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 With over 200 titles, printing house Berger in Horn / Vienna is one of Austria′s
leading periodical printers. Magazine production represents 40% of the revenue, recently totalling 57 million euros.
Brochures, catalogs, and advertising print products of all kinds are produced
on the four web and nine sheetfed offset presses, generating an additional 40%
of revenue. Berger has a perfectly outfitted finishing department, with saddle
stitcher, perfect binding line, and additional equipment. The product and
service portfolio include books, small print products, and digital printing
as well. Berger manages approximately 7,500 jobs per year for national (80%)
and international (20%) customers, keeping approximately 250 employees busy
and using 30,000 tons of paper. |
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The company is known in the industry as a technical forerunner.
The 20 million euros investment, now completed, speaks volumes. |
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| The company was founded by Ferdinand Berger in 1868 and now finds itself in the fourth and fifth
generation of family ownership. The print shop began a period of rapid
development in 1986, as it entered into web offset printing with a used Harris
M200, and continuously expanded its market position with further investments.
In 1998, when the machinery outfit consisted of a Heidelberg M600 and a Harris
M300, operations were expanded with a 24-page Sunday press. The Harris M300
was replaced with a Heidelberg M600 in 2002. Meanwhile, Berger entered the
digital printing field, and today is one of the largest digital printers
in Austria. In 2006, Berger started the largest building activity in the
company′s history with the construction of a 5,500 m² hall for
a MAN Roland Lithoman IV, which has been in operation since March 2007.
The addition of a 48-page web press should further expand the company′s
strong position in the periodicals market. Simultaneously, prepress was
equipped with the latest CTP technology, the most modern perfect binding
line in Austria was installed with a Kolbus Publica 12000 (KM 411.B),
and prepress and web press operations were linked with HIFLEX MIS via JDF. |
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What sounds logical or self-evident in the enumeration is nevertheless the result of consistent
optimization processes within the company. The now realized integration of
essential company departments is, with all due respect, a technological tour
de force. Installed at the end of 2000, the HIFLEX MIS has become the lynchpin
of production, linking with the prepress, pressroom, and web press. Printing
house Berger has become the first company in Europe to control a web offset
machine using MIS (HIFLEX) and JDF. |
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The entire process started with a small bit of information. "The initial spark of the
integration was new information about JDF that I learned at drupa 2004,"
described Michael Schwayda, Production Manager at Berger. "The first step
developed from there, with the refining of estimate data for a future JDF
integration." The steps already completed by employees were now optimized
with all the possible variations for web offset production. Parameters such
as roll width, fold type, paper guide, folding type, bleed, and inline-gluing
were incorporated into the order creation process. The use of different paper
types requires different parameters for screen ruling, ink, profiles, and ink
density values. "The relevant parameters that determine these settings
have to be accounted for already in the order creation process."
The HIFLEX Software and the databases working in the background facilitate
this process. "But, of course, all of this had to be considered in the
project phase and incorporated into the workflow." And, he admits, the
process included permanent learning for all persons involved. "The large
number of individual production steps and parameters first became clear during
project work and the definition of the workflow." |
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Michael Schwayda, Production Manager at printing house Berger, draws
a positive conclusion about the integration: "The percentage of jobs that
lend themselves to automation was high from the very beginning." |
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After selecting the last issue of a periodical order, the employee creates a new order by copying
and modifying edition, run, and delivery date. The product configuration can
then be modified (for example, changing the number of pages) and the production
plan is automatically determined and visualized in a flow chart. For example,
the content is set to run on the web press, while the cover is printed on the
sheet fed offset. |
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| Screenshot from HIFLEX Estimate showing the product configuration, including imposition.
The product tree shows all product parts, break down into signatures, and assignment
to print forms and specific machines. |
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The responsible order clerk also enters the job milestones for data transfer, print approval and
the appointment for the color check at the machine. As soon as the estimate
turns into a real job, the order clerk receives notification that a) a JDF
file has been generated and transferred to prepress, and b) the order is
available for scheduling. The JDF file contains the job number, the allocation
of the product parts, order name, and customer data, and initiates the
automated job creation in :ApogeeX. Based on the HIFLEX MIS data, a
corresponding "tree" is generated in :ApogeeX, in which both the
planned printing press and the screen ruling (based on the color, printing
method, and paper quality) are preset. After preflight, pagination, and
trapping, the processes split according to the printing presses defined in
the HIFLEX Estimate. The user loads the appropriate imposition scheme into
:ApogeeX and the PDFs are assigned. Based on the data calculated in the
estimate (including color, paper type, and screen ruling), the corresponding
profile of the printing press is loaded and plate exposure on the Lüscher
CTP system is triggered. While the web offset machine receives the production
data via JDF, the color profiles are sent from the prepress. |
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| After the prepress processes (such as preflight, pagination, and trapping),
the processes split according to the two printing presses defined in the order estimate.
This is controlled via the JDF from HIFLEX. |
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| Printing house Berger is one of the largest plate consumers in Austria.
Plates are produced with the latest CTP technology from Lüscher. |
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Every order is immediately available for scheduling once it has been entered into the system.
The planning details, such as printing date and priority, are then added based
on the employee′s design parameters. In the HIFLEX Scheduling application
(= digital planning board) the orders are displayed using a timeline. As soon
as the scheduler receives the info from prepress that the plates are available,
relevant production data and administrative data can be sent to the printing
press via JDF. In the PECOM system of the Lithoman, JDF-data from HIFLEX MIS
and color profiles as received from the prepress are brought together into
one "job" per printing sheet. All print-related data, including a
preview of the printing sheet, are now available in the PECOM system: for
example, print runs, ink unit allocation, paper quality, grammage, and web
width. If a smaller web is needed for the job, all of the outer color zones
are automatically closed based on the web width. With reference to the paper
quality used, the ink type is automatically selected. The production data from
HIFLEX is automatically allocated to the stored folding patterns at the web
press′s control station and the folder unit is automatically preset.
With the help of the JDF preset data, the web press with subsequent forms is
brought back to production in only 15 minutes. For a complete changeover
(different printing width, different ink, etc.), the setup time is 45 to 60
minutes. During production the HIFLEX Scheduling application displays shop
floor data that was fed into HIFLEX MIS via SFDC (shop floor data collection)
as well as production feedback that is received via JMF (job messaging format)
in real-time. JMF-feedback includes order number, sheet number, the current
press status, speed, number of "good copies" and number of "waste paper." |
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| Press control console of the Lithoman (at 15 m/s) |
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| Due to JDF connectivity, all print-related data in the PECOM system is available.
Here you can see the paper quality, grammage, and web width (outer color zones
are automatically closed based on the roller width.) With the help of the JDF
preset data, the web press with subsequent forms is brought back to production
in only 15 minutes. |
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Up to March 2007, the HIFLEX MIS was only used for estimate, order processing, SFDC, materials
management and other processes. Nevertheless, parallel to the production planning
for the new press, the networking project moved forward. "The launch of
the Lithoman was March 12, 2007, and the connectivity had to be completed by
then. We also knew that we had to take into account a training phase. Of course,
in the beginning there were jobs that had to be manually corrected. But we have
now had that under control for some time," illuminates Michael Schwayda.
And what has changed since the network implementation? "The individual
employee now takes on more responsibility," explained Michael Schwayda.
"The administration and prepress must work with the highest level of
precision. But with more accuracy in the job preparation errors can be avoided,
processes optimized, and time saved." |
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| Every order is immediately available for scheduling after it has been entered into the
system. During production the HIFLEX Scheduling application displays shop floor
data that was fed into HIFLEX MIS via SFDC (shop floor data collection) as well
as production feedback that is received via JMF (job messaging format) in real-time.
JMF-feedback includes order number, sheet number, the current press status, speed,
number of "good copies" and number of "waste paper." |
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The project is still pressing ahead at Berger, as some departments are not yet integrated into
the automated workflow. A precise analysis is underway to determinate where
further integration is economically advisable. After all, Berger now has
experience in the area of "networked production." And Michael
Schwayda knows: "When we access a job today, all of the essential data
is there!" That′s exactly how it works when the entire production
process is optimized. And he adds with a smile: "The integration helps us
cost-effectively complete small runs down to 5000 copies for our periodical
production on the web press."
PS: The German "Institute for Rational Corporate Governance in the Print
Industry" or "IRD" (whose charter goal is the streamlining and
automation of the printing industry) awarded Berger with the IRD certificate
"Best Practice in the Printing Industry," for outstanding achievement
in the field of "interdepartmental automation."
www.berger.at |
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