The Koenig & Bauer Customer Service Specialist team provides valuable and unique in-person consultation and technical expertise. © Koenig & Bauer

Its knowledgeable Customer Service Specialist team provides valuable and unique in-person consultation and technical expertise

• Custom analysis of a press’s performance is a cornerstone of a successful printing operation
• Sheetfed press analytics allow benchmarking analysis to ensure optimum throughput and the highest consistent quality
• Training and retrofit upgrades ensure high press ROI and process optimization

One of the key advantages of owning a Koenig & Bauer press – and there are many – is having its knowledgeable Customer Service Specialist team as a strong partner to provide proactive maintenance, upgrade support, and retrofitting solutions from in-person consultation to optimization of press operation. The team’s goal is to support the continuous high calibre operation of its Koenig & Bauer equipment without any unexpected interruptions, provide detailed press audits and maintenance checks, and monitor certain important components of technology for potential upgrades.

“Our CSS team has collectively more than 150 years of experience,” says Michael Eichler, Koenig & Bauer sales director of Service Select. “We are out everyday meeting with our clients and helping them elevate their press productivity where possible with the latest technology, a partnership for proficiency. This proactive approach allows our customers to be very successful due to this vigilance and allows them to plan within their annual budgets for any regular maintenance, upgrades, and retrofits on their schedule. New technology can modernize their existing equipment and ensure a printer remains competitive.”

Retrofitting

Proactive retrofitting is a key focal point of the Koenig & Bauer CSS team, ensuring that its clients are using the most up-to-date components to increase productivity. The team’s experts work with clients to allow continuous production and efficiency, reduce downtime, and implement preventive measures to guarantee the highest level of productivity.

“Your business, your employees, and your customers depend on the machine operating every day,” says Eichler. “Remaining ahead of your competitors requires staying up with the latest technologies as well as ensuring that your existing machinery remains efficient and effective.”

Customer upgrade package

“Studies have shown that one of the main differences between printers that succeed and those that do not was which one invested in technology and proficiency advancements to existing equipment,” says Eichler. “Those who thrived made the investments and applied the necessary upgrades.”

One of the most important components in every printing press is its computer, the central processing unit and the heart of the press, that stores essential data, protects network security, and drives and maintains crucial network functionality. Replacing a CPU extends the useful life of the printing press with modern computer technology, adds intrinsic value, and provides longevity and performance. Eichler’s CSS team pays special attention to this component, which should be checked for an upgrade every few years.

Many Koenig & Bauer customers have taken advantage of the Performance Improvement Package that allows a retrofit on Koenig & Bauer’s large format presses. “Some advanced technical solutions, found in our latest generation of presses, can be retrofitted to existing printing presses which have been running for many years,” says Eichler. “Our audits offer our clients a wealth of opportunities to increase their average daily production speed by 1,500 sheets per hour or even more all while maintaining the highest quality and color consistency throughout the run.”

A recent customer has seen a tremendous impact on its own business. “The improvements have resulted in substantial material savings of over $280,000 and production time savings of 750 hours, providing for a production capacity increase of over six million sheets in the first year alone,” says the plant management team.

Promoting proactive maintenance

At this year’s drupa, Koenig & Bauer introduced new tools and solutions using digitalization. The company set itself apart from others by offering tools that give its customers a better in-depth analysis of equipment performance and reliability. One of these was myKyana, a centralized customer portal giving direct access to the digital world. It can be implemented to communicate directly with the remote maintenance team to always stay informed about the processing status of open support tickets. It gathers key performance data and allows plant personnel to see when print jobs deviate or when something needs to be replaced. The myKyana AI-controlled chatbot imparts machine-specific knowledge and provides solutions for troubleshooting and precise maintenance instructions.

“Our clients praise us for taking this proactive approach,” says Eichler. “Rather than wait for an inconvenient or unexpected time to do the work, printers are seeing the value of selecting a scheduled maintenance downtime at their convenience on their time schedule. Our team is helping them to enhance their operation of their press performance and upgrade existing equipment with faster, more technologically advanced components. This is one of the many reasons that printers choose Koenig & Bauer as a trusted advisor due to multiple levels of support that our organization offers and this is clearly a differentiating factor in the marketplace.”

www.koenig-bauer.com