Product category:
Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA | Subject: Logotronic MIS
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 09 March 2004
Media Group Installs New KBA Managment
Info System
German media group Universal in Munich (Germany) has converted to digital networking.
German media group Universal in Munich (Germany) has converted to digital networking A JDF network embedding a KBA Logotronic Professional management information system went live in February following the installation of dedicated Hiflex software in January
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 9 Feb 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Cambridge Newspapers Expands With KBA Performance
Cambridge Newspapers is planning to expand its newspaper contract printing with a pressroom investment in back to back colour facilities.
Dutch Printer Extends KBA Production Capacity
Dutch printing house Janssen Pers Rotatiedruk, a longstanding KBA customer based in Gennep, has ordered an extension to the single-width Continent web press it installed in 1999.
Hiflex will be exhibiting its applications software in a JDF workflow on KBA's stand in hall 16 at Drupa.
Both KBA and Hiflex are members of the CIP4 consortium and collaborate in Creo's NGP (Networked Graphic Production) initiative.
The Hiflex software has already greatly facilitated the transition to a fully-fledged, JDF-compliant production network.
Further reading
Belgian's Take To Waterless For Newspapers
Waterless newspaper offset has now spread to Belgium, where media player De Persgroep in Asse, near Brussels, has just become the third print enterprise to sign up for a KBA Cortina after Rodi Rotatie
Mail and Standard Set Flexo Standards Higher
The world's largest flexo newspaper production installation is growing even bigger.
KBA Readies New SLF Presses For Market
The biggest SLF offset press on the international market entered the final phase of production at the beginning of November 2003 with the successful conclusion of sheet-run trials at KBA's factory.
"The conversion to Hiflex print support software was completed in a matter of weeks and went without a hitch.
The system was accepted without reservations by all our staff because it offers us concrete benefits in job scheduling, production control and management analysis," said Albert Conzen, joint managing director of Universal.
Stefan Reichhart, managing director of Hiflex explained: "The entire process of networking Universal's operations was co-ordinated and managed by a production planning and control system functioning as a host computer." Hiflex produces an exact description of the production sequence is generated during preliminary calculations and initial job costing.
Once the data have been captured in the system they can be made available to the Logotronic Professional system via the JDF interface.
The Hiflex schedule supports the production workflow and compliance with deadlines.
It also doubles as a master JDF computer within the production sequence.
A shift timetable is embedded in the program to enable daily schedules and shift work to be organised more effectively.
It can be amended at short notice in response to changes in plant capacity caused, for example, by failures or special shifts.
The time allocated to the various links in the production chain in the preliminary calculations can then be assigned by the scheduler to the relevant cost centres, based on either the individual sheets or individual signatures.
This provides the option of assigning jobs to a number of presses, which each print specific sheets, or splitting up the signatures on a sheet and reassigning them to other sheets if necessary.
"The Hiflex scheduling software furnishes us with a high-precision tool for making our production processes more transparent and our scheduling more effective.
It is much easier for us to change schedules at short notice if something unexpected crops up," said Conzen.
"Since production scheduling is now implemented electronically, internal communications can be embedded at the click of a button - for example are the plates ready? Has the job been approved? When is the client due? Has the paper arrived on time? It's all so much more convenient," he added.
Once the job data have been transferred to the Logotronic computer the CIP5 data are downloaded from pre-press via a hot folder system.
Preset values for the ink keys etc are calculated using press-specific conversion curves, factoring in the type of stock.
The job queue is displayed at the press.
As soon as the operator has selected the job, the JDF preset data or repeat job data are downloaded automatically onto the press.
"The big appeal for us is that make ready is very much shorter, so output is much higher.
But above all it has cut out the repeat input of data already captured by the software.
This saves time and eliminates error sources," commented Conzen.
Data exchange between KBA and Hiflex is two-directional.
During the production run press status is reported in real time to the Hiflex control software via the JDF and JMF interface.
The status, speed and saleable sheet count are displayed in the Hiflex monitor.
So the scheduler and administration staff can track production instantly.
While press data such as speed and sheet count are reported directly to the scheduler via the JDF and JMF interface, feedback relating to production economics and job statistics is routed via the Hiflex software.
Universal is an ISO-accredited sheetfed offset operation with a workforce of 50 people.
It was formed in spring 2000 from the merger of four veteran Munich printing houses.
Alongside its offset printing activities (business reports, magazines, books, promotions and calendars), Universal's services also embrace pre-press (including composition and litho), database publishing, website design and the production of CDs.
Its press room houses two Heidelberg Speedmasters - a five-year-old B1 (40") and a four-year-old B2 (29"), plus a B1 (411/2") KBA Rapida 105 that came on stream last year. Request a free brochure from KBA ...
• KBA: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Printingtalk email newsletter
• Printingtalk Home Page
