A control upgrade at Utusan Melayu gives the Malaysian publisher the latest systems for its manroland Geoman presses.

The three press lines in Bangi, near Kuala Lumpur, date to 1997-2007 have been upgraded and extended, and are part of a manroland arsenal which includes Uniset presses in Penang.

One of the country's leading newspaper publishers, Utusan has a longstanding relationship with the German press maker.

The newly-completed e-upgrade meets changing market needs and delivers faster, more flexible and economical production. The entire control desk technology has been modernised and components of the drive systems of the two Geoman presses upgraded, giving Utusan the most modern technology available.

In the first stage of the project step, the control desk technology has been replaced by the newest PECOM hard and software, which organises integration and automation into five workflow steps. Processors of the press control have also been replaced and an automatic diagnostic system implemented. In a second stage, drive equipment of the MEG-DLP reel changers and infeed devices has also been replaced with PECOM technology, helping reduce waste.

The entire reconstruction took place during running production - without any restrictions. manroland project manager Gebhard Sutter credits the "perfect support" of the Utusan team for their contribution to its great success. "We are very happy and proud about having finished another successful project in Malaysia", he says.

Pictured: Project teams from Utusan and manroland web systems