John Staiano, Managing Director-Americas, for Harland Simon, commented, “This new project marks the culmination of years of extensive consultation between the two companies and the beginning of an exciting new phase for the News Journal, Harland Simon and potentially all Headliner/MetroColor Tower press users alike.”

For upgrades such as this one it is vital that work is carried out without disrupting production and that downtime is kept to an absolute minimum. Decades of experience enable Harland Simon to fulfil this type of retrofit for customers whether they have one press or ten. Technical demonstrations and testimony from existing customers built confidence that this plan was deliverable.

Harland Simon uses off-the-shelf hardware, as the power of today’s standard components means that it is simply unnecessary to use specially manufactured electronics. This means if any components fail, they can be sourced locally from multiple suppliers, ensuring components are always available and at a competitive price.  Couple this with control software that is open and available to the end user, and an enduring maintenance partnership is achieved.

The Project in Detail
The first step in any such project is to highlight the elements that pose a risk to business continuity. They are then ranked in terms of obsolescence timeline, impact severity when they fail, and cost of replacement. This is then analyzed against the cost of upgrading.

The On-Unit Controls (MAC Racks on the HO’s and MAC/DRINKS in the MCT’s) and proprietary folder controls will all be replaced with Allen-Bradley Logix Processors (with built in RSLogix 5000 diagnostic software), fitted into the existing enclosures – see picture.

This hardware is not just relied on by the printing industry but by thousands of industries across the globe and literally millions of pieces of industrial equipment. It continues to be developed and has received billions of dollars of investment, which means that it can be expected to have an extremely long obsolescence lifecycle.

To complete the upgrade, Harland Simon will install its Upper level Management Information and Reporting System - Prima MS/RIPSet, a comprehensive suite of management information system. This includes direct ink presetting, scheduling, monitoring and web based reporting and will fulfil all The News Journal’s planning and management requirements.

Four P6000 control consoles with touchscreen controls and color calibrated proofing monitors will be supplied. This console uses the latest generation of widescreen monitors featuring a higher resolution and greater display area. This means more relevant functionality can be displayed on each screen layout which, in turn, reduces the need to hop from one screen to another. Reduced keystrokes and fewer displays means that operation is more efficient and waste is reduced.

Furthermore, diagnostic software will be available at the Harland Simon supplied maintenance PC, P6000 control consoles and via color touch screen HMI’s [Human Machine Interface] on the HO and MCT units. This streamlines fault finding procedures and enables 24/7 remote diagnostic and support via a VPN line.

About Harland Simon
Harland Simon is one of the world’s leading supplier of newspaper press control and management systems. With its roots going back to 1915, the company has been providing innovative, user-friendly and reliable solutions to the newspaper printing industry for over thirty years, from ‘turnkey’ systems for new presses to cost effective upgrades on existing presses.

Utilizing the benefits of industry-standard hardware and software platforms, Harland Simon offers a complete range of products and solutions including press drives and controls as well as associated computer management systems and production tools. It’s an approach that Harland Simon has used on many occasions previously on systems supplied by Goss, Rockwell Automation, KBA, Honeywell, EAE and manroland to improve performance, minimize waste and maximize production quality whilst keeping presses in daily production.

(http://www.harlandsimon.com)