Aggressively expanding its global reach with the appointment of Ron Ehrhardt as sales director - Americas, DCOS Automation has added a partnership with Webco New Zealand for Australasia and Indonesia.

It's been a busy couple of years for Ehrhardt, who joined the Swedish press control and automation specialist earlier this year, after a dozen years with DGM.

The move has seen a close relationship with another US-built single-width press brand, Tensor - which is a sister company of DCOS - after the closure of Manugraph India's US subsidiary, Manugraph-DGM.

And it looks like a match made in heaven: A new project for DCOS in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has seen a Tensor T400BE press at family-owned Engle Printing upgraded with DCOS kit. An existing WPC register system on the four-tower press has been replaced with eight CRC4 closed-loop density/register control cameras, the folder equipped with four PCT4 cut-off cameras, and the DCOS ink density system integrated with an existing Perretta system.

Ehrhardt sees the project as an important one, as printers struggle to make their presses more efficient and easier to operate, and demonstrates the full capacity of DCOS' register, density and cutoff capabilities.

A Chicago Cubs fan - so less than happy with the current fortunes of the MLB side - he joined DCOS in May, and prior to DGM was with George R. Hall Contracting and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. With the Engle project close to completion, he's now confidently looking to the next press automation challenge, and apparently not too fazed by the prospect of having to drive awhile to reach it.

DCOS managing director Mattias Andersson is pleased to have him on board: "With more than 30 years in the newspaper industry, Ron has the product knowledge and connections we need to increase our market penetration," he said.

Webco becomes authorised sales agent for the Australia, New Zealand and Indonesian markets. "I've worked with Brendon Whitley for more than 25 years, and his company, Webco, is a perfect fit for DCOS due to their knowledge of the markets, and the various capabilities they can bring to a project," says Ehrhardt.

Drives, controls and press automation company DCOS purchased press manufacturer Tensor about five years ago.

"Over the last ten years there has been a notable transformation regarding how newspapers are produced," says Ehrhardt. "The move to centralised printing has created both opportunity and flexibility as newspaper companies continue to assess how the printed form of the information they gather will be distributed.

"The challenge for these new centralised print sites are many. The main challenges are finding experienced people to operate the press; having a well-supported platform, and making sure the press operates at peak efficiency. If investment is to be made in the production plant, these needs must be addressed."