Offset Printing

Koenig & Bauer: Predictive maintenance successfully introduced

Thursday 22. April 2021 - Koenig & Bauer has successfully launched predictive maintenance for printing presses. In close collaboration with more than 20 pilot customers from the newspaper and commercial markets, various workflows were developed and implemented.

The goal of predictive maintenance is clearly defined. “We use existing machine data and analyse this information automatically. In this way, potential faults can be identified before they occur and rectified in good time,” says Thomas Potzkai, head of service at Koenig & Bauer.
The service manager has a complete overview of the case and the machine. On this basis he plans remote maintenance and any service calls. The technician on site rectifies the fault within the scope of pre-planned assignments before a machine breakdown occurs. The downtimes required for this are shifted to non-production times. The customer benefits from reliable production and higher plant availability.
Currently, a large number of machine components, such as plate changers, reelstands or lubrication systems and hydraulic clamping, can be evaluated. Predictive maintenance makes use of artificial intelligence methods such as rule mining or machine learning to automatically, simultaneously and precisely examine machine data. In the process, processes and interactions of machine components and networks inside a machine system that are not immediately recognisable are also systematically examined.
One of the first new customers is the printing company WE-Druck from Oldenburg. Three years ago the company invested in a new Commander CL from Koenig & Bauer. Margit Schweizer, authorised signatory at WE-Druck: “Predictive maintenance gives us security. We cannot afford any downtimes or sudden failures. Our customers expect quality and on-time delivery from us.”
Predictive maintenance as part of the overall concept
Predictive maintenance further rounds off Koenig & Bauer’s service concept. Together with spare parts, remote services, Visual PressSupport, ad-hoc assignments and Preventive Services (periodic maintenance and inspection), Koenig & Bauer offers its customers the best possible service for their presses. In addition to Koenig & Bauer newspaper and commercial presses, predictive maintenance is already offered for the RotaJET single-pass digital press line and the CorruJET, CorruCUT and CorruFLEX. Other Koenig & Bauer business units also offer predictive maintenance for their presses.