EAE at Work Upgrading Swedish, German Pressrooms

EAE, Ahrensburg, Germany, has recently upgraded Swedish and German print sites.

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitungsgesellschaft updated its EAE workflow software at its Essen and Hagen locations to the current versions of Print dispo and Print image. New PDF functions in Print image figured in the update decision. It is now possible to manage PDF files and perform page paring on PDF level, enabling WAZ to react faster to customer requests. System operation and utilization has become even more transparent and economical with the new client.

Having completed work in Gothenburg, Halmstad and Västerås, Sweden's V-TAB group undertook another modernization, equipping its Goss Universal press in Norrtälje with four new EAE Baltic Star control consoles and an update of the Info and Print systems to reduce waste and boost efficiency.

For much the same reasons, as well as reducing labor and maintenance costs, the Halmstad site was moved off an old OS/2-based system to the Windows-based Baltic Star consoles, upgraded to PrintPP and Info systems, and received a main drive retrofit. Modernizations of old PC hardware and network components helped reduce the number of faults. Remote maintenance also was implemented using a VPN connection.

Commissioning was performed two weeks before the target date, with less interruption to production than had been planned. The project yielded lower operating costs, higher printing quality, new products and faster production, according to EAE and V-Tab.

Also adopting new control consoles from EAE was Stroh Druck und Medien GmbH, Backnang, Germany, just north of Stuttgart, where service and maintenance tasks were completed on the KBA Journal press beforehand. Rework of the Arcnet network was followed by changeover to new consoles and the Info system. The last step was changing out the main drive controls. The new control consoles enable planning and control of all functions from a central location. Operating data are provided by the new Info system.

In Neu-Isenburg, Druck- und Verlagshaus Frankfurt am Main modernized its KBA Commander-equipped plant over the course of three months with 16 new Baltic Star consoles, reworked its network, upgraded its software, installed eight new Info Message and Reporting systems, and installed a separate Arcnet for the BDT ink-rail control. The Neu-Isenburg plant last year had installed EAE's V.I.P. higher-level planning and control system to optimize the workflow. This year it installed EAE's Softproof solution for the consoles, where true color visualization of individual pages at the control consoles is now possible.

Work scheduled for the beginning of 2011 includes thermographic checking of all machines, changing of web widths and web leads, updating of the EAE production planning and presetting system Print, and installation of a plate-management system.