ABB, one of the leading suppliers of automation solutions for the newspaper industry, has been selected by The Chronicle Herald in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to perform a complete retrofit of the controls and management system on their Wifag OF370 press.
The Chronicle Herald is Canada’s largest family-owned newspaper.
APOS positioning system
ABB’s scope of supply includes the press management system MPS Production, three control consoles, the complete replacement of the control systems on The Chronicle Herald’s folder and four printing towers, ABB’s APOS positioning system as a replacement for the obsolete systems on the folder and four towers, a complete controls replacement for the five reelstands and, finally, new drives for all units.
For ABB this order is the tenth for a retrofit project on a Wifag press in the last few years and also the eighth for its APOS positioning system. The main block of the commissioning will begin in early 2015 with further phases covering the reelstands and drives following later. The commissioning will be carried out without taking the press out of service — normal production will continue simultaneously with the commissioning work.
Single press operation
Jeff Gelfand, ABB’s sales director for North America, says, “We are looking forward to working together with the team at The Chronicle Herald. We are also proud of the fact that this order further confirms ABB’s leadership in the retrofitting of Wifag presses.”
Ian Scott, vice president,operations, for The Chronicle Herald, also sees the importance of the project. “Our customers expect a rich and provocative newspaper, delivered to their homes every day by 6 am.
With a single press operation, no one but ABB could demonstrate the capacity to manage our project while ensuring continuous production,” says Ian Scott. “The Chronicle Herald has been expanding its newspaper titles over the years and ABB provided a future-proofed option that ensured we continued to provide our customers a rich newspaper experience now and long into the future,” adds Scott.
Jeff Gelfand sees the future- proofing as a key issue and adds, “We are convinced that only ABB can give a credible contractual assurance of the long-term availability of spare parts.”
