Full-colour control in printIn a journey spanning five years, Shepparton Newspapers has tripled its colour printingcapacity, implemented a complete Rockwell Automation drive and integrated safety controlsystem overhaul, and maximised plant uptime when it’s most needed – in the dead of night.

SolutionsThe new AC drive/control solution comprised:

• 5 Reliance RPM AC variable speed inductionmotors

• 5 Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 700 variable speeddrives

• 2 Allen-Bradley ControlLogix multi-disciplinarycontrollers

• 2 Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus HMI

• ControlNet and EtherNet/IP communications

The introduction of an integrated safety controlsystem included:

• 1 GuardLogix controller (integrated withexisting ControlLogix)

• Allen-Bradley safety I/O on DeviceNet

ResultsThe Rockwell Automation drive/safety/controlsolution delivers:

• Visibility into the system for setup anddiagnostics purposes

• Safe operation of the split press, particularlyduring manual ‘plating up’

• Controlled shutdown of press to minimiseequipment damage

• Faster restart after unplanned shutdown

• Fewer unplanned shutdowns (from once totwice a month to almost none)

A crucial vehicle of news dissemination has long been the dailynewspaper, spread out across the breakfast table. The ensuing challengefor newspaper publishers – who are now competing with the immediacyof television, radio and the Internet – is how to ensure the morningtabloid contains the most up-to-the-minute information, while stilllanding in households at the crack of dawn.

This challenge is faced every 24 hours by Shepparton Newspapers, adivision of McPherson Media Group, and the publishers of the regionalVictorian daily paper, Shepparton News. The essential task of newspaperprinting is undertaken by the company’s separate printing division, whichtakes on the night shift. From the moment the last electronic file isreceived at 11pm, the heat is on to despatch the first 30 per cent ofnewspapers to the streets in just an hour and a half.

“It’s definitely all about deadlines and short lead times in the newspaperbusiness,” says Paul Kelly, general manager of Shepparton Newspapersprinting division. In addition to the Shepparton News, the facility prints awide range of other newspapers and advertising material under contract,for which penalties can apply if delivery deadlines are not met.“Newspaper publishers all want the latest information going to press,preferably before the opposition gets it!”

Demand for increased production flexibility to meet full-colour contract printing demands inspired Shepparton Newspapers’printing press upgrade.

This places immense importance onthe reliability and performance of theprinting press. In Kelly’s view, the mainKPIs are whether or not the pressworks, and how fast it can be broughtback online when it doesn’t. Moreover,with production runs ranging from 800to 70,000 copies, printing between fourand 120-page papers, productionflexibility and the ability to print in fullcolour are also chief considerations.

According to Kelly, it was ongoingmaintenance issues, coupled withescalating demand for full-colouroffset printing, that ultimatelycatalysed a comprehensive upgradeof the Shepparton Newspapersprinting press in 2003. “We weredoubling press time to get thenumber of colour pages we needed,and it wasn’t economically viable,” hesays. Five years and two upgradeprojects later, the facility has not onlytripled its colour printing capacity,but implemented a full drive andintegrated safety control systemoverhaul, based on technology andsolutions from Rockwell Automation®.

It happens at nightThe Shepparton Newspapers printingpress comprises a series of verticalprinting units, through each of whicha continuous roll of paper, known asthe web, is fed from bottom to top. Asthe web passes progressively throughthe unit, it picks up colours in stages.

The units are either a full-colour ‘four-high’, where four stacked elementsprint cyan, magenta, yellow and blackrespectively; or a ‘two-high’, wheretwo stacked elements print black andan accent colour. The webs exitingeach unit incorporate a group ofeight pages (four per side) printedrepeatedly. These are automaticallyoverlaid and aligned, before beingfolded, cut and stacked in the foldingmachine to form the final individualnewspapers.

The primary goal of the first upgrade,carried out in 2003, was to add threenew full-colour units, as well as anadditional folding machine. Printingpress manufacturer GossInternational was engaged toprovide the new press. This wasinstalled in-line with the existingpress, which featured two four-highand several two-high units. Using aninnovative clutching system, thelineshafts of the ‘new’ and ‘old’presses were mechanically linked,allowing them to operate as eitherone complete machine, or twoindividual presses, depending onproduction demands.

The lineshaft is essentially a driveshaft running the length of all theunits, to which all press equipment –including the folding machines – ismechanically coupled. As such it isthe key driving element of the press.When considering the motor and

drive system for the new section ofthe press, Shepparton Newspapersdecided to address reliability issueswith the legacy DC drive systemassociated with the existing press atthe same time. Goss recommendedRockwell Automation be appointedto redesign and overhaul the driveand control system as a whole.

“We’d been having all sorts ofproblems with the existing press –breakdowns once or twice a monththat would take two or three hours tofix,” says Kelly. “These would oftenlead to production penalties. We hadabsolutely no technical support forany of the motors or drives, and as abunch of printers we wouldn’t have aclue as to what we’re looking at!Nevertheless, we needed to be ableto get the press back online quicklyat three o’clock in the morning. It allhappens at night!”

According to Peter Tomazic, RockwellAutomation technical and commercialproduct manager for global drivesystems, it was essential to take aholistic view of the project to ensurethat all Shepparton News’ needs weremet. “We looked at what they neededin terms of production flexibility andsafety, what they might need if thepress was further expanded in thefuture, and especially what theyneeded in terms of local service andtechnical support,” he says. “Everyaspect of the solution took thesecriteria into account.”

In with the newTo replace the legacy DC drivesystem, Rockwell Automationdesigned and implemented an ACdrive system incorporating five newReliance RPM AC variable speedinduction motors, specially designedto provide continuous torque downto very low speeds. These werecoupled with corresponding 93kW(125hp) Allen-Bradley® PowerFlex®700 variable speed drives. Two ofthese motor/drive pairs drive thelineshaft nominally associated withthe new section of press (‘Press 1’)and three motor/drive pairs drive theold (‘Press 2’). The Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus HMI permits press setup parameters to be entered and has revolutionised drive and control

system diagnostics.

The PowerFlex drives are interfaced viaControlNet™ communications to twoAllen-Bradley ControlLogix® multi-disciplinary controllers, which provideintelligent drive and logic control.Similarly, each ControlLogix wasassigned to control either ‘Press 1’ or‘Press 2’, with peer-to-peer controllercommunications via ControlNet.

This control/drive systemconfiguration allows Press 1 andPress 2 to function independently, atdifferent speeds, when the clutchbetween lineshafts is open. In thisscenario, each ControlLogixcontroller assigns one of thePowerFlex 700 drives per press as the‘master drive’, which sends torquereferences to the ‘slave drives’. If thepresses are clutched together, oneControlLogix and PowerFlex 700drive pair takes over as the masterand all other PowerFlex 700 drivesbecome slaves, with all driving thesame lineshaft.

Operator interaction with thecontrol/drive system takes place viatwo Allen-Bradley PanelView™ Plushuman-machine interfaces (HMI),connected to the ControlLogixcontrollers via EtherNet/IP™. Theseallow press setup configurations andlineshaft speeds to be entered, and

provide production and driveinformation to the operators. Theyalso indicate any alarms and faults,and allow interrogation of the systemfor diagnostics purposes.

“A key part of the total solution waslooking at ongoing technical supportoptions,” Tomazic says. “To addressthis we brought in local systemintegrator, Terry Johnstone, to assistwith installation and commissioningof the new system.” In addition, asimple Rockwell Automation ‘partsmanagement agreement’ (PMA) wasestablished, where critical sparecomponents of the system (such as aspare PowerFlex 700 drive,ControlLogix processor, and FLEX I/Oand ControlLogix I/O modules) arehosted by Shepparton-basedRockwell Automation distributor,Delta Electrical.

“The diagnostics ability and localsupport has made a hugedifference,” says Kelly. “We hardlyever get unplanned shuts anymore,but when we do, they only lastaround half an hour. Using the HMIwe can identify where the issues areoccurring, and we can advise Terrywhat the problem is before he getshere. The PMA has only come intoplay once or twice over the past four

years, with maybe the replacementof a control board, but it’s goodknowing it’s there.”

Split systemArmed with improved colour-printing capacity and astate-of-the-art drive and controlsystem, Shepparton Newspapers’contract business flourished, until in2006 a new project wasconceptualised to furtheraccommodate the relentlesslyescalating demand. “We wanted theflexibility to split the press evenfurther, so we could scheduledifferent sized production runs ateither end of the press and utilise allthe units most effectively,” says Kelly.

The project involved the insertion ofthree additional clutch points thatallowed different combinations ofprinting units to be clutchedtogether. This provides greateroperational flexibility, with the splitno longer limited to being betweenthe ‘new’ and ‘old’ sections of thepress. Now, for example, ‘Press 1’ canincorporate three, four, five or sixfour-high units, depending on whatis required for a particular print run,leaving ‘Press 2’ to incorporate thebalance as required.

Shepparton Newspapers’ Paul Kelly inspects the Rockwell Automation drive and integrated safety control system.

The key challenge, says Kelly, wasensuring that operation of the pressremained safe. “It was very easy for meto say exactly what I wanted, but wehad to make sure it fit within the safetyconstraints. Rockwell Automationrecommended a risk assessment becarried out, and we thought this was agood idea. The outcome reinforcedand clarified the safety issues and gaveus a manageable project with specific goals.”

The main safety issues introduced bythe project related to the numerouscombinations of clutchconfigurations, which are manuallyset and entered into the control anddrive system via the PanelView PlusHMI. The control system keeps trackof which printing units are clutchedtogether, allowing ControlLogix toallocate the required number ofdrives, including the master drive, forthat section of the press. It also muststrictly control how the units behaveduring the ‘plating up’ stage of setup,which is when the printing plates aremanually attached to the printerrolls. During plating up, it is essentialfor operator safety that each printunit’s movement is limited to alocally controlled inching function.

From a safety point of view, it istherefore crucial to ensure that theconfiguration entered into thecontrol system matches the actualclutch configuration. Should thephysical setting be incorrect, the unitbeing plated up could potentially becalled into operation by the otherhalf of the press, creating a serioushazard to the operator.

“We must be 100 per cent certain ofthe status of each clutch,” saysTomazic. “This was the starting pointfor the safety control system design.There are simply too many

combinations to use safety relays,which is what we used for the firststage of the project. The sheernumber of possible configurationsintroduced in this second stage ofthe project meant we needed a moresophisticated approach.”

Taking safety seriouslyThe resulting Rockwell Automation-designed safety control system isfounded on the Allen-BradleyGuardLogix® safety controller, whichhas been fully integrated with one ofthe ControlLogix controllers from the2003 upgrade. GuardLogix monitorsthe inputs from a series of paired (forredundancy) Category 3-ratedproximity switches fitted to each ofthe four clutch points. These indicatethe actual status of the clutches andmust match the configurationentered into the system manually.

The safety audit also revealed severaladditional areas where safety couldbe improved, leading to theinstallation of improved mechanicalguarding on the units and ‘safe stop’buttons on each unit. Inputs for theseand the clutch proximity switches areall hardwired into Allen-Bradleysafety I/O modules, which areconnected via a DeviceNet™communications network to theGuardLogix controller.

Tomazic points out that the othergreat advantage of the GuardLogixsafety controller is its ability toinitiate controlled shutdown of thepress. If any of four ‘emergency stops’are activated, the safety controlsystem will shut down the entirepress. If a ‘safe stop’ button on a printunit is pressed, or a roller guardopened, the section of press clutchedto that unit will be shut down insimilar fashion.

“The safety control system alsoinitiates a controlled shut if the webbreaks, which happens from time totime,” Kelly adds. “In this case, the webis first ejected out the back of thefolding machine to prevent it frombecoming jammed and potentiallydamaging the machine. It’s also mucheasier to start up again.”

According to Kelly, the journey of thepast five years has been well and trulyworth the effort. With all the upgradework carefully managed to be carriedout during scheduled downtime andmaintenance periods, the plant nevermissed a day’s production. “We reallywelcome the changes introduced byRockwell Automation and theoperators appreciate the level ofsophistication in the system now.With the old drive system, which wasall relays and switches, we used toswap a few things around andeventually get the press workingagain by trial and error. Now we canget the machine back online muchmore quickly and get back to whatwe’re good at – printing newspapers.”

Publication PRINT-AP006-EN-P – December 2008 Copyright ©2008 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in Australia.

A new Rockwell Automation safety control system founded onAllen-Bradley GuardLogix mitigates the hazards of ‘plating up’.

Allen-Bradley, ControlLogix, GuardLogix, PanelView, PowerFlex, Rockwell Automation and RSLogix 5000 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Rockwell Automation, Inc. Trademarks not belonging to Rockwell Automation are the property of their respective companies.