Kinna – In an effort to secure their role as a leading newspaper printer in Norway, Agderposten Trykk AS, based in Arendal, has contracted DCOS for a major automation upgrade of their Goss Magnum press, involving partial retrofit of the Goss Omnicon system and adding DCOS Closed-loop inspection system.

The nine towers, three folder Goss Magnum press-line installed in 2006 is well utilized producing over 10 million copies per month. This includes printing six of its own newspapers, contract printing for other Norwegian newspapers and commercial work.

The existing drive and control system engineered by Goss at the time of installation in 2006 created many challenges during the first years. The complexity in design, lack of support and the growing need to tackle obsolesces pushed Agderposten Trykk to find other solutions to futureproof their automation solutions. Besides the need to secure system uptime, parts and support Agderposten Trykk was also looking at measures to reduce the waste and consumable costs.

The overall scope of the project involves separating the quality functions (ink, water, register and web tension) from the Omnicon platform which also eliminates the need for the Goss WebCenter production management system. The existing Quad Tech Multicam system will be replaced and the existing Baldwin spray system will be integrated.

Rune Andresen, Managing director at Agderposten Trykk AS says: “We found a partner who step-by-step can take ownership of our entire press control, this was a very strong argument for our decision towards DCOS”.

DCOS will install the control components to handle the quality functions of the press along with three operator desk touch screens, Printing framework software package including presetting and pre-press interface and finally its Inspection System (eighteen CRC4 cameras) for closed-loop control of the quality functions.

“Our primary incitement to invest in Closed-loop Density is to reduce our start-up waste and ink consumption, and in that aspect, based on what we have experienced in our procurement process, DCOS technology is very convincing”, Rune continues.

To handle the emerging need to retrofit the Goss WebCenter, the project was divided in two phases. The first phase, to take over the control of quality functions was completed in September. The second phase to install the closed-loop system will take place next month.

“I´m very grateful and excited about the confidence we got from Rune and his team. This project has most of the typical ingredient of a DCOS project; customized, cost-effective solutions assembled to futureproof and automate the functions which has most impact on the waste and productivity”, says Mattias Andersson, CEO DCOS Sweden AB.