KINNA – The Västerslätt industrial area, northwest of the centre of Umeå, is the location of the “Nya VK huset” (New VK building). The area is almost completely enclosed by European highway 12 that links Norway, Sweden and Finland as well as European highway 4 that runs from the north to the south in Sweden, making this site a highly strategic location. One of the two buildings holds the headquarters and editorial offices of the Swedish dailies Västerbottens-Kuriren and Västerbottens Folkblad. In the other building, Daily Print i Umeå AB operates its newspaper printing business. Since 2006, the company is a fully-owned subsidiary of Västerbottens-Kuriren Media Aktiebolag. In addition to the Group’s own newspapers, the printing plant also prints the northern editions of the two large Swedish dailies Dagens Industri and Dagens Nyheter.

Since 2012, the company has made considerable investments in its operations to secure and streamline its plant for the future. The existing Nohab/Uniman press from Manroland has now been expanded with an additional two second-hand Uniman printing towers, offering a capacity to print up to 160 tabloid pages. Currently, the control system in the packaging hall is being replaced and rebuilt.

Since 2013, Daily Print has considered and evaluated the possibility to invest in a new closed-loop color register and color density system for the press. Daily Print’s Technical and Production Manager Thomas Sandström elaborates: “We have used automated control of the color registers in our three oldest towers for quite some time, and we see this as an absolute necessity also for the two newer 4H towers. At the same time, I am confident that those printing plants who targets to stay competitive in a long term perspective will all be equipped with on-line closed-loop color control. The reduction of waste paper and ink together with the quality assurance that can be achieved with these systems will on the one hand contribute to financial savings and on the other guarantee uniform and high quality of printed products.” 

Daily Print has recently placed an order for an inspection system from DCOS Sweden AB. The delivery includes automatic control of the color register for three 4H towers and cut-off control on five webs. The color register cameras are upgraded and fully compatible for future extension with closed-loop color control. The scope of the delivery also means that the existing Multicam color register system from Quad Tech will be dismantled and replaced on one 4H tower. The new system is prepared to replace the remaining parts of the Multicam system in the future.

“After all, the use of closed-loop technology to control color density in newspaper printing is a relatively new trend, and to us it has been an exciting process to compare and evaluate the different technologies and system solutions on the different reference installations we have visited. Apart from mere technical aspects and the size of the investment, it was also important for us to find a long-term partner and a system with low operating and maintenance costs,” Thomas continues.

The installation of the DCOS inspection system will commence in July-August this year and will be done in parallel with the daily production. 

“We have seen a rising demand for this kind of investment where printing companies strive to streamline and increase their competitiveness through improved control of costs and quality. It is a thrill to work with these products. We often get deeply involved in pre-condition and ROI discussions with potential customers and this give a very good understanding of each customer’s operation, challenges and potential. It is highly instructive and it gives us a good insight that contributes to long-term relationships,” says Andreas Andersson (product owner of the inspection system and salesman at DCOS).