Newspapers and Technology September 1999
Lankford introduces paster control panel
By Gerry Valerio
Editor
If you're going to design a product, you might as well get some input from those who ultimately are going to use it.
That's the strategy Lankford Engineering Inc. employed when designing its new PLC-based paster control panel, which was introduced in June at Nexpo. The panel was designed with help from The Dallas Morning News, which was the first to install the unit.
"This approach, involving the user in the design phase, has enabled us to provide a paster control panel that meets the needs of operations, maintenance and management," said Pat Molbert, Lankford Engineering's project manager.
The system's design includes a 10.5-inch touch-screen on front of the panel for greater operational and monitoring flexibility.
The configuration provides for improved real-time diagnostics, instantly displaying faults and errors during the paster's operation. The process is designed to help trim troubleshooting and maintenance time, improving productivity.
Another benefit is that a press equipped with the new paster panels can be networked to automatically provide timely, accurate management information to press operators that might not have been available previously, according to the company.
Also, with regard to maintenance, the panel contains 70 percent fewer parts, improving reliability, than the unit it replaced at the Morning News. It also relies heavily on off-the-shelf parts and components.
"By utilizing off-the-shelf components in our design," said Charles Vivien, the company's vice president of engineering, "we tried to ensure that the end user would have access to replacement parts in the same day or no later than overnight from many different sources."
The Morning News installed the control panel, which can be operated via the touch-screen or push buttons, and ran it under normal press conditions. It was installed on the poorest performing paster at the newspaper.
The results were immediate and continuing.
"After installation of the new paster control panel, the performance of the paster went from the worst performing to one of the best performing pasters," said Amos Cannal, technical services manager at the Morning News. "The Lankford control panel, which is still in operation, is now consistently shooting 100 percent successful pastes."
For more information contact Lankford Engineering at 318-267-3131.
