The electronics on HT Media’s 12-year-old Colorman in Greater Noida have been modernized to make the new technology good for at least 7 to 10 years of secure production. “Retrofits of the controls and operating elements are particularly popular currently among users of manroland web systems’ newspaper presses; this also applies to our long-term partners in India,” explains Daniel Popp, service manager India at manroland web systems. The electronics, the connected sensors, and software or operating elements, are currently subject to much faster technological change than previously.
Recently, HT Media, which produces The Hindustan Times has secured the second position in circulation among English language dailies in India. It replaced the Interbus Loop on their Colorman press at their main printing plant in Greater Noida in Delhi-NCR. This involved a complete exchange of the now obsolete and no longer contemporary system. The spare parts, which were not yet scrapped can be rather stored for usage on other printing presses in the plant.
Precise troubleshooting and faster production
The new system links all sensors and actuators directly with one computer. Possible faults (e.g., a faulty component) can therefore be precisely located and exchanged without major production delays. Additionally, this improves the diagnosis possibilities for manroland web systems’ remote diagnostics tool TSC (TeleSupportCenter).
The just installed software and electronics provide more features than just the future availability of components. One such feature is that of more detailed error descriptions enabling faster and more precise troubleshooting. These more complex sensors and automation innovations allow everyday tight production loads at a high volume newspaper plant.
The retrofit was done within two weeks without any disruption of the nightly production of the dailies printed at the plant. “The new technology was installed by manroland parallel to the existing system. It was then tested and after approval by the customer, commissioned,” according to Popp.
