Wilhelmshaven is home to one of the most demanding print shops in Germany. Together with technotrans AG, Brune-Mettcker was able to further improve the quality of its printed products.

Brune-Mettcker Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH from Wilhelmshaven prints a range of local newspapers as well as products for the online portal Jadedruck.de. Compared to its competitors the print shop, with its headquarters in Northern Germany, particularly excels with its award-winning print quality. To achieve this high level of quality, the company regularly invests in its systems. New spray dampening units ensure unprecedented printing results.

Every day, the newspapers "Wilhelmshavener Zeitung", "Jeversches Wochenblatt", "Anzeiger für Harlingerland" and "Emder Zeitung" leave the printing company. In addition, the company completes external orders and produces advertising journals as well as print products for the in-house online portal Jadedruck.de. The most important feature of these products made in Wilhelmshaven is their excellent print quality. Since 1996, Brune-Mettcker has qualified seven times for membership in the International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC). The company also fulfilled the requirements for the "Star Club" of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), which comprises only 20 publishers and for which it finally qualified in 2012. However, in order to maintain this very high level of excellence and to keep pace with the ever increasing demands of its customers, the company has to regularly invest in its equipment. "We are aware of this necessity and we are not afraid of it," says Mario Heldt, print shop manager of Brune-Mettcker. "On the contrary, we are always exploring ways for further improvements."

Equipment made by technotrans successfully in use for many years
The reasons for choosing technotrans equipment are quickly explained, says Mario Heldt: " At a WAN-IFRA award ceremony we chatted to personnel from a print shop from Münster, with which we have friendly relations and they told us about the advantages of this technology." He then investigated the product intensively, compared it to the products offered by direct competitors and made the final decision after a talking to Volker Winkenhoff, project manager at technotrans.

Thus, when the publishing company placed the order in the summer of 2015, the decision had been in the making for quite some time. While KBA was responsible for preparing the press and acting as a central point of contact, the publishing company decided to ask EAE to update the control system. The spray dampening units of another manufacturer were replaced with delta.spray units made by technotrans AG. This was an easy decision for Mario Heldt. "We were not dissatisfied, but our impression and also the result of the cooperation and coordination with KBA and technotrans was that delta.spray would be another big step forward for us."

However, this was not the first time that Mario Heldt came into contact with the peripheral equipment made in Sassenberg. When he started working at Brune Druck- und Verlags-GmbH, a dampening solution system made by technotrans had already been in operation at one of the rotary printing presses since 1986. In addition, a dampening solution circulator has been in use since 2002. As far as the replacement of the spray dampening units was concerned, the printing company attached great importance to a close consultation among the manufacturers and a central coordination of the process. In addition, a production stop had to be avoided. technotrans and KBA jointly drew up a schedule which provided for the initial preparations in parallel with ongoing operations. The big moment came in November 2015. The printing press was stopped from 10 a.m. on Saturday until 11:15 p.m. on Sunday. The actual installation only took place within this short period of time. Late on Sunday Brune-Mettcker started printing the newspapers for Monday morning. "Making a complete changeover within just one weekend is not a daily routine for us either," explains Volker Winkenhoff.

Mario Heldt admits that he remained sceptical with regard to the schedule for a long time: "Just a few hours before the planned deadline, the management and I stood nervously next to the technotrans technicians. Yes, we had our doubts, but when the press started smoothly on time, everybody was thrilled."

New levels of quality and reliability
Since then, Mario Heldt has not stopped raving about the investment: "Since the installation of the new delta.spray dampening units, we have been consistently achieving our best print results ever - and this throughout the entire period since the installation." In addition, Brune-Mettcker also purchased a cross-flow filtration system made by technotrans that has been specially developed for spray dampening units. The delta.f unit with its ceramic diaphragm even enables the separation of oily contaminants. The return flow is clean and can be fed back into the circuit. This reduces the dampening solution waste and disposal costs to a minimum.

"Reduced maintenance costs" is also the first answer when Mario Heldt is asked about the advantages of his new spray dampening units: "They operate more reliably and consistently and can be adjusted more precisely." technotrans achieves all of this with special Venturi caps. Special structures in the caps of the individually controllable nozzles produce the so-called Venturi effect, which creates a vacuum. Clean air from inside the housing is drawn in and flows around the nozzles. This ensures that no dirt or ink particles can clog the nozzles. This eliminates the need for actively generated compressed air, which still causes high energy costs for many print shops. The service life of each individual nozzle is noticeably extended, thereby increasing the overall productivity of the machine. The nozzles can be maintained without any tools thanks to a bayonet lock.

The fact that the printing press at Brune-Mettcker is now noticeably cleaner, thanks to a reduced level of ink mist, and that the new spray dampening units are highly space-saving make the investment clearly worthwhile for Mario Heldt.

"Brune-Mettcker was definitely highly experienced and incredibly demanding but also a forward-looking user," explains Volker Winkenhoff while emphasising the excellent interaction of the various components. There are many factors of the peripheral equipment that can have a positive effect on the print quality - from the ink supply to the treatment of the dampening solution and water.