From Hamburg to Vienna

 

Being the continent where printing was invented, Europe still has some traditions attached to newspaper production. Market forces and technological development brought changes and challenges which now, more than ever, are of interest for those keen to understand how traditional printers overcame challenges, sustained and improved quality and achieved success by automation and standardisation solutions.

An ideal complement to a visit to Expo. A unique opportunity to see installed and running some of the latest innovations and ideas in printing. Also opportunity to meet professionals who have used creativity and technology in better use of the newspaper printing presses. Also planned a visit to a printing press manufacturer as well as a laboratory for materials testing, covering an ample aspect of newspaper printing today.

The highlights of this Tour should be:

• new products created on newspaper printing presses
• workflow integration
• waterless press
• sorting plate system
• soft-proofing
• lean production methods
• high degrees of production automation

Please note rates include transportation in Austria and Germany during the tour as well as meals and accommodation. It does not, however, include flights to/from Vienna and/or Hamburg from/to the participant's country of origin

Please also note that, due to high occupancy rate at the hotels in Vienna during the Expo as well as other hotels along the route we would need your registration by 06th September 2011. Registrations received after that date will only be accepted if we can still arrange and confirm accommodation and tickets

 

Programme

 

Monday, 03rd October 2011  Hamburg - Bremerhaven

We meet in Hamburg, host of the IFRA Expo 2010 before travelling to Bremerhaven, a very busy and modern port city, to visit Druckzentrum Nordsee part of the Nordsee-Zeitung GmbH

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Waterless on the coast

In 2008, Druckzentrum Nordsee became the first printing company worldwide to put a triple-wide, waterless press into operation. A wide range of options, such as variable paper widths, three-sided trimming, inline stitching and online addressing, offer customers an extraordinary product portfolio.

These production possibilities are supported by a high level of automation and lean production, e.g. the automatic guided vehicle system, an automated day store, automatic plate change, a just 3.7 m-high printing tower and short production paths.

 

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Tuesday 04th October  Bremerhaven - Düsseldorf - Gent (Belgium)

We travelled south from Bremerhaven to visit Rheinisch-Bergische Druckerei GmbH & Co. KG in the area of Düsseldorf, one of Germany most important cities.

 

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The printing plant Rheinisch-Bergische Druckerei – which has been enlarged in several steps from 2001 to 2010 –  produces 420.000 copies daily of the “Rheinische Post” and round about 2,0 million advertising sheets per week.

 

• A superordinate print-system controls sales, disposition and production processes
• production is supported by a fully automated paper store and mailroom
• With the highly automated printing technology of the Cortina the plant is able to produce products from 4 to 64 pages with only one print engineer
• The mailroom changes to a commercial mailroom

This - and much more – await Study Tour participants concerning the topic “Lean production and automation”.

 

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Wednesday 05th October   Lokeren (Belgium) - Augsburg

During the morning we will visit the Eco Print Center plant in the Belgian town of Lokeren, before crossing the border again into Germany on our way south.

 

 

 

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Thursday 06th October   Straubing - Regensburg

Now proceeding east, in a very picturesque part of Germany we shall visit two successful and innovative printing plants: Zeitungsgruppe Straubinger Tagblatt/Landshuter Zeitung and Mittelbayerischer Verlag KG

 

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With its total of 16 local newspapers and a sold circulation of about 140,000 copies, the Straubinger Tagblatt/Landshuter Zeitung newspaper group reaches some 350,000 readers daily in its area of distribution.

The production of the 11 local editions of the Straubinger Tagblatt at the new printing location in Straubing shows how simple and effective structures guarantee fast and stable production.

A special highlight is the plate management system with automatic plating-up of the Commander CT. Lean production has permitted the objective of short set-up times to be achieved at the printing plant.

 

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Friday 07th October Passau

On our way to Austria we will visit the border town of Passau in a picturesque setting and where we will proceed to Verlagsgruppe Passau GmbH, a very modern printing plant which also makes use of heatset and has a high degree of automation

 

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All the printing of Passauer Neue Presse is the responsibility of Passauer Neue Presse Druck GmbH. It ensures a high-quality print of Passauer Neue Presse and its local editions. Apart from printing the daily paper, it also prints the Sunday newspaper Am Sonntag, as well as numerous products for other clients, such as weekly papers and other periodicals on a contract basis.

 

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Saturday 08th October  Vienna

After a intense week of travelling and constant learning and exchanging about the latest successful examples of lean production and automation in newspaper production in central Europe we reach the capital city of Vienna, hosts of IFRA Expo 2011.

In the afternoon we will visit the last printing plant on this tour, with a brand new installation: Herold Druck und Verlag AG

Beside the daily paper „Die Presse “ Herold Druck produces „ Wiener Zeitung “(oldest daily paper of the world) and „ Heute “(most successful free daily paper in Austria). The strenght of Herold Druck is on the innovation in producing newspaper and specialized products as semicommercials.

Herold program covers an efficient printing preliminary stage and covers from the printing all the way to the dispatch up to the task of post office. With their subsidiary companies Herold Druck is one of the largest sheet-fed offset print offerers and book binder companies in Austria.

With the investment into the UV technology Herold Druck is uptodate with the future trends of newspaper printing. The mix of newspaper and UV printing makes new product variations possible.

 

End of the Tour