Prepress

Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG upgrades with ABB production management systems

Friday 04. October 2013 - Wide range of new systems and system upgrades

ABB, one of the leading suppliers of automation solutions for the newspaper industry, has announced a large order from the Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG, the print center of the AZ Medien AG in Aarau/Switzerland, for a range of production and workflow management systems.
The order is only partially related to the recent order of a new KBA press for the Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG. The new press makes an extension to the existing press management system, ABB’s MPS Production, a necessity, but the new order from Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG is much larger.
Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG will be provided with a complete hardware and software upgrade of the MPS Production system. The newest version of the software will be supplied together with a new Geocluster hardware platform. This new system will support the planning and management of not only the new KBA press but also of the existing Wifag press in Aarau. The scope of supply of the MPS Production system also includes the Online Production Viewer, which allows production monitoring on an iPad.
Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG has also ordered ABB’s MPS Cockpit, the management system for the entire newspaper production process. The insert management system, MPS InsertManager, which is already in use in Aarau, will be integrated with the new MPS Cockpit system.
ABB’s soft-proof solution ColorCheck, which provides a true color soft-proof image, also convinced the team at Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG. This system will be supplied as an extension to the KBA control consoles.
In addition ABB will install upgrades and extensions to the existing MPS PlateWorkflow system, the fully automated workflow system for the plate-making, and also to MPS Inform, the production information and analysis system.
Urs Binkert, CEO of Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG says “yes, the new press requires extensions to some of the existing management systems, but the positive experience that we have had with our ABB systems have convinced us that this much more substantial order will serve us well.”
The first systems will be commissioned in February 2014. The commissioning of the remaining systems will be scheduled to fit with the commissioning of the new press and the needs of Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG.