By: E&P Staff ABB, Baden, Switzerland received an order for a press automation retrofit from Saint-Paul, in Fribourg, Switzerland, printer of several German- and French-language regional newspapers, including the popular Freiburger Nachrichten, La Libert? and La Gruy?re.
When Saint-Paul adds six more color decks and a new folder to its Wifag OF7 press, it will convert the press to shaftless operation and install three ABB MPS Control Consoles and ABB's advanced MPS Production press-management system to manage and automate the entire production process.
The press extension and retrofit will provide capacity to print 64 broadsheet pages in full color, according to Technical Director Anton Burri, who expected the upgrade and expansion to be operational in six months.
The new control systems will be based on ABB's AC31/KT98 PLC, which is now installed worldwide. All the systems will be connected to each other and to the control consoles and MPS Production by Ethernet, thereby simplifying commissioning, maintenance and troubleshooting.
The variously rated shaftless drives are all conventional AC drives from ABB's ACS800 product range. ABB said use of its MPS Open Motion Control "means that expensive servo drives are not required and the extremely high precision necessary for shaftless operation can be achieved with conventional drives."
Control and automation systems installation starts in October, with test production starting the following month. The entire configuration is to be in full production in January.
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