Swedish control specialist DCOS Automation is to bring the latest drive and controls systems to Swift Communications subsidiary PressWorks Nevada in its biggest US project.

The company - which prints the Carson City Nevada Appeal and the Reno Gazette-Journal with several other weekly, monthly, tabloid and specialty products - is replacing the existing six Eurotherm SSD drives with new digital drives. The existing DGM consoles will be replaced with new DCOS consoles that integrate all press functions, ink presetting and remote inking control, dampening, splicers and infeeds to new touchscreen control.

The existing fibre optic loop will be replaced with a new EtherCat star-network with direct communication to each drive, with the drives and controls supported by DCOS' 24/7 remote support.

Swift director of print manufacturing Chris Johnson says the project follows years of time and effort troubleshooting drive and controls issues: "These older systems now have very limited technical support and spare parts availability.

"We felt the time was right to upgrade to a more modern, supportable platform, and the feedback from DCOS customers gave us the confidence to move forward with them."

DCOS will also assist in the scavenging of useful spare parts from the old Eurotherm drives and DGM console to be used at another Swift Communications site. The installation will begin in September.

While DCOS has a strong history of drives and controls retrofits in Europe on nearly all types of newspaper presses, this is the most extensive drives and controls project so far in the USA. "Obviously we are very excited to be awarded this project. It will demonstrate all our capabilities as we assist centralised newspaper printers like PressWorks Ink in the long-term performance and supportability of their presses," says DCOS North and South America sales director Ron Ehrhardt.