SV-Zeitungsdruck (www.sv-zeitungsdruck.de) is a member of the Süddeutscher Verlag publishing group and one of the largest German newspaper printing operations. Besides its own newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, the company also produces parts of the circulation of national newspapers (Handelsblatt, Bild, Die Welt) as well as freesheets and various commercial jobs.

You are at present carrying out an extensive energy efficiency project at your printing centre. What special problems are encountered with older buildings and installations?

Josef Schliessl: In our case, the situation is such that the production installations perhaps might not satisfy all of our specifications after about 10 years (most of the installations were acquired between 1999 and 2001). But the machines are still sufficiently modern to produce efficiently in line with current standards.

In contrast, enormous advances are being made in building management in the area of energy efficiency. Today’s control possibilities, compared to 1984 when the printing centre was built, are significantly more complex. Installation engineering as it is today would allow a much higher level of efficiency. In addition, at that time the installations were frequently designed in an overdimensioned way and primarily with safety in mind (up to 30 percent surplus capacity). Such an approach would never be taken today. One explanation for this is that oil, gas and power were not considered as important by far – neither from the environmental point of view nor as regards costs – as is the case today. I am glad that the equipment we installed back then are up to a relatively high standard so that many aspects, e.g. building control, can be adapted. Therefore we do not have to start at the beginning everywhere.

What gave the impetus to launch this project and how did you go about it?

It began with the persons concerned. The project was not, in fact, launched as such, rather it developed in a certain sense as a result of the fact that we had a generational change relatively simultaneously in the areas of servicing, maintenance and building management. After the departure of experienced section heads who had worked at the printing centre since it was opened, their places were taken by a younger generation of personnel who first had to familiarise themselves with the work and therefore called everything seriously into question. Whereas in earlier years any investments in replacing existing equipment were done in most cases only on a 1:1 basis, i.e. one module was replaced methodically by one of the same type, the new generation took a completely different approach. They wanted to know how and why the equipment worked in the way it did so as to consider alternatives.

To start with, we wanted to analyse our power consumption. For this purpose, we took what we considered to be the simplest approach: recording the power load profile in a non-production period over several hours. Much to our surprise, we ascertained that during this non-production time nearly half of the calculated annual energy consumption was recorded (see diagram).

The 24-hour consumption curve for electrical energy on a day with almost non-stop production compared to one with mostly production-free times, measured in April 2010.

The fact that we had measured these values in a non-production period during which hardly any personnel were in attendance allowed only one conclusion: the cause had to be the peripheral installations, i.e. the building management, refrigerating and air conditioning – everything that continues to operate even when production is not being carried out. Accordingly, we turned our attention first to these areas.

What seemed to us initially to be a simple consumption model soon turned out to be a highly complex matter.

How did you proceed further? What were the most important measures?

We chose pragmatic approaches that gave us the opportunity to ourselves learn to understand the systems. Let me name a couple of examples: We gradually lowered the compressed air pressure until the first machine functions started to cause problems. We then adjusted the set pressure slightly upwards. We now work with a general compressed air pressure of 8.0 bar throughout the operation. The KBA presses, for example, require 9.5 bar according to the manufacturer’s specifications. We have no problem with our approach here, as we know that all functionalities are guaranteed and no damage is caused to the presses.

The basis for the calculation of the required machine cooling were the actual duration and intensity of machine operation. This applies also for the entire ambient air conditioning. For example, we have made the cooling and exchange of ambient air dependent on how many presses are in production and consequently heating the surroundings as well as the degree to which the air is contaminated by aerosols. It is recorded automatically online how many presses are running and this information is used to calculate the setting of the ambient air conditioning in relation to temperature and air replacement.

Instead of getting outside specialists to tell us what to do, we manually controlled almost the entire ambient air and circulating over several months in order to define the parameters ourselves. We did not want to hand over total control of programming to someone who might perhaps know all about building management systems in general but would not be in a position to assess the particular conditions at our operation. Besides this, the entire operation is too complicated to be able to evaluate it within one week, and an outside specialist would not have more time available.

What new equipment, controls, etc., have you installed?

Up to now, we have invested mainly in the areas of compressed air, refrigeration and controls, including putting into operation a new air compressor. Previously only several non steplessly-adjustable, synchronised compressors were in use at the printing centre. Whenever the compressed air requirements fluctuated very strongly, this led to very many off/on switching processes of the compressed air machines in order to maintain the desired level. The new machine is permanently in operation and is controlled steplessly via the revolutions per unit time. It covers about 70 percent of the maximum peak load and thus acts as the base-load machine. The old compressors only kick in at peak load times.

We are at present in the process of installing the second of three new refrigerating machines. The idea is the same here also: i.e. cover the base load with frequency-controlled machines and add more capacity for peak requirements. The third machine is scheduled to be delivered next year. We have done a lot also in the control area where it is possible to greatly increase efficiency with modest financial expenditure. The investment costs are quickly recuperated by the energy cost savings. The investment pays off in any case.

Does compressed air leakage have a major influence on the consumption statistics?

There is a lot of talk about leakages, and most people are very quick to seize upon this aspect. We estimate that our annual losses due to leakages are in the mid 5-digit range. Nevertheless, we have decided not to prioritise the blanket elimination of leakages. The reason for this is that there are some 600 valve clusters installed in our system alone, each costing a mid double-digit sum and some of which are already losing compressed air. Leaks can occur also at another 1000 places. It is like a water hose: you can fix 100 holes, but as long as there is still one hole in the hose the whole thing will continue to leak. To be consequential, you would have to purge the entire system of leakages and that mean an estimated investment of 600,000 to 800,000 euros. We calculated the ROI to be about 16 years, and that is not economically feasible. Therefore we chose the following solution: the compressed air is integrated into the finishing process. Because production is carried out only with the room illumination switched on, we coupled the compressed air to the lighting. At the end of production, the light of the production line is switched off and the compressed air supply stopped – and leakages no longer have any effect in non-production times. This cost us almost nothing and is highly effective.

Can you describe your project team’s working method in more detail? 

Our project-related discussions can be highly confrontational – though without losing their professional character. In our discussions we do not reject controversial solutions – no matter how abstract they may initially seem – until it becomes clear which approaches are unsuitable and which approach is the best. It is my job as a manager to create an atmosphere that permits such a working method. Our philosophy is that not everything must automatically move towards the seemingly best solution right from the start, instead it should be possible to make mistakes. Fault tolerance is the catchword here. This means that colleagues can approach the problem creatively and without fear, which is the only way that the best possible solution can be developed, even though it might not seem to be so on the surface. Otherwise the team would confine its attention solely to topics and solutions that could be carried out without any risk and much potential would remain unconsidered and unrealised. In this respect we differ fundamentally from many other companies.

When setting out, we did not initially resolve to implement Green Printing, lower our power requirements by a certain percentage or any such thing. We simply got going and familiarised ourselves with the subject matter. We are not finished by a long shot, but very successful already. Naturally, we also want to reduce our CO2 footprint and produce responsibly in a sustainable way. That is further motivation to drive the project forward.

What have the measures achieved? How can the savings be quantified?

At present we do not have a sufficient number of counters installed to know exactly where how much is consumed and to be able to quantify whether a particular measure made a corresponding contribution to the savings. As stated before, the project is ongoing. While not wishing to make a definitive claim, I would put the savings achieved to date as a lower 6-digit euro figure per year. But this will increase considerably in the next years after the already begun individual projects are completed. Alone the lowering of the set compressed air pressure (as described above) saves some 38,000 euros per year – a figure that has been verified. I wish at this point to cite the following ROIs for some investments by way of example:

• Replacement of existing refrigerating machines (capital investment: 450,000 euros): 2.8 years
• Control of building management systems (air conditioning/ambient air; 62,000 euros): 4.2 years

• Humidifying system only for paper day store instead of the entire printing plant: 1.9 years
• Hall illumination (LED instead of gas discharge lamps): 2.4 years
• External illumination in the area of the loading ramp and parking lot (LED instead of halogen lamps): 3.2 years
• Internal illumination (use of LED): 4 – 5.5 years

What will be your next steps?

We have started with the installation of a meter-based recording system to enable us to better analyse consumption as well as the effectiveness of savings measures. We are looking into building our own block heat and power plant and are examining our building shell for heat input and emission. In addition, we are at the initial stage of introducing an energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001 and investigating the implementation of an environment management system in accordance with ISO 14001 in order to increase resources efficiency and sustainability. Many operations see only expenditure of labour and costs in the last-named measures, whereas we see strategic, sustainable cost reductions.

What would you advise other newspaper printing operations that are considering a similar project? What must especially be taken into account?

I would urgently recommend them to acquire and retain their own know-how in order to be able to comprehensively valuate the situation themselves. If an outside consultant is brought in, that person should not be a standard energy consultant, rather someone who is familiar with printing plants or at least with production installations. I would advise against outsourcing the entire building management, above all the specialised knowledge, as an outside company does not have sufficient motivation to find optimal solutions, and in such a case it is difficult to achieve both increased efficiency and fully realise potential energy savings. Last but not least, the operative project team should be in a position to work creatively and innovatively. It is very important to take a pragmatic rather than a theoretical approach. Of course, the deficits must be analysed professionally, but that is a task the team can tackle creatively. Our experience with this approach has been positive so far.

Josef Schießl spoke at the WAN-IFRA Printing Summit 2013 that took place on 19 and 20 March in Hamburg.