media upgrades for the future
Impressions Media in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania/U.S.A., has ordered an electronic control system upgrade from manroland web systems Inc. for its 17-year-old GEOMAN. Installation of this upgrade will begin in the fourth quarter of 2012, and will initially include the folder controls. Upgrades to the printing units and press management consoles will be executed over time. Bill Reiser, sevice consultant for manroland web systems Inc. in North America stated: “We are pleased that we were able to offer Impressions Media the best solution and latest advanced technologies available. With this upgrade, Impressions Media will see a substantial difference in production efficiency and, in turn, increase their profitability.” The upgrade will also improve troubleshooting and technological communication capabilities. “Our top priorities are to stay ahead of the curve on technology and to be proactive in keeping our operations top-notch in productivity and reliability,” said Prashant Shitut, President & CEO of Impressions Media. “This partnership with manroland web systems is an important step toward maintaining these priorities.”