Gannett Publishing Services has chosen the expertise from manroland web systems Inc. to upgrade and retrofit the press control systems on their manroland web systems presses at The Indianapolis Star in Indianapolis, Indiana, and at The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, Louisiana.

The upgrade project has already begun at both plants, with planning to ensure daily production will not be interrupted in any way. The upgrade includes a modernization of the obsolete PECOM Controls, parts of the drive controls and I/O hardware which will guarantee not only increased uptime due to better parts availability, but also increased productivity and efficiency at both sites. The complete upgrade also leads to improved online diagnostics possibilities via the automatic diagnostic server system.

The project includes a comprehensive replacement of old Interbus-LOOP components with new I/O based Interbus modules, as well as the retrofit of the controller hardware and configurations, wiring diagrams, and controller-specific documentation. Along with the hardware and software retrofits and reconfigurations, manroland web systems will also provide extensive training to the customer on the maintenance of the new systems for both plants.

manroland web systems is utilizing an incremental approach to these upgrades, unique to the controls upgrade industry for Newspapers. Rather than replacing the entire systems, manroland web systems’ engineering and technical teams carefully assess the technology at each plant, rate the urgency of each component upgrade, and utilize the existing framework of the existing presses to provide maximum cost efficiency.. This gives the customer the option to do these upgrades over time, and reduces the need for excessive capital expenditures.

“We are pleased to work with manroland on these updates to The Indianapolis Star and The Daily Advertiser press equipment.  This process will ensure we have the most up to date technology allowing us to be more cost-effective and efficient,” stated Bill Bolger, Gannett Global Publishing Services Vice President, Central Region.