Centre d’Impression Lausanne chooses ABB for press retrofit

CIL prints various Tamedia products for the French-speaking part of Switzerland including well-known titles such as 24 heures. The Wifag press consists of five printing towers, two folders and six reelstands. The scope of the order includes the replacement of the control systems on two printing towers and two reelstands and also new section control systems.

24 heures, literally ‘24 Hours’ is a Swiss regional Swiss-French-language daily newspaper, published by Tamedia in Lausanne, Vaud. Founded in 1762 as a collection of announcements and official communications, this is one of the oldest newspapers in the world with uninterrupted publication. The newspaper later became the Feuille d’avis de Lausanne, and integrated an independent news section in December 1872. The paper adopted its current name a century later, in 1972. Since 25 February 2005, it has had four local editions, with sections for the specific area of the canton: Lausanne and area, Nord Vaudois-Broye, La Côte and Riviera-Chablais.

The new systems supplied to CIL by ABB are based on its highly successful AC500 PLC and will be commissioned without taking the press out of production. The ABB concept fully supports mixed operation of old and new systems – a printing tower with the new ABB system can work together with other units that are still using the old system. This makes a step-by-step approach possible. The commissioning is scheduled to begin in October of this year.

Damian Staedeli, head of ABB’s printing department, explains the significance of the order, “This is our second order in a couple of months that sees us replacing Wifag ‘Platform’ systems that are based on AMK Symac hardware. This order from CIE follows the one from Gannett in USA for North Jersey Media Group and establishes ABB as the leading supplier for ‘Platform’ replacements.” North Jersey Media Group is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Woodland Park, New Jersey and owned by the Gannett Company, Inc. It publishes The Record, The Herald News of Passaic County, The Daily Record of Morris County, and other community newspapers and publications.

ABB is a leading automation supplier to the newspaper industry. ABB Printing delivers solutions that provide unique and totally integrated end-to-end control, protect existing investments and provide management information essential to improving profitability. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees.