Honeywell to modernise Norwegian publisher’s press control and drive systems

Norwegian publisher Edda Trykk has selected Honeywell to upgrade its Printa press control and shaftless drive systems at the company’s newspaper printing facility in Stokke.

Honeywell will provide new commercial input/output modules, bringing the safety system in line with current standards and increasing redundancy in the drive system.

“By replacing obsolete components, Honeywell will help our Stokke site continue printing newspapers on the existing presses into the 2020s,” said Nils Morten Vestskogen, plant manager, Edda Trykk.

“A key benefit is that the upgrades can be achieved without disrupting production by making changes gradually, part by part.”

As part of the scope of work, the existing Bitbus I/Os will be changed to commercial Profibus I/Os, the controllers of the towers and folders will be upgraded to Honeywell Field Controller, the safety system will be modernised to comply with current standards and the shaftless drive system modernised from an optical Sercos II to an ethernet-based Sercos III network with new drives and motors. Redundancy will be added by separating the tower pairs’ drive networks, thereby reducing the risk of drive failures.

“The printing industry is facing difficult times, with newspaper circulations decreasing year over year as digital consumption increases,” said Marko Jämsen, business leader, Pulp, Paper and Printing, Honeywell Process Solutions.

“By using Honeywell, Edda Trykk has taken the prudent step of selecting a phased approach of upgrading its press control system, protecting its existing assets and allowing the company to maintain performance into the future.”