ABB announced at Nexpo that The Orange County (Calif.) Register is up and running with their re-powered Goss Metro shaftless press, which include ABB’s ACS600 AC drives.

The project was completed in an effort to improve efficiency, decrease waste and provide press operators with enhanced maintenance options. Each unit on the Register’s press can now run independently of the others.

“We are very excited about this project and expect to see fundamental changes in our printing process as a result,” said Dan Guthrie, electrical maintenance supervisor at the Register. “Being in California, the bulk of our return on investment was based on electrical savings moving from the DC to AC motors. The operational enhancements from going shaftless are very positive side benefits.”

ABB also announced at the show that The San Diego Union-Tribune has installed its AC600 AC drives on two of its four double-wide Goss Metro presses, which are now in full production. The Union-Tribune’s two remaining presses are currently in the installation phase.

ABB’s AC drives replace older DC drives on the Metros at both the Register and the Union-Tribune.

“We’ve got a lot of interest in retrofit right now in both Goss and TKS presses for press controls, reel tension paster controls and re-power, which includes both shaftless and shafted AC drives,” said Jeff Gelfand, national sales and marketing director for ABB.

Brock Solutions and Masthead International were also involved in both newspaper projects.