“This is one of the most eye-catching orders that has been received during this past DRUPA exhibition”, says CEO Menno Jansen of Q.I. Press Controls in Oosterhout. Star Publications Bhd in Malaysia aims to upgrade its three Goss Colorliner newspaper presses to the state-of-the-art level of contemporary newspaper presses. This is made possible with an extensive mRC+ and ABD (Air Bustle Device) configuration by Q.I. Press Controls in collaboration with Goss International.

The Goss Colorliners at Star Publications started operation in Shah Alam and Penang in 2002. Back then, the colour and cut-off register were controlled manually and depended on the printing skill of the staff. “Keeping in view the substantial period that our presses will need to print in the future, this would no longer be competitive”, says Mr. Mohamed Hassan Bin Mohamed Ali, the company's General Manager, Production. Through discussions with Goss and Q.I. Press Controls, one realised that to achieve the better print quality and a viable return of investment the solution would also include Q.I. Press Controls’ fully automated fan-out system with ABD.

All the three Colorliner presses comprising of four 4-high printing towers and one 2-high towers with 2-3-3 jaw folder. Two presslines are in operation in Shah Alam and one in Penang. These presses are used to print the English-language newspaper, ‘The Star’, with a print run of 300,000 a day.

In the autumn of 2012, Q.I. Press Controls will equip the Star Publication’s Colorliners with a total of 96 mRC+ cameras, 36 Air Bustle Devices and the IQM management system. The mRC+ cameras are set to monitor and optimise 12 full colour webs plus 36 ribbons, fully automatically; the full colour webs in terms of colour register including fan-out register and the ribbons in terms of positions.

During reference visits to users of Q.I. Press Controls’ mRC+ and ABD systems, Star Publication’s production and engineering teams were convinced that the partnership with Goss International and Q.I. Press Controls would be the better option for Star Publication’s upgrade investment. The fully automated operation of Q.I. Press Controls’ systems, the user-friendly and logical operating interfaces and IQM’s function as a management tool will considerably increase the effectiveness of Star Publication’s production platform.

This autumn, all parties involved will make every effort to smoothly implement Star Publication’s extensive upgrade project; while newspaper production is running at its normal capacity. “We look forward to working together closely as this project will be driven by local support that Q.I. Press Controls can provide in Malaysia,” says Job van Hasselt, Area Sales Director Asia Pacific.