Stünings Medien GmbH is consistently expanding its factory of the future, “Factory 4.0 with logistics center”, using digitization solutions from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). The Krefeld-based media company has relied on Heidelberg solutions for 25 years, starting from the purchase of its first five-color press. 

Stünings Medien put the latest Versafire CP digital printing system from Heidelberg into operation in April 2016. The company ordered one of the latest-generation ten-color Speedmaster XL 106 presses with perfecting at drupa. “We need to up our productivity and also want to be able to handle the growing number of jobs requiring multiple printing plate changes more efficiently,” says Volker Neumann, Managing Partner at Stünings Medien. With the simultaneous plate changer AutoPlate Pro and other automation modules, the Speedmaster XL 106 is perfectly equipped for this and can be used for operator-controlled printing all the way to autonomous printing. Installation is planned for the end of the year.  

All print shop processes, from prepress, digital and offset press, to postpress, are already seamlessly integrated with the Prinect workflow. “We’ve been using the Prinect Business Manager as a complete package for a few years now since it ensures quality in production and gives us a high level of transparency,” explains Managing Director Florian Neumann. Other third-party systems such as accounting systems and online shops will be integrated in the near future thanks to open interfaces in the Prinect workflow.

Stünings Medien ensures the best print quality using consumables from the Saphira series, perfectly matched to the machines. “Service agreements for the machines and software maintenance agreements are important to us as well so that we can achieve high reliability and low failure probability and offer our customers a smooth and speedy delivery service,” says Volker Neumann. “The perfect interplay of machines, service, and consumables is a prerequisite for the fully integrated and networked factory of the future.”  

Intelligent networking along the value chain

Stünings Medien combines four closely linked divisions in Krefeld: publishing, internet, advertising, and print. Some 110 employees produce trade journals, travel guides, books, reference works, brochures, catalogs, and customer magazines as well as complete internet solutions and apps for smartphones and tablets. In recent years, the fully family-owned company has focused on the intelligent networking of databases, internet, prepress, press, and logistics. The current investment of EUR 4 million is another important step on the path to Factory 4.0. A practical application of this concept is the “PrintLogistikSystem (PLS)”, a proprietary development by Stünings Medien. This supply system lets companies and organizations order all their printed products and promotional items, from business cards, flyers and posters to catalogs. “Our approach is to combine the best and most innovative machines from Heidelberg with our custom-developed software, and generate benefit for the customer on that basis,” explains Volker Neumann.

Stünings Medien offers its partners individual online shops and keeps around 50 to 100 different items in stock that can be produced at short notice if necessary. A controlling mechanism ensures that stocks and repeat orders are also integrated into the process as well as material usage by staff and stores. The controlling department is also integrated. All in all, this permits a reduction of up to 30 percent in the process costs in this area.

With the PrintLogistikSystem, already being used by 45 customers nationwide, Stünings Medien has succeeded in implementing intelligent networking with the workflows in its partner companies in the sense of “Industry 4.0” and considers itself well positioned as a medium-sized media company for the increasingly aggressive print market.