The web press operates seven days a week. Besides the two dailies La Nación (100,000 copies) and La Teja (120,000 copies), Grupo Nación also produces El Financiero, a weekly business newspaper. Grupo Nación also contract-prints nearly forty local newspapers. Aside from newspaper production, the group's printing capacity is utilised for commercial jobs, both internal and external, such as shoppers, magazines, books and catalogues.

Rejuvenation therapy for the control and planning technology
This retrofit order is part of a major modernisation project in several phases which is scheduled for completion in 2015. It specifically addresses the replacement of the hardware for the five EAE control console PCs and the three EAE Net PCs plus the associated operating system upgrades. A hardware and software upgrade for the EAE PRINT system, including EAE Density (for calculating the ink zone presets), will additionally be realised.

Patricia Centeno, Operations Manager, explains why the newspaper printing firm decided on the retrofit project: "EAE's control consoles and systems are excellent – and thanks to the graphical user interface, they're also very convenient. However, since the operating systems for several EAE solutions have meanwhile been discontinued and support for them is no longer available, the risk of substantial lost productivity due to technical problems with the equipment was simply too great. At the same time, we're confident that updating our EAE PRINT system will give us improved press planning and pre-setting options to enable us to print more formats supplementary to tabloid. Restoring reliable production will be one benefit, yet the increased flexibility when it comes to planning and managing commercial jobs is equally important."

The retrofit work is due to be executed in San José in August and September 2015. "We can't afford to have our production disrupted by the retrofit measures, which is why press downtime needs to be kept to a minimum", says Production Manager Juan Carlos Ávila. QIPC-EAE Americas' technicians will schedule the retrofit activities around the customer's production to avoid any interruption.

The next retrofit phase for the web press at Grupo Nación is planned for the coming year. The aim then will be to upgrade the service and information systems and the press controls to the latest state of the art.

About Grupo Nación
Grupo Nación – at home in San José, the capital of Costa Rica – is one of the most important media companies in Central America. It is editorially and financially independent and it is a leading company in newspaper and commercial printing, online, radio and events with a main purpose: to inform.

Grupo Nación has established itself as a multimedia group with the ability to respond effectively to changes in the marketplace and in national media consumption. With its daily La Nación and the newspaper La Teja the Group reaches more than 40% of the Costa Rican population. It is also responsible for El Financiero, the business and management weekly, as well as Perfil and Sabores, the country's two premier magazines.

About EAE Engineering Automation Electronics GmbH
The Ahrensburg-based company is active in graphic industries, automation solutions and automation technology. The company, founded in 1962 by Richard Ewert, is the leading supplier of controls, automation solutions and software for newspaper printers. EAE's solutions are being used in all areas of a newspaper printing plant – from pre press to the mailroom. Worldwide more than 550 newspaper printing plants are using EAE's control systems to produce more than 125 million newspapers each day.

For more information on EAE please visit: http://www.eae.com