“Meeting high customer demands with a new control component is certainly a good feeling,” said Florian Fejfar, Color & Quality Product Manager at manroland web systems. The development of ink control for newspaper printing, InlineDensity Control with micro marks (IDCµ), by the Augsburg printing press manufacturer was considerably fueled by the German media group Oberfranken. "The media group had opted for ink control for the COLORMAN e:line project. The customer was familiar with InlineDensity Control from its heatset system in Kulmbach and wanted the same type of performance for newspaper printing,” recalls Florian Fejfar. Jörg Schild-Müller, Managing Director of the print workshops business sector at the Oberfranken media group says: “I have been familiar with InlineDensity Control for many years on our LITHOMAN. We were convinced that the manroland technology could also offer a superior advantage to the “image-based measurement” concept when it comes to newspaper printing.” In Bamberg, the important question to be resolved was whether the measuring quality of IDCµ was comparable to measuring with a hand-held densitometer. This could already be affirmed in the first production runs. “The system launch has been a major success. It allowed us to stabilize the overall process and save resources,” explains Schild-Müller.

Minimal operator effort
In addition to improved quality, printing companies expect investments to achieve considerable drops in operator effort and material requirements, coupled with low operating costs. In Bamberg, IDCµ fulfills all of these expectations – IDCµ can take over the complete adjustment of inking. As a result, even a comparatively small team of operators is capable of securely handling the press. The current process state remains transparent and conclusive at all times. “Here, technology is able to adjust optimal inking metering much more precisely and faster than would be possible by hand,” explains Florian Fejfar, “This way, even with vastly reduced manning, staff will not be overstrained.”
 
Deep integration
The efficiency of IDCµ is closely associated with seamless integration into the workflow. In combination with the new operating concept from manroland web systems, which is installed in Bamberg on the COLORMAN e:line, there are even greater advantages. IDCµ does not have to be permanently linked to the pre-press stage, making it less complex than the conventional “image-based measurement”, which has to be elaborately calibrated with test prints and constantly requires pre-press data updates during production. For new and repeat orders, the printnetwork PressManager (PPM) automatically provides all pre-set IDCµ parameters. Subsequently, if required, individual target density values that deviate from the standard can be adjusted directly on the fully integrated central control console or via the MobilPad mobile control console. The reporting module PressQuality analyzes the ink density measurement and displays it along with the production parameters of the press log book. In case of questions, customers receive full support: “For existing service contract customers, ink density measurement is included in the press telesupport center,” confirms Florian Fejfar. “This offers substantial advantages when it comes to the costs of ownership.” Running costs are also kept remarkably low due to the exceptional long-term reliability of the high-quality components and materials. “The cameras from Grapho Metronic with CCD sensors are excellent. Thousands of such cameras are operating on the market without any issues whatsoever,” Fejfar points out.

True density measurement with micro marks
IDCµ offers great measurement precision and excellent control quality within limited tolerance levels. This is due to their concept, as opposed to “image-based measurement,” IDC cameras measure identical micro marks with a known setup across the entire web width. manroland web systems thus relies on true, high-precision density measurement. IDCµ always measures the same element, the micro mark set. As opposed to “image-based measurement”, no changing views and values are measured.

Fit for retrofit
Is it risky to develop new products and features for the difficult new newspaper business? No, it isn't. In fact, it is the duty of a market leader. manroland web systems focuses in particular on retrofitting color control systems to existing equipment. IDCµ is designed for retrofitting and can be integrated on all printing presses in the PECOM environment from manroland web systems or other makes. “Despite its high quality components, the retrofit product is available at a very attractive price for cost-sensitive projects,” promises Fejfar.