How long is it feasible to run a printing press?

Commentary written by Lasse Krogell, Nopa:

This is a question that you probably have faced several times. There are several factors that must be taken into account in trying to answer this question. Is the print quality still excellent / good for the jobs and is it possible to maintain with normal service actions? Are the maintenance costs acceptable? Are there spare parts available? Can you trust that the press will securely run for x years? Are the unit costs running the press still competitive? Is a new press so much more efficient that you can justify the investment with unit cost savings?

When we look at the situation with webpresses most of the presses running, are old. The “freshest” heatset presses running are more than 10 years old in our region. But most of the presses are 20 years old or even older. As the demand for heatset printed products has dropped significantly and the future is uncertain, the interest in new investments is very low. Also, the technical performance of a new heatset press is not clearly better than for the older presses. This means that maintenance is the key challenge keeping the presses running. One of the big challenges is to find electronic spare parts for the old presses. One solution could be to modernise the control systems of the press.

Concerning sheetfed offset presses the situation is somewhat better when thinking of a possible new investment. New presses are performing clearly better than the 20-year-old similar models. The product range that a sheetfed press can produce is broader and the trust that there will be a demand for these kinds of products is better than concerning heatset products. Perhaps the question here is more should the next press be a digital press in stead of an offset press. But also here the printers are using the old presses today clearly longer than it used to be some 10 – 20 years ago. This means that maintaining the press is a critical challenge.

At the coming NOPA meeting in Malmö maintenance management is a very central team on the seminar program. Sean Smyth from Smithers will return as a speaker to the program and certainly discuss the question of offset or digital. Then we will have a presentation by Eric van Kessel from Graphic Web Systems, a manroland-goss company, specialising in retrofits, maintenance and spare parts of older presses. These presentations will be followed by a panel discussion on the subject.

Another exciting presentation worth mentioning is Niklas Bille, CEO of Billes, a Swedish printing company, who will give us a positive and encouraging story about the company and its future.

If you still haven’t decided to join, now is the wright time to make the decision. We will be around 60 attendees but there is still room for more. Consider also to take one or two persons from your technical stuff to attend.