Slider and touch-screen consoles are among manroland’s latest control systems being installed in an upgrade at News Limited starting this month.

The project starts with the Murarrie, Brisbane plant where metro daily the Courier-Mail – currently in the middle of a colourful ‘We’re for Queensland’ promotion – is printed. Presses in Sydney and Townsville are also being upgraded.

manroland autoprint functions – including new systems shown at DRUPA last year – are being installed, together with QI Press Controls’ IDS closed-loop colour control, the first newspaper installation in Australia.

The systems will also provide standardised print data reporting, enabling locations within the group to be controlled in an integrated framework. Central is the company’s new ControlCenter (pictured) – with its slider-based ink controls – which is being used to replace all central control consoles.

Highly automated, coordinated autoprint functions control the complete production process from the startup to the finished printed products in the delivery system, guiding printers through the entire process.

Obsolete Reliance drive controls are being replaced with new ABB technology. The sub-contractor will supply new main drives for the 20 printing units and four folders and will also replace the power distribution for all four presses.

A manroland printnetwork Monitor facilitates detailed assessment of production data, from prepress to paper handling, up to printing and finishing, with mobile facilities updating production data via a smartphone app. A DataCollect function collects and analyses press data.

News will also use the maker’s remote TSC functions, which allows access to the functions of the Newsman presses online.