Every printing company has to face this question at some stage: press retrofit or new investment? manroland web systems experts compare this decision with buying a house: Would it make more sense to renovate an old house or build a new one? Basically any press can be put into a condition which will satisfy the current customer expectations. Which upgrades can be made these days through sensible investment and have new investments gone out of fashion?

The most significant advantages of a retrofit are obvious: It ensures the uptime of the existing press for many more years and lowers the operating costs due to the higher availability of spare parts. Matthias Heißler, upgrades/retrofits team manager at manroland web systems, has adapted to the different customer requirements worldwide, together with his colleagues. “In declining newspaper markets like the USA, the trend is moving towards retrofits. It feels like almost every day printing companies are merging. Hardly anyone is therefore willing to invest in a press with a production cycle of 20 years.” Heißler adds: “One of the most popular retrofits is replacing old electronic components and at the same time integrating modern diagnostic and reporting systems, which have established themselves within the last 15 years.”

manroland web systems offers a wide portfolio of new upgrade features. This includes technological innovations such as the mobile control desk, the MobilPad, ControlCenter and features like integrated inkjet or the mini plow for more attractive print products. The commercial former offers you the possibility to switch from a fixed to a flexible paper web width in a double-width printing press.

Therefore nothing stands in the way of printing different kinds of end products anymore. Meanwhile automation and workflow solutions have also awoken the attention of customers. The quality increasing Inline Control Systems for colour registers, cut-off registers or ink density are exemplary for this. Hybrid presses, which feature digital printing heads integrated into an offset press or even whole paper webs running over the digital printing press, are also increasingly popular and a future market. This way individualised contents can be integrated into the newspaper fully automatically and inline.

For some upgrades it is required to retrofit the controls, so that the respective interfaces and the software harmonize. This means increased investment costs – but it can be worthwhile if the upgrade is part of a business model, which achieves an increase in financial proceeds with new creative products. Heißler knows how this can work out from experience. “A Canadian customer installed 2×7 glueing heads onto two folder superstructures in late 2015 with which he, for example, produces the “Superpanorama” advertising form. This investment has already paid itself off because the customer had some excellent ideas for positioning the heads in order to create some truly extraordinary products.”

Without doubt: A retrofit is significantly cheaper than a new investment – at first sight it is an enormous cost difference. But there are other parameters, which are essential for the ideal price-performance-ratio. New investments can still be economically viable today, as the following exemplary application scenarios show: Expanding the product range: The printing company or publishing house can capture new markets with its extended mechanical possibilities.

Lowering production costs: The previous amount of press sections can be reduced with one or two new units, while benefiting from an increased production with fewer presses in operation. A retrofit would be unprofitable: The printing press is essentially in bad shape due to its age, new technology is inevitably needed. Besides, “there are growing newspaper markets in Africa as well as in Asia, which invest in new presses and increase their sales figures with these investments”, Matthias Heißler outlines.

Newspaper printers and manroland web systems have started to rethink during the past years. A press upgrade is a real alternative to buying a mint condition or high grade used press, however both types of investments can be profitable. “What contribution does the existing press make? Will I be able to lastingly lower fixed costs or offer new printing products?” – In the end these are the most important questions concerning the decision between a retrofit or a new investment.