144-year old publishing group puts its trust in the reliability and expertise of manroland web systems for a large-scale upgrade

Starting this year, manroland web systems will implement a comprehensive retrofit at three of the print group :STYRIA’s newspaper printing sites, earmarked for completion in 2014. Highly reliable PECOM control console systems will be retrofitted in Graz and Sankt Veit in Austria, as well as in Zagreb, Croatia. In addition, numerous other upgrades will be performed on COLORMAN, GEOMAN, and UNISET systems to ensure production stability over the long term.

Founded in 1869, the Styria Media Group is one of the leading media corporations in Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia. The group comprises nine daily newspapers (including the "Kleine Zeitung"), more than 20 weekly newspapers, and over 60 magazines, book publishers, and diverse media holdings. Its subsidiary the print group :STYRIA, a current and repeat member of the WAN-IFRA International Newspaper Color Quality Club, a self-described “short list” of the world’s best newspaper printers, demands a high standard of excellence in its printed products. To stay at this level, the company has consistently trusted products from manroland web systems and has now decided to regularly invest in new technology for upgrading its printing sites. 

Reliability and custom-made solutions secure long-term production needs For Kurt Kribitz, Managing Director of the print group :STYRIA, now is the perfect time to retrofit the company’s newspaper presses: “As a leading publisher, we need excellent production reliability in order to safeguard our printing quality and improve our production cost structure. That’s why we have developed a retrofit program in collaboration with manroland web systems.” The printing house’s presses will be equipped with the latest PECOM control systems, as well as individual quality assurance measures. This improves press availability and allows all data to be collected in the printnetwork Press Manager (PPM), where the production manager plans and controls the technical workflow. Günter Braun, regional Newspaper Service Manager at manroland web systems, developed the concept with :STYRIA: “At :STYRIA, networked thinking is very important; that means including all the locations in an integrated planning approach. Therefore, in this project, we worked very closely with the customer to understand their production needs and recommend the best possible features. Working together, we were able to find the ideal solutions and the manroland web systems project management team will now implement the upgrade in the coming months. 
 
ADS servers: good communication is everything
The automatic diagnostic server (ADS) will be updated or retrofitted at :STYRIA’s Austrian sites. In the event of an error, it simplifies communication by quickly pinpointing the source of the problem and thus helping to resolve it. Four service modules are at the core of the system. The firewall-protected ADS online ensures remote access to the desired computers, drives, networks, and fieldbus controllers. ADS Diagnostic analyzes error sources. ADS Blackbox saves all relevant data, and ADS Support ensures that both the user and manroland web systems service employees can view the same data on their monitors.

INTERBUS Loop: reliable components
A comprehensive retrofit of the INTERBUS Loop secures the availability of the press, as the new components are less susceptible to failure and are optimally integrated in the PECOM system. INTERBUS Loop is an additional line in the INTERBUS which integrates sensors and actuators in the INTERBUS system. Among other plans, :STYRIA will upgrade the COLORMAN systems with INTERBUS Loop ink level sensors and web break detection.

Secure control with the PECOM control console system
manroland web systems is equipping the PECOM control console system with the latest server technology at all :STYRIA printing sites. The printing plants will thus obtain the most up-to-date hardware, which is almost the equivalent of a new printing press.