Ahrensburg, July 2017
- QIPC-EAE Americas has just launched the second phase
of two demanding retrofit projects for newspaper customers in Costa Rica and
the U.S. The company is upgrading the press control and control console
technology of a KBA Comet web press with ten four-high towers to the latest
generation at Grupo Nación – at home in San José, the capital of Costa Rica –
as well as four KBA Commander web presses with a total of 36 towers at the
Kansas City Star in Kansas City, Missouri.
The
first project phase at Grupo Nación, which prints the daily La Nación and the tabloid La Teja, was completed in the fall of
2015; it comprised the modernisation of the PC hardware for various EAE systems
and upgrades to newer software versions. In the second phase which has now
kicked off, QIPC-EAE Americas will replace the PC hardware for the EAE PRINT
systems, section controls, EAE Service system and five EAE control consoles.
This phase encompasses the delivery of 15 PCs, including spare units, on which
the EAE software runs under Windows 10.
At the Kansas City Star – which
belongs to The McClatchy Company, a major newspaper and Internet publisher –
phase 1 entailed updating the EAE workflow systems for all four web presses and
replacing the PC hardware for the EAE control consoles and other EAE systems of
one press. Phase 2 involves new PC hardware for the other three KBA Commander
web presses.
Everything on schedule – with flexible adaptation to customer requirements
Phase 1 went according to schedule
and was an all-round success in both cases. “There were no disruptions or
interruptions in newspaper production due to our retrofit work in either Costa
Rica or Kansas City,” said Ronald Reedijk, Managing Director of QIPC-EAE
Americas. “Both customers were very satisfied and confirmed how very
efficiently the first phase of the modernisation project was carried out.”
Whereas Grupo Nación has only just given the go-ahead for phase 2 – one year
later than initially planned – Kansas City Star is right on schedule. “Our
customers are important partners: we offer them the flexibility they need to
adapt priorities to their budget cycles and current business demands,” Reedijk
explained. “Aside from that, our retrofits help our clients restore production
reliability and bring their systems into line with the latest state of the art.
That puts them in a position to take on extra work and improve their business
situation, which is a win-win situation for both them and us.”
