manroland customers in North America are helping pioneer a new approach to upgrading the Interbus systems of the late 90s and early noughties.

The company says Geoman and Regioman configurations in the last one-and-a-half years has increased the number of these retrofits. New components are less susceptible to failure and are optimally integrated in the German maker's PECOM system.

The latest Interbus Loop retrofit installation is at Treasure Coast Newspapers, the publisher of three daily newspapers in Florida.

manroland team leader Matthias Heissler says their North American customers are pioneering the method. New sensors and Interbus modules replace old, discontinued components. Usually, web break detectors, valve block interfaces, control panels and ink level sensors in printing units are modernised; in folders and turnerbars, angle encoders are installed, and hardware and software adjusted accordingly.

The 'Interbus Loop' retrofit maintains and stabilises operational capacities, reducing downtime, improving diagnostic capabilities, and increasing spare parts availability.

The incremental retrofitting of individual components is being called a 'puzzle strategy'.

At Treasure Coast Newspapers regional newspaper operations director Mike O'Leary says their press and maintenance team worked with manroland to analyse the failure rates of components. "After we had established the spare parts requirements, we prioritised the components which caused the most disruption upon failure."

Then a tailor-made phased retrofit allowed the publisher to spread our capital over two years.

For the 'puzzle strategy' to work, questions need to be answered including the state of the existing printing system, the reasons for upgrading and wanting to implement the latest technology... and what are future requirements.

manroland also offers OEM retrofits covering press automation, adjusting the interaction of old and new electronic components.

An Interbus Loop is an additional Interbus branch to integrate sensors and actuators to the local structure. The loop system consists of six different types of components, five sensor types and a loop interface, and had been installed into presses from 1997-2004.