Not satisfied with reducing ink consumption to 2g a copy, German newspaper printer Druckhaus Ulm-Oberschwaben (DUO) is looking to further savings with automatic colour control.

The company modernised production with a 2010 order for four manroland Colorman presses - two each at its sites in Ulm and Weingarten - to replace twice that number of older Wifag presses (see a report from our GXpress visit). Further automation including plate-to-press logistics has followed.

Now DUO is installing QI Press Controls' IDS-3D camera technology to reduce ink consumption more and further automate production.

DUO produces the regional and local newspapers of Neue Pressegesellschaft Ulm and Schwäbisch Media Ravensburg. Working six days a week, the business employs 170 staff in producing an overall print run of 290,000 copies.

Chief executive Ernst Jackwert (pictured)says the new systems will play part in producing first-class quality. "As a modern printing operation, we have to protect the environment by reducing our use of resources on the one hand and, on the other, using our well-trained staff effectively by automating unnecessary manual tasks."

IDS-3D automatic colour and damp control uses an image-based process with markless measurement and monitors printed image quality in the same way. A digital camera processes measurement data in real time and uses the digital TIFF image as a reference.

QIPC's IQM quality management system is also being introduced from this northern autumn, providing web-based reporting of register, colour density and fan-out data as well as information about waste copies.