KBA Report 37 - english

www.kba.com
2|2010
PRODUCTS|PRACTICES|PERSPECTIVES
37
Contents
KBA
Editorial
2
Obituary: Dr. Bolza-Schünemann 3
Breakthrough: our highly automated compact presses – the waterless Cortina and conventional Commander CT – are rapidly gaining converts among
newspaper printers, not least the Straubinger Tagblatt, which inaugurated this Commander CT in May
Business is picking up
Print resurgent!
he second quarter of this year
saw an upsurge in demand for
printing presses, not just in crisisresistant China but in other markets
as well. Following a prolonged period of stagnation, sales by German
press manufacturers are moving
briskly once again. At the Ipex international trade fair in Birmingham
in May there was an infectious atmosphere of anticipation. While
this was no guarantee of a steep and
universal upswing, it did signal the
prospect of a relatively stable recovery in the print media industry,
albeit with regional differences.
At KBA, the volume of incoming orders for sheetfed presses
doubled in the second quarter compared to the first. In the seven
months to August, Chinese printers
not only placed a succession of or-
T
ders for B1 (41in) Rapidas but also
signed up for nigh on thirty largeformat presses. Demand has been
brisk in the Middle East and Latin
America as well. And there is evidence of an updraught in the USA,
Russia and Europe. While this incipient recovery is more than welcome, we are still far removed from
normal trading volumes.
Greater optimism in the future
of print also inspires more innovative thinking, and as so often in the
past, KBA has reaped the benefits
among newspaper printers in recent months. A lengthy debate on
the pros and cons of satellite and
tower presses, and the impressive
market success of our waterless
Cortina, have been followed by a
breakthrough for our conventional
compact tower press, the Com-
mander CT. Alongside an order for a
further Cortina with heatset capability for Sweden and a major contract from Express Newspapers
Group (West Ferry Printers) in the
UK for four double-wide Commander CT press lines totalling 22
towers, within a matter of weeks
three German newspaper publishing houses opted for triple-wide
Commander CT press lines with
web widths of up to 2,100mm
(82.75in) for the Berliner and Rhine
formats. These are exciting times.
Further information on new
compact press lines and emerging
market trends can be found in this
issue.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Sheetfed
32m Rapida 162a at TFP, Poland 4
Cartamundi, USA, expands
with 14-unit Rapida 106
5
Ipex review
6
Stark Druck, Germany
8
Interview on web to print
10
Rapida 75: 11 jobs in 90 minutes 14
Rapida 106 for Jordi, Switzerland 15
QualiTronic Color Control
with Instrument Flight®
16
Packaging printing in Egypt:
Trio of Rapidas at El Sofa
18
€40m investment by First Print 19
Automated PDF control
20
Perfecting in France
22
Sheetfed energy audit
24
Climate-neutral printing
26
Rapida 205 in Belgium
27
KBA presses at Sansico, Indonesia 28
Hammer Packaging, USA
29
Australia’s first two-coater
Rapida at Percival
31
Web Offset
New C16 16pp web press
Two Compacta 217s
for Saudi Arabia
Imprimerie Rockson, France,
orders 80pp Compacta
French book printer CPI
chooses Commander CT
Newspaper
Hybrid Commander for
Jordan Press Foundation
West Ferry Printers, UK,
orders 22-tower Commander CT
First Commander CT 6/2
in Europe
Commander CT 6/2
in Germany
Heatset Cortina for Sweden
First Cortina 4/1 goes live
in Finland
Customised Colora 3/2
for Colasanto, Italy
32
34
35
36
37
38
40
41
42
43
44
UV Offset
Genius 52UV at Bohm, Germany 45
Shorts
46
Editorial
On the death of Dr Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann
Farewell to a master
of press engineering
Helge Hansen,
president and CEO, Koenig & Bauer
On 23 July one of the print industry’s movers and shakers, Dr Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann, passed away at the age of 84. When he retired in
1995 he had been president of Koenig & Bauer for more than two decades.
He was subsequently appointed deputy chairman of the supervisory board,
retaining this position until 2006. From 1964 until his retirement he was
head of press engineering and development, and continued to bring his
technological and entrepreneurial skills to bear right up until his death.
KBA mourns the loss of an inspired engineer and visionary entrepreneur.
“HBS” or “the Doctor”, as he was affectionately known to his staff,
was an indefatigable driver of advances in press technology for more than
half a century. The world’s widest-ever newspaper press – a Jumbo-Courier
built in1974 – and the 15,000sph Rapida SRIII sheetfed offset press
launched in 1976, whose technology was a good ten years ahead of its
time, are just two of the manifold examples of Dr Bolza-Schünemann’s inventive genius, documented by over 250 patents.
Once he had fixed on an objective he would pursue it with singleminded Hanseatic determination, sometimes over a period of decades. No
proponent of the comfortable, risk-averse mainstream, he preferred to go
his own way – a characteristic common to many great men. It was his focus
and drive that kept KBA one step ahead of its bigger rivals in boosting
sheetfed press production speed. Back in the early 1980s he sought to convince German and US newspaper publishers of the potential cost efficiencies delivered by triple-width web offset presses. Twenty years later he was
delighted when 6/2 technology finally came into its own and KBA assumed
a pioneering role in launching it on the market. Shortly before his death he
had the pleasure of seeing our triple-width, ultra-compact Commander CT
press enjoy considerable success among German newspaper publishers. It
was the vindication of his longstanding belief in the technological and economic benefits of wider presses.
Dr Bolza-Schünemann’s passion for engineering and technology remained with him until the end, as did his business acumen. It was he who
laid the foundations for Koenig & Bauer’s dynamic evolution from a midmarket manufacturer of web and security presses 25 years ago to one of the
world’s leading press engineering groups today. His first move, the acquisition of a majority interest in Albert-Frankenthal AG in 1988, was followed
in 1991 by a similar scenario at Planeta-Druckmaschinenwerke in 1991. He
was also the driving force behind Koenig & Bauer’s merger with KBA-Planeta in 1998, which he saw as a means of providing security and perspectives for the dedicated employees of this long-established east German
company. The recent recession has proved him right.
In his function as deputy chairman Dr Bolza-Schünemann also vigorously promoted further acquisitions in the new millennium (De La Rue
Giori in 2001, Bauer+Kunzi in 2003, Metronic in 2004, Grafitec in 2005,
LTG in 2006), being quick to recognise the benefits delivered by a broader
product portfolio and customer base. His early adoption of a diversification strategy centred on KBA’s traditional business of innovative press technology, with a view to expanding its core technological capabilities while
exploiting potential synergies to address both volume and niche markets,
has had a stabilising impact in times of crisis and distinguishes KBA from
all other press manufacturers.
The same applies to the financial and dividend payment policy that Dr
Bolza-Schünemann pursued as the acknowledged representative of the
founding family. For him, the justified interest of shareholders in a commensurate return on their investment was always balanced by the welfare
of both the company and its employees: the two goals were of equal import. His concept of shareholder value was informed by the long-term objective of safeguarding the future of the enterprise, and this was reflected
in the annual dividend, which was always calculated with the interests of
all parties in mind. Prior to the recent crisis this was not an attitude to
which investors widely subscribed. However, it is one of the primary reasons why KBA’s capital-to-assets ratio remains well above that of other industry players even after two challenging years.
Alongside his prolific activities on behalf of the company and the print
media industry Dr Bolza-Schünemann also held many honorary offices, reflecting his intense social engagement. These are mentioned in more detail in his obituary opposite.
We at KBA are deeply saddened by the loss of our former chief executive. However, his achievements will not be forgotten. Even as we bid
farewell to a master of press engineering and the architect of the KBA
group we know that the passion for innovation that inspired him will live
on within the company. We owe Dr Bolza-Schünemann a huge debt of
thanks and will do our best to maintain the course that he has set.
Yours,
2 Report 37 | 2010
Obituary
Dr Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann†
2001: Dr Bolza-Schünemann on a tour of KBA’s production plant in Radebeul with former
German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
1989: Dr Bolza-Schünemann talking to the
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher at
the commissioning of a big KBA web press by
the Daily Mail in London
Entrepreneur, inventor, industry representative and patron
Dr Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann
Dr Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann, former longstanding president of KBA, died on 23 July at the age of 84. With him the KBA group and
its employees have lost a popular and highly respected senior executive, the German engineering industry an innovator and internationally
esteemed representative, and the city of Würzburg an inexhaustible promoter and patron of the arts.
ans-Bernhard Schünemann,
as he was originally called,
was born on 20 May 1926
into a printing and publishing family
in Bremen. In 1949 he took a degree in physics at the Technical University in Braunschweig. This was
followed by a PhD in mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Stuttgart in 1951, after
which he joined Koenig & Bauer as
a design engineer. In 1956 he was
made assistant vice-president for
sheetfed engineering, in 1957
deputy executive vice-president for
engineering and development and
in 1964 a full member of the board.
This last appointment followed his
legal adoption in 1959 by Dr Hans
Bolza, the great-grandson of company founder Friedrich Koenig.
Hence the surname Bolza-Schünemann.
H
Visionary entrepreneur
As president of KBA from 1971 to
1995 Dr Bolza-Schünemann positioned the company among the topmost players in the global printing
press industry, partly through some
spectacular innovations in press
technology and partly through the
acquisition of other press manufacturers (Albert-Frankenthal, Maschinenfabrik Mödling, Planeta Druck-
maschinenwerke) with roots dating
back to the cradle of press engineering in Würzburg.
In 1995 the architect of KBA’s
breathtaking expansion retired and
joined the supervisory board,
where he remained a member until
2006. However, he continued to
apply his outstanding engineering
skills, eg in the development of the
74 Karat digital offset press. His
ideas, his expertise and his innate
ability to motivate never failed to
impress even younger members of
staff.
Prolific inventor and engineer
As the fifth generation to head the
company, Dr Bolza-Schünemann
identified strongly with the innovative ambitions of the two founders,
Friedrich Koenig and Andreas
Bauer. Perhaps more than any other
he helped drive technological advances in the print media industry
through groundbreaking innovations, registering over 250 patents.
For example, he was the force behind KBA’s pioneering of keyless
inking technology for newspaper
and sheetfed presses. His outstanding achievements were acknowledged in 1960 with the award of a
Ring of Honour by the VDI (The Association of German Engineers) and
in 2003 with the Leonardo da Vinci
Prize by the AIPI (Association of Italian Industrial Engineers).
Universally esteemed
representative
Dr Bolza-Schünemann was also active for many years, in an honorary
capacity, on the boards of the
Fachgemeinschaft Druck- und Papiertechnik (Association of German
Manufacturers of Printing and
Paper Equipment and Supplies) and
the FGD (German Printing Machines Research Association), and
was elected Drupa president in
1995. He vigorously promoted the
interests of regional businesses as a
member of the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce executive committee from
1968 to 1990. From 1983 to 1987
he was the Chamber’s chief executive.
Tireless patron
Dr Bolza-Schünemann shared with
his wife Renate a love of classical
music and the theatre. He found relaxation and inspiration attending
performances at opera houses the
world over. A tireless promoter and
patron of the arts in Würzburg, he
co-founded the local Johann Sebastian Bach Society in 1966. He was a
longstanding honorary member of
the board, and from 1990 chancellor, of the Academy for Music in
Würzburg. In conjunction with the
Koenig & Bauer Foundation he privately helped to fund a wide range
of cultural activities throughout the
region, drumming up support and
sponsors. Another of his interests
was to further the careers of young
engineers.
Countless honours
His honorary activities brought
countless awards, including the Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany, the State
Medal for outstanding services to
the Bavarian economy, the Bavarian
Distinguished Service Award, the
Grand Golden Badge of Honour of
the Republic of Austria, honorary
fellowship of the University of
Würzburg, the Grand Service
Medal of the VDMA, the Golden
Ring of Honour of the WürzburgSchweinfurt Chamber of Industry
and Commerce, honorary senatorship of the University for Print and
Media in Stuttgart, and honorary
citizenship and the Ring of Honour
of the City of Würzburg.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 3
Sheetfed Offset | Poland
Extending some 32 metres (105ft), at its
installation TFP’s Rapida 162a was the longest
sheetfed offset press in Poland. Since then
another Polish printer has taken delivery of
an almost identical press line
The Rapida 162a at TFP is mounted on a
420mm (16.5in) plinth, the feeder (shown
here) and delivery are embedded in an
automated pile logistics system
TFP fires up first two-coater Rapida 162a in Poland
32-metre giant for
top-quality packaging printing
´ has become the first user of a 7B (64in) Rapida 162a two-coater press in Poland. Primarily a flexo operation up until then, the market
TFP in Kórnik, near Poznan,
leader in high-grade packaging pushed the button some months ago on a six-colour version with two dryers and a triple delivery extension. Extending a mammoth
32m (105ft), it was the longest large-format sheetfed installation in Poland.
he addition of the Rapida 162a
substantially broadened the
range of products and substrates the company can handle,
which now includes paper, carton
and E-flute corrugated. On top of
T
this the two coaters support an extensive choice of inline effects.
Highly automated – and versatile too
The giant Rapida with automatic
plate changing is engineered to
print microflute corrugated and
heavy board, and is mounted on a
420mm (16.5in) plinth to allow for
the extra thickness of the piles at
the feeder and delivery, which are
embedded in an automated pile-lo-
gistics system. Coating plate change
is also extensively automated,
which dramatically shortens makeready times. The two dryers and delivery extension feature IR hot-air
and UV dryers. Quality is controlled
via ErgoTronic ACR with video sensor, QualiTronic Professional inline
sheet inspection with integrated
colour measurement and control,
and DensiTronic Professional online
density measurement and control.
TFP has expanded continuously
since 1992, gaining ISO 9001 and
ISO 14001 accreditation on the
way. Back in 2000 the company
clocked up another first in Poland
with the purchase of a Masterflex
six-colour flexo press which is still
the only press of its kind with this
particular configuration. TFP’s investment in the high-performance
Rapida 162a represents a similar
milestone in offset.
Martin Dänhardt
[email protected]
Virtually all press functions can be controlled from the console, with inline quality monitoring via QualiTronic Professional
4 Report 37 | 2010
Sheetfed Offset | USA
Website: www.cartamundiusa.com
Pictured left to right at the high-performance
Rapida: Steve Young, CEO of Cartamundi’s US
operation; Bob Nickel, director of innovative
technologies, R&D; and Neil Clements, general
manager
Cartamundi, a major card producer and rising commercial packaging printer, installed a new customised Rapida 106 five-over-five B1
sheetfed perfector press with full UV capabilities, coating and board kit at its new facility in Dallas, Texas
Industry leading card producer optimises inline finishing, consistency and productivity
Cartamundi expands product offerings
with ten-colour perfector press
Cartamundi, a major producer of playing cards and rising commercial packaging printer, has installed a new customised Rapida 106 five-over-five B1 (41in)
sheetfed perfector press with full UV capabilities, coating and board kit at its new facility in Dallas, Texas. The purchase was prompted by the smooth functioning of an identical machine at the company’s main production plant in Turnhout, Belgium.
artamundi has seven production plants worldwide. A 14unit B1 Rapida that went live at
the main plant in 2008 is one of the
longest configurations in this press
class and, like its counterpart in Dallas, has five printing units followed
by a coater, two interdeck dryers, a
further five printing units, a second
coater and an extended delivery.
Cartamundi placed the order for the
new Rapida 106 perfector press because KBA could fulfil their specialised manufacturing needs as
well as their dedication to unique
C
applications and customer service.
Cartamundi prints daily on a variety
of substrates, which in addition to
paperboard include APET, RPET,
PET, PVC, PP, HDPE, cellulose acetate, styrene, foils and foil laminates.
Process control enhances
cost efficiency
The new Rapida 106 five-over-five
perfector press at Cartamundi
provides the company with highquality printing on two sides for
ultimate productivity, extreme effi-
ciency with inline colour controls
and total automation, and optimal
inline finishing. It also offers all
processes in fewer steps, higher
production due to its one-pass configuration, more consistency, and
measurable quality using KBA’s premier automated technology tools.
These include QualiTronic Professional on both sides of the sheet
and DensiTronic PDF, which allows
prints to be compared easily with
the customer’s original PDFs or
proofs. This virtually eliminates the
risk of recurrent errors and thus
Cartamundi recently moved into its new made-to-order, secure, environmentally controlled 300,000ft² manufacturing space
avoids needless waste when processing costly substrates.
Ecological production
For more than 200 years Cartamundi has been the worldwide
leader in quality card products for
casinos and the general public. Its
manufacturing facilities, international branches, local agents and
distributors are represented in
more than 50 countries, including
Germany. In the US the company
recently moved into its new
300,000ft² (around 30,000m²)
home. This made-to-order, secure,
environmentally controlled manufacturing space offers an unparalleled experience for its customers.
“The new KBA Rapida 106 41-inch,
ten-colour, full-UV perfecting press
with multiple coaters is an extremely efficient addition to our
pressroom. It has dramatically expanded our print offerings and improved overall workflow here in
Dallas,” says Steve Young, CEO of
Cartamundi’s US operations.
Eric Frank
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 5
Trade Fairs | Ipex
Not shown at Ipex, but a topic of discussion:
KBA’s new high-automation C16 16pp
commercial web press addresses the shift
towards shorter print runs and turnaround
times
A signal for print: this year’s Ipex was
surprisingly well attended, and the upturn
in many parts of the world brought KBA a
string of new orders
Upbeat KBA shows raft of new sheetfed products
Competitive edge in productivity,
energy efficiency and inline processing
Under the banner “Champions in Print” KBA strutted its stuff at this year’s Ipex in
years since Drupa 2008 our engineers have been busy developing new automation
Birmingham with some dazzling exhibits that included the Rapida 106 – the world
modules for our entire range of formats. The main focus at Ipex was on acceler-
makeready champion in B1 – and the Rapida 75E (E = Economy & Ecology), the
ating job changes, enhancing inline finishing and quality control, cutting the con-
energy-saving champion in B2. The economic crisis notwithstanding, in the two
sumption of energy and materials and reducing manual input.
any of the products exhibited in Birmingham revealed
our technological edge over
competitors.
One example of many is the
Rapida 106, which boasts a sidelayfree infeed, a CleanTronic Synchro
high-speed multiple washing system
tation and control system, DensiTronic PDF (see page 20).
Another product making its
debut at Ipex in a Rapida 106 was
a quality-enhancing closed-loop
colour measurement and control
system comprising KBA QualiTronic
Color Control and Instrument
M
and a flying job change capability.
In large format there is our new
energy-efficient dryer with heat
recovery, the VariDryBLUE, and a simultaneous, dual-beam washing
system which slashes makeready
times. For both formats we have developed an online quality documen-
Makeready champion: unique features that include Flying JobChange, automated coating-forme
change, CleanTronic Synchro high-speed washing and new AirTronic high-performance delivery
rank the Rapida 106 at the top of the medium-format champions league
6 Report 37 | 2010
Flight®, developed by Swiss software specialist System Brunner. By
prioritising grey balance this new
software tool delivers much greater
colour accuracy and visually perceptible colour fidelity compared to
other systems on the market (see
pages 16-17).
An all-rounder for growth markets: with an output of 16,500sph (speed-enhancement package)
and the ability to handle substrates from 0.04mm (lightweight package) to 1.2 or even 1.6mm
(board package) the Rapida 105 is selling well in emerging economies and needs shun no
comparison with other presses in its class
Rapida 106: Flying JobChange and
other novelties
For many visitors to the show one
of the big attractions in the B1
(41in) format was the Rapida 106
six-colour coater press boasting
DriveTronic SPC dedicated drives,
Plate-Ident plate recognition and
register-true positioning with simultaneous infeed, and Flying
JobChange. During press demos the
switch from one poster design to
another with our Flying JobChange
capability in the fifth and sixth
printing units was completed in seconds. The Rapida 106’s coater appeals to press operators who
frequently have to change coatings
and don’t want to get their hands
messy. Viscosity-based coating feed
control from the console, automatic
cleaning of the coating circuit and
automated changing of the coating
plates are not a given in medium
format. Other new features included CleanTronic Synchro, a system for simultaneously washing
blanket and impression cylinders
during plate change, and a high-performance delivery, AirTronic, that
can be preset remotely from the
console and can handle lightweight
stock at high speeds, even during
perfecting.
Rapida 105: popular all-rounder
for growth markets
The Rapida 105, a robust and reliable all-rounder that can be configured with a speed-enhancing
package for raising output to
16,500sph, is particularly popular
in China, India and the Middle East,
as a string of orders at Ipex testified. The five-colour coater version
exhibited printed postcards and pictures of London. Featuring automated plate changing, ACR video
register control, automatic washing
and DensiTronic colour measurement and control, it delivered enormous time savings during job
changes. The Rapida 105 can also
be configured with some of the
optional extras available with the
Rapida 106, eg DensiTronic PDF, automatic coating feed, automatic
coating circuit cleaning and nonstop
facilities at the feeder and delivery.
Other flexibility-enhancing options
include capabilities for printing
lightweight paper from 0.04mm
(0.0016in) to solid board up to
and consumes less space and energy than a half-format press. Its
practical level of automation makes
for easy handling.
Genius 52UV: the ideal tool
for unusual applications
Energy-saving champion: the new E version of the Rapida 75 B2 press unveiled at Drupa 2008
features an array of upgrades for enhancing automation, sheet travel and makeready. It is now
available with an optional output of 16,000sph and the ability to handle stock up to 0.8mm thick.
One of its many strengths is that it consumes half the energy of comparable presses
More business options in B3: the ecological and uniquely flexible Genius 52UV can print unusual
products on a wide range of sophisticated substrates and enhance differentiation in the growing
web-to-print and digital print markets
1.2mm (48pt) thick and corrugated
up to 1.6mm (60pt) thick.
Rapida 75E: energy-saving dynamo
Alongside optional extras for enhancing speed to 16,000sph and
the stock range to 0.8mm (30pt)
the B2 (29in) Rapida 75E unveiled
at Ipex sported a raft of advances: a
new, noise-insulated KBA feeder,
automated format setting, shell-free
transfer drums, air-blast sheet
guides plus new sheet brake in the
delivery, semi-automatic coatingforme change and remote maintenance via the internet. Together,
these slash makeready times by
more than 30%. The five-colour
coater version shown in Birmingham had an extended delivery, automatic plate changing, inking-unit
temperature control, roller and
blanket washing and an ErgoTronic
console. During Ipex it printed various jobs ranging from inline-perforated schedules to posters of
London with matt and spot coat-
ings. The Rapida 75E’s claim to the
title of energy-saving champion was
underpinned with detailed comparisons, a power consumption display
at the delivery and (like all Rapidas)
alcohol-free operation, attested by a
green eco-globe on the printing
units.
Rapida 75C and Rapida 66: affordable
technology in small formats
The Rapida 75C (C = commercial)
targets smaller printshops where
space is at a premium, automation
is not a primary concern and the
budget is limited. Available in two-,
four- or five-colour versions, it has
no coater and is less extensively automated. Its maximum rated speed
is 13,000sph and it is controlled
from a touch-screen at the delivery.
Rounding off the smaller end of the
Rapida range is the SRA2 (26in)
Rapida 66, which has almost twice
the format of an A3 press – four A4
pages fit on a sheet instead of just
two – for virtually the same price,
The smallest, most unusual and
most versatile press on the KBA
stand at Ipex was the B3 (20in)
Genius 52UV built by KBAMetronic, which caters to printers
seeking fresh options for niche applications with out-of-the-ordinary
products and substrates. This neat
little press is also winning converts
in the web-to-print sector. Typical
Genius substrates include various
types of film up to 0.8mm (0.03in)
thick, expensive paper, aluminiumcoated board and even wood. The
Genius 52UV supports creativity
like no other press in its format.
Smart cards, mousepads, stickers,
lenticular images, plastic menus or
short runs of packaging patterns on
board – the pallet is almost endless.
One big advantage of its dampenerand alcohol-free operation is that
start-up waste is normally no more
than ten sheets, and live demos at
Ipex proved this time and time
again. This is a crucial benefit when
printing short runs of costly materials. The five-colour coater version
on display at Ipex printed lenticular,
mousepad and Chromolux film,
solid board and PVC – just a small
cross-section of its normal range.
Some 150 Genius 52UV presses
have been sold to date.
Green printing
and workflows
Although there was no dedicated
green printing zone on the KBA
stand at Ipex, we remain deeply
committed to ecological print
production and energy-efficient
press technology. Environmentally
friendly waterless offset, alcoholfree wet offset and reductions in
noise, dust and carbon emissions
are an ongoing focus. The same
applies to the optimisation of
printshop workflows and processes.
KBA-Complete and its alliance partners demonstrated proven packages
embracing LogoTronic Professional,
Hiflex and Logica Sistemi dedicated
software and web-to-print systems.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 7
Sheetfed Offset | Germany
rich Stark set up an eponymous
artwork and book printing business in Pforzheim in 1946.
Fritz Heer joined him in 1948 and
they changed the name to Stark
Druck. Since then the firm has
steadily expanded, pursuing new
advances and investing in cuttingedge production technology. Today
Stark Druck is one of the biggest
web offset enterprises in Germany
and a major innovator in sheetfed
offset.
E
Continuous growth
By 1970 Stark Druck had a payroll
of 70 and was printing some 5
tonnes (5.5 US tons) of paper a day.
Today the payroll is more than five
times bigger and output has increased tenfold to 500t (550 US
tons). Regular investment in new kit
and the systematic optimisation of
the production workflow have delivered huge productivity gains.
Managing partner Tino Heer, who
is Fritz Heer’s grandson, says: “We
are now the biggest web printer in
Baden-Württemberg and among the
top five in Germany, We are also
one of the most innovative.”
One reason for the firm’s uninterrupted growth is its focus on the
German mail order sector and
the jewellery industry, of which
Pforzheim is a major centre. In the
1990s and at the turn of the millennium these comprised around
90 per cent of Stark’s customer
base. That is because some years
earlier Fritz Heer had teamed up
with Bruno Bader and Eugen Müller
to set up a Pforzheim-based mail
order company, Bader, which had all
its promotional work printed by
Stark. This has changed in recent
years, and now some 50 per cent of
the firm’s customers are in the retail trade (furniture and food).
Michael S Müller, Tino Heer
and Wolfgang Grunert (l-r) at
the Rapida 106 two-coater press
Stark Druck in Pforzheim: sheetfed and web
Two-pronged approach
the key to success
Entire books could be devoted to the history and technology of German print provider Stark Druck in Pforzheim.
The company successfully deploys both web and sheetfed presses to drive growth, and its autarkic sheetfed offset
subsidiary, Stark Brillant, is upgraded and expanded on an ongoing basis. This combination of different technologies allows Stark Druck to respond with agility and speed to shifting demands in the marketplace.
Responsible for maximising product
diversity and quality at Stark Druck:
plant manager Michael S Müller (left)
and managing partner Tino Heer (centre),
pictured here with Wolfgang Grunert,
managing director of KBA agency Werner
Grunert in Karlsruhe
New structures bring success
Until 1983 Stark Druck was a
sheetfed operation. But as the volume of work from mail order companies steadily rose, it moved into
web offset and steadily expanded
this side of the business. Catalogues
were largely transferred to the web
presses, although some sections
were still printed in sheetfed. Stark
Druck developed a two-pronged
business model allowing it exploit
the strengths of both technologies.
8 Report 37 | 2010
When the jewellery industry in
Pforzheim experienced a slump in
the mid-1990s, this impacted severely on sheetfed activities. So the
company set about winning new
customers and developing new
products.
In 2008 the sheetfed division
was spun off as Stark Brillant and
has expanded independently. While
continuing to print parts or sections
of hybrid sheetfed/web products,
Stark Druck has expanded and diversified it portfolio to encompass
magazines and books, promotional
literature for the tourist trade and
automotive industry, plus a raft of
other products. “Despite the recent
widespread recession our sheetfed
operation has been running at maximum capacity, and with a global recovery underway there is every
chance that we can expand still further,” says Tino Heer. “Not long ago
we started drumming up business
in the chemical and pharmaceutical
sectors, and at the same time we attained EN ISO 9001 accreditation
along with ISO 14001 for environmental management. In the process
we optimised our entire production
Michael S Müller (l) and press
operator Nico Pitzalis checking
the print quality off their latest
KBA press, a four-colour Rapida 142
flow, and as a result we have an
ultra-lean cost structure. We deliver
guaranteed quality excellence.”
Technological diversity
enhances flexibility
At present the sheetfed operation
in Pforzheim has a five-colour Rapida 142 with a single coater, a fivecolour Rapida 106 with two coaters
and two dryers, and a four-colour
Rapida 142. The different configurations and coating capabilities deliver a high level of flexibility in
meeting customer specifications.
Says Mr Heer: “In recent years
these have become much more sophisticated. Coating and finishing –
with and without UV – are more or
less the norm. UV work now accounts for 17 per cent of output,
and rising. The proportion of standard four-colour work has also
risen, and here price plays a major
role. That is why we invested in the
four-colour Rapida 142 at the end
of last year. It’s a bread-and-butter
press we can run twenty-four hours
a day.”
Some 70 to 80 per cent of Stark
Druck’s routine work is four-colour.
The Rapida 142’s lower hourly rate
compared to more sophisticated
presses is one reason for its consistently high level of utilisation. “The
four-colour 142 is the perfect complement to the other presses,” says
Mr Heer. “Take magazines for example: we prefer to print the covers on the five-colour Rapida 142
using special inks and a coating, and
the inside sections on the fourcolour. We also print a lot of hybrid
web and sheetfed products using
the broadsheet delivery.”
cally, the quality required is what
dictates the choice of press. Where
the highest possible standards are
specified we use our KBA sheetfed
presses.”
Mix and match
More options
with large formats
Stark Druck schedules jobs on its
web and sheetfed presses according
to customer specifications, cost and
time frames. As a result print runs
of no more than 10,000 sheets are
often assigned to a web press, while
longer runs are printed sheetfed.
One key factor is the substrate
weight. According to Mr Heer,
“grammages above 135gsm are
printed in sheetfed, but we have
been known to print weights as
high as 250gsm on a web press
using the broadsheet delivery. Basi-
There are a number of reasons for
Stark Druck’s strong focus on large
format, and the company’s workflow is organised specifically for it.
One is that a large-format sheet can
accommodate multiple blanks. Another is that large-format presses
can handle special products such as
posters, placards and big art calendars. The finishing department is
equipped accordingly, for example
with four big folding machines that
are 940mm (37in) wide.
For managing partner
Tino Heer, sales manager
Alois Klumpp and plant
manager Michael S Müller
(l-r), an optimum product
quality is the topmost
priority
When kitting out the pre-press
department the primary objectives
were to accelerate throughput and
optimise quality. An Artcom workflow and a Prinergy server support
maximum product diversity from
commercials to packaging. One special feature is Sandyscreen’s eponymous raster, which was originally
developed for newspaper production but subsequently modified specially for Stark Druck. It has since
become a guarantee of excellence
in image quality and is used for
around 30 per cent of output, but
this figure is steadily rising. For ctp
work Stark Druck has installed two
Kodak Magnus VLF platemaking
systems which are embedded in a
PDF workflow and used for both
sheetfed and web presses.
Tino Heer has supreme confidence in his firm’s capabilities.
“Cutting-edge technology for maximum flexibility, duplicate kit as a
back-up for just about every item of
technology, perfect colour management and a highly developed environmental awareness allow us to
accommodate virtually every customer demand. We don’t just make
claims, we deliver on the promise
and in many sectors have a clear
edge on our competitors. Our success is underpinned by co-operative
alliances with leading players such
as Meyle + Müller in Pforzheim.”
Stark Druck is an enterprise in
a continuous state of flux. Routine
investment in cutting-edge technology, quality accreditation and a
concomitant optimisation of its production workflows are an integral
part of an ongoing programme. So
it is hardly surprising that the firm
has set itself ambitious targets for
the future. Says Tino Heer: “We
have a close and longstanding association with KBA’s agency Werner
Grunert. So we can rest assured
that they will provide the best possible advice on any new press projects we may plan in the future.”
Michael Scherhag
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 9
Sheetfed Offset | Web to print
One of the biggest online printers in Europe,
flyeralarm operates a total of 14 large-format
sheetfed offset presses. Its web shop offers a
24-hour delivery service for certain products
Plant manager Michael Deml believes
print has a future
Interview with Michael Deml, manager of Druckhaus Mainfranken’s Klipphausen plant
“We’re not undermining print,
we’re expanding its market potential!”
Druckhaus Mainfranken in Marktheidenfeld, Germany, is a specialist service provider to flyeralarm, a successful online print enterprise which
was established five years ago in nearby Greussenheim but relocated to Würzburg in spring 2009 while retaining the original production
plant. Flyeralarm, whose web-to-print business model fuelled rapid growth in recent years, is networked with a number of other printers, most
of them in Bavaria.
n 2007 Druckhaus Mainfranken
opened a production plant with
adjacent flyeralarm finishing facility in Klipphausen near Dresden,
I
conveniently located with easy access to the A4 autobahn. Alongside
a 46 Karat press and a Winkler &
Dünnebier envelope machine,
Works III, as it is called, operates
eight large-format KBA Rapida 142s,
all of which are four-colour versions
with automatic plate changing and
Concentrated fire-power: Druckhaus Mainfranken runs eight Rapida 142 four-colour presses in Klipphausen alone
10 Report 37 | 2010
other automation modules for highspeed job changes and consistently
high quality. In just a few years flyeralarm and Druckhaus Mainfranken have fired up a total of
fourteen Rapida 142 four-colour
presses.
Other equipment at the companies’ production plants includes
large-format presses from another
manufacturer, small-format Genius
52UV und Anicolor presses, two
Kodak Nexpress digital presses, offline coaters and high-performance
pre-press, finishing and mailroom
technology.
Not long ago KBA’s director of
marketing & corporate communications, Klaus Schmidt, paid a visit to
the Klipphausen plant and spoke to
plant manager Michael Deml about
his work in the Mainfranken subsidiary and the peculiarities of web
to print.
Michael Deml (l) explaining the company’s
production workflow to Klaus Schmidt (centre)
and Günter Drossel
Pictured at one of the large-format Rapidas during a tour of the factory (l-r): KBA marketing director Klaus Schmidt, plant manager Michael Deml
and KBA Radebeul head of press installations Günter Drossel
Schmidt: Michael, with flyeralarm
and Druckhaus Mainfranken largely
focused on Franconia and the rest
of Bavaria, the Klipphausen plant
could be seen as a diaspora in Saxony. Does it mean you’re planning
to serve flyeralarm customers in the
new federal states and points even
further east?
Deml: No, we don’t see our business
as regional. Production and logistics
at each of our plants are highly specialised. In Klipphausen we print
flyers, leaflets, posters and letterheads, and also make envelopes.
Our equipment is engineered for
maximum cost efficiency and speed
in both production and distribution.
At the same time the pace at which
our company is growing frequently
forces us to adapt and shift production at our various locations, and we
are at pains to maintain this flexibility. A lot of the products offered
online can be delivered anywhere in
Europe within 24 hours. So if you
order business cards by midday on
one day they’ll probably be on your
desk by midday the next.
Schmidt: Can you briefly describe the
Klipphausen plant? How much production space, how many employees and what kit do you have there?
Deml: We have around 5,500 square
metres of production and storage
Druckhaus Mainfranken’s factory in Klipphausen is located just a few kilometres from Dresden and
within easy reach of the A4 autobahn
space. The hall housing pre-press
and press was already there when
we took possession, and had previously been used by a haulage company. The second hall was built to
our own specifications and contains
the entire finishing department, the
mailroom and the paper and board
store. So basically there are two
companies at the Klipphausen location – Druckhaus Mainfranken with
roughly 65 employees engaged in
pre-press and press, and flyeralarm
with around 110 employees engaged in everything relating to postpress.
In the pre-press department we
have a Kodak Prinergy workflow
with three Magnus VLF platesetters
plus automatic pallet loaders because we consume between 6,000
and 7,000 plates per week. The
press hall houses eight Rapida 142s,
all for four colours. Then there are
seven full-scale Perfecta guillotines
and nineteen folding machines.
Each of the folding machines is preset for specific jobs so it doesn’t
usually have to be converted.
the advantage of large format for
web to print?
Schmidt: Looking at the press technology in flyeralarm and Druckhaus
Mainfranken production plants it is
evident that large-format, 6B
presses dominate – something
which is more generally associated
with packaging production. What is
Deml: Whatever sector you work in
it is vital to maximise your time and
cost efficiency. Which is why we
have equipped all our presses with
automatic plate changers for maximum speed and flexibility during
job changes. The new Rapidas also
Deml: We were quick to realise that,
for certain products, this format is
more cost-effective. Large format
gives us much greater flexibility,
which is important for the gang
formes that make up part of our job
structure. Also, it enables us to minimise fixed costs. This is why we
went for large format right from the
start – and were among the first in
our sector to do so. The print quality and makeready times associated
with big presses like our Rapidas
can easily stand comparison with
medium format, and their productivity is awesome. Alongside the
fourteen Rapida 142 four-colour
presses our press fleet includes ten
B2 and six small-format presses, so
we have the right format for every
product.
Schmidt: What does it take to be as
successful as flyeralarm and Druckhaus Mainfranken in a new, highgrowth sector like web to print?
Report 37 | 2010 11
feature inline density control.
When printing flyers this can cut
waste by as much as ten per cent.
Also, the press crews feel more confident because they don’t have to
pull sheets so often for colour control. But our efficiency extends beyond the press room. Much of our
success may be attributed to
scrupulous preparation: a lot of
printers print gang formes, but we
optimise imposition not only with
regard to maximum format utilisation but also job volume. By staggering jobs we ensure that the print
run is the same for each of the
products on a gang forme, so there
is no waste.
And there is a third point: customer proximity. We maintain a
number of regional service centres
– in Dresden, Würzburg, Munich,
Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Salzburg, Vienna, Valencia, Bolzano and, shortly,
in Berlin – where less experienced
customers can get advice on design
and production. Each of our production plants has a quality department to address irregularities in
production and also customer complaints, though these are on the decline. This is one of our top
priorities because if a customer is
dissatisfied with your online service, you’ve lost them for sure. In
general we undergo a continuous
process of improvement and development aimed at maintaining our
market position and growing market
share.
Schmidt: Are you and your press operators pleased with the big Rapidas? Is Klipphausen’s proximity to
KBA’s factory in Radebeul an advantage?
Three Magnus VLF platesetters from Kodak
pump out up to 7,000 plates per week
Functioning logistics: the paper and plates for the next job have already been delivered
to the feeders of the big Rapidas
post-commissioning acceptance test
on your new Rapidas. This seems to
be standard practice at Druckhaus
Mainfranken. What are the benefits?
Deml: Acceptance tests on presses
are all part of the routine at big
companies because they promote
trust between the user and the
manufacturer. Everyone, the press
operators included, knows that the
press has been inspected and approved by a neutral authority. We
receive a report that objectively describes the current state of the
press. I believe this is a benefit for
both sides. If we subsequently sell
the press on we can prove that it
was in perfect condition when we
acquired it.
Schmidt: Why aren’t the large-format
Rapidas at Druckhaus Mainfranken
and flyeralarm configured with
“Whatever sector
you work in it is
vital to maximise
your time and
cost efficiency.”
Michael Deml (33), who helped to set up the
Klipphausen facility, was born in west Germany,
and since his family still lives in Neumarkt he
has plenty of time during the week to develop
the business still further
12 Report 37 | 2010
Deml: The main reason we dispense
with coaters is process optimisation: for most of our products we
can save not only on coating but
also on energy by allowing the
prints to dry for a few hours prior
to finishing, which eliminates a lot
of potential problems. However, it
does mean that the data supplied by
the customer must comply in full
with our quality specifications. We
try to pre-empt errors via quality
control and by offering a free basic
data check or low-cost professional
data check. If an aqueous or UV
coating is expressly specified we
can deliver a high standard of quality using the two offline systems.
Schmidt: Flyeralarm in Würzburg
uses KBA-Metronic Genius 52UV
and Heidelberg Anicolor smallformat presses for short runs and
special products. Why are digital
presses the exception rather than
the rule at big online printers, setting aside the photo books that are
often cited as successful examples
of digital print?
Deml: We are delighted with the Rapidas. They are reliable, easy to handle and deliver a superb print
quality. We have certainly bet on
the right horse. Our proximity to
the manufacturing plant is definitely an advantage. Contacts at
every level, from fitters to print instructors and management, are
much closer than they would be if
we were several hundred kilometres apart.
Schmidt: You recently had the BadenWürttemberg Printing and Media
Industries Federation carry out a
coaters? Normally we rarely deliver
non-perfecting versions without a
coater in Europe. On the other
hand you have just bought a second
Colibri unit for offline coating. Why
is offline better than inline coating
in your line of business?
Whether multisection posters or small business cards, short or long runs – a lot of the jobs
are handled by the B0 (56in) Rapidas
Deml: While there is no doubt that
the digital print market is spreading
from small to large format, in web
to print it is still a peripheral phenomenon. We only use digital
presses for runs of 1 to 100 prints,
ing and information, how do you
view print’s long-term prospects?
The nineteen folding machines in the finishing department support a huge choice of products
so a handful of presses is enough
for the whole group. Anything
above can be printed in offset,
which has the edge in unit costs.
Schmidt: While global players were
the first to be hit by the financial
and economic crisis of September
2008, it was not long before domestic print providers felt the
knock-on effects, which continue to
this day. Did you also notice demand subsiding in your online business or has this market bucked the
trend?
Deml: The economic crisis had only a
minor impact on our business. Market pressures forced a lot of print
buyers to forego extras or individual products and to focus on price,
which brought us additional custom. You must realise that over 80
per cent of our customers are businesses, which have their print work
designed by professional agencies
or freelancers, while we handle the
actual production. A lot of smaller
printshops also advise their customers and prepare their data, but
have us print the products.
Schmidt: Michael, flyeralarm and
Druckhaus Mainfranken are successfully exploiting the internet to
win new orders. With online players increasingly contesting print’s
dominance as a vehicle for advertis-
“We are delighted with the Rapidas.
They are reliable, easy to handle and
deliver a superb print quality.”
Flyeralarm in the best meaning of the word: the gang formes are cut and packed to order at one of
seven guillotines
Deml: Yes, we are very close to the
internet. But despite online competition we believe print has a future.
Although a lot of print is moving online, the volume of paper consumed
by the print market remains relatively constant. The main difference
is that print runs for individual
products are shrinking and they are
becoming outdated faster.
Having said that, our low prices
and quick delivery have enabled us
to create an additional volume of
print where nothing existed a few
years ago. Today a lot of private
individuals and small firms have
business cards, envelopes and letterheads printed, mostly in four
colours. Previously, such short-run
work would have been too pricey.
Updates are also more frequent because they are now relatively cheap.
Our own web shop is continually
being updated by an in-house team
of experienced programmers, so we
can rapidly respond to a surge in requests for a product that is not yet
in our portfolio. Parallel to this we
also work proactively, constantly
asking ourselves if there are any
products we could offer that are not
yet on the market. That’s a signal
to our colleagues in smaller
printshops: while we may take
some customers from you, we’re
also generating new demand! We
give print pros in smaller businesses
that can no longer keep pace with
advances in press technology the
chance to offer their regulars competent advice and service even if
they do not have the necessary
equipment – and could not compete on price if they did.
Print is tangible, it is emotive
and an indispensable part of the
media mix, particularly in customer
communications. Online printers
strengthen print, create new categories of customers and products
and open up new markets.
Schmidt: Thank you for this interview.
Simple tools provide an overview of express and standard production
Martin Dänhardt/Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 13
Sheetfed Offset | Productivity
Not even printing eleven 300-sheet jobs within 90 minutes for a time-conscious online printer caused press operator Benjamin Nelles to work up a sweat at the Rapida 75 in the Radebeul customer centre
Rapida 106 makeready world champion inspires emulation
Rapida 75 completes 11 jobs
in less than 90 minutes
There is still no press capable of matching the record fifteen 520-sheet jobs in just 59 minutes set by the makeready world champion in B1, the Rapida 106.
Now our B2 (29in) Rapida 75 is striving to emulate its big sister. During a print test at our Radebeul customer centre on 19 March for a German web-to-print
customer a five-colour coater version with extended delivery pumped out seven 300-sheet jobs in just 55 minutes, and followed this up by taking a mere 30
minutes to print four runs of postcards and business cards. The Rapida 75 thus completed eleven different jobs in well under 90 minutes.
hile some high-performance B2 presses with automatic plate changers may
be marginally faster, the Rapida 75
achieved this feat with semi-auto-
W
matic ones. The seven jobs printed
on 350gsm matt art paper (160lb
Bristol) entailed a pile change at
both the feeder and the delivery.
After 70 sheets ink densities were
measured and adjusted with DensiTronic, and register checked via automatic video-based colour register
control. With no further stoppages
output was of saleable quality after
Alongside coating in all its manifestations, minimising makeready with the Rapida 75 was a key focus of the small-format open house held at
our Radebeul customer centre in late April, at which customer centre manager Wolfram Zehnle gave a detailed briefing
14 Report 37 | 2010
around 100 sheets. Throughout the
entire print run the measured values remained stable within the tolerances defined by ISO 12647-2
(process parameters for offset).
During makeready and the actual
production run the Rapida 75 maintained an output of 15,000sph.
This print test on the Rapida 75
demonstrates that a highly-tuned
press is not necessarily essential for
an above-average output and costeffective short-run production in
B2. What gives the Rapida 75 its
edge is its practical array of features
geared to fast job changeovers and
ease of operation, its footprint,
which is the smallest in this format,
and its energy consumption, which
can be as little as half that of comparable presses. These last two
assets will no doubt appeal to companies that are keen to adopt climate-friendly production but are
limited for space.
Martin Dänhardt
[email protected]
Sheetfed Offset | Switzerland
ordi was established back in
1897 in Belp, in the Swiss canton of Bern. Its main line of business is periodicals. Today the
company offers its customers a onestop magazine service encompassing concept, design, editing, image
generation, and subscription and ad
procurement. There is even a risksharing option in the event of poor
sales. With a payroll of 75 and annual sales of around €11m ($14m),
Jordi numbers among Switzerland’s
many mid-cap enterprises. And all
the indicators point to continuing
growth. In November the entire
company will relocate to spacious
new premises. Its total investment
in this new media centre, including
the new Rapida 106 eight-colour
perfector press with coater and associated infrastructure, exceeds
€9m ($11.6m). From which it is
clear that the inhabitants of Belp believe one hundred per cent in the
future of print.
J
When the unexpected happens
The logic was compelling: for a
successful printer in the B2 (29in)
format with a ten-colour and a fourcolour perfector in its press room,
and plans to run three shifts on a
permanent basis to maximise productivity, any replacement for the
four-colour press must be capable
of supporting a high continuous
output well into the future. This
would only be possible by expanding into medium format. So initially
the focus was on the most obvious
candidate, a non-perfecting B1
press to complement the ten-colour
B2 perfector.
But after analysing Jordi’s order
structure, KBA agency Print Assist
recommended installing an eightcolour perfector with coater as a replacement for both existing press
lines. As plant manager Gabriel
Jordi points out, this occasioned
some surprise. However, as they examined in more detail the various
issues involved, management soon
realised that the proposal submitted
by Print Assist and KBA made a
great deal of sense. Gabriel Jordi
says: “While our original intention
of adding a straight-on press and retaining the ten-colour perfector
would have meant a much smaller
initial capital outlay, we would have
had to replace the ten-colour press
An eight-colour Rapida 106 coater press with extended delivery will come on stream at Jordi in November
Jordi in Belp takes Rapida 106
Going for growth with
cutting-edge KBA technology
When Swiss print enterprise Jordi purchased a Rapida 106 it caused some surprise among members of the trade:
until then this innovative family business had been considered a Heidelberg “fortress” that was all but impregnable. However, KBA and its Swiss agency Print Assist offered some compelling arguments in favour of a Rapida.
by 2012 at the latest. The more we
thought about it, the more the idea
of an eight-colour B1 perfector with
coater grew on us.”
Further arguments
But that didn’t mean the contract
was in the bag – far from it. There
followed a screening process during
which economic and technical
arguments tipped the balance in
favour of the Rapida 106. Says
Gabriel Jordi: “As far as technology
was concerned, other makes of
press also scored well. However,
KBA offered us better options with
the Rapida 106, and that is what
won the day. Key criteria included
quality control, density measurement and control, dedicated drives
and flying job changes. CleanTronic
Synchro, which supports fast,
simultaneous washing of the blankets, impression cylinders and rollers, was another big plus.”
The Rapida 106’s powerful output also won plaudits. As Gabriel
Jordi explains: “In perfecting mode
the press can pump out 15,000
sheets per hour. In straight-on
mode this rises to 18,000. To my
knowledge no other perfector is capable of performing at this level.
Other, not insignificant features are
the Rapida’s no-sidelay infeed and
Plate-Ident plate recognition system, which prevents plates from
being allocated to the wrong unit or
being mounted in the wrong order.”
New era begins in November
Jordi will be bringing the new Rapida 106 coater press on stream in
the new production plant. Gabriel
Jordi does not disguise the fact that
this will be something of an adventure: “With the Rapida 106 we’ll be
expanding our product range substantially. On the one hand that is a
big advantage, because we’ll no
longer have to run three shifts a
day, only two, which will give us
much greater flexibility in scheduling production, and also the room
for manoeuvre that’s been lacking
in recent months. But in the
medium term we must naturally try
to win more orders so as to utilise
the free capacity to the full.”
Another comment by Gabriel
Jordi shows just how impressed
management at Jordi was by the options afforded by the Rapida 106:
“The Rapida won’t be operated by a
combination of minders and helpers
– we are planning to create teams
composed entirely of experienced
operators. The press has enormous
potential, and the manifold options
available, such as Flying JobChange,
can only be exploited to the full by
an outstanding press crew.”
The purchase of the Rapida 106
is a demonstration of supreme confidence, because the press will be
the core of the entire print operation for years to come. Jordi’s example shows that even mid-cap
enterprises can gear up for the future with cutting-edge, versatile
press technology.
Peter J. Rickenmann
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 15
Sheetfed Offset | Quality
KBA’s QualiTronic Color Control with
System Brunner’s Instrument Flight
made its debut at Ipex on a Rapida 106
six-colour coater press
QualiTronic Color Control has corrected
all the density differences inline
KBA QualiTronic Color Control with System Brunner’s Instrument Flight
Precise closed-loop colour control
to defined standards
Standardisation, quality assurance and inline colour measurement and control
the Instrument Flight software developed by System Brunner of Switzerland
are topics of almost daily debate in the print media industry. KBA’s QualiTronic
are familiar, established tools for delivering a superlative colour quality. Nothing
Color Control, a density-based inline colour measurement and control system, and
new there, you might say.
hat is new is the high-precision inline package created
for KBA sheetfed presses by
marrying these two systems. Officially unveiled on a Rapida 106 sixcolour coater press at Ipex 2010 in
Birmingham, it aroused considerable interest among visitors to the
fair. This, and the response from industry players, indicate that there
is an unfulfilled demand for inline
colour quality monitoring and
control systems capable of accommodating offset’s well-known idiosyncrasies to deliver a uniform,
visual colour impression for the observer, thereby extensively automating the printing process in
accordance with a predefined standard.
Multicolour offset printing with
the four process colours cyan, magenta, yellow and key has been the
dominant method for many years
uncommon because each printed
image can differ from all the others.
As a rule a measuring strip incorporating a repeat pattern of solid
patches is usually printed alongside
the image and the individual colours
measured within it. This is a simple
W
16 Report 37 | 2010
now, and various norms and standards have long been defined for all
the essential parameters relating to
printing inks (colour space, optical
densities, dot gain, the relevant
permissible tolerances). On-image
colour measurement is relatively
way of defining the parameters for
the measuring device.
The concept underlying this
popular measuring principle is that
the solid densities measured in the
control strip depict the colour quality in the actual image. In reality,
however, and with the exception of
packaging, images rarely feature
solids. So in practice there are often
colour differences in the printed
image that do not occur in the
measuring strip and therefore cannot be detected by the colour measurement and control system. A
frequent cause of colour differences
are fluctuations – manifested as
tonal variations or changes in two-
QualiTronic Color Control plus Instrument
Flight on the screen and Techkon Spectro
Drive on the sheet-inspection desk at a KBA
ErgoTronic console
System Brunner’s Instrument Flight
option enables a press to deliver prints
of the highest quality
or three-colour overlap prints (trapping) – in the halftone dots of the
individual colours. These influence
the colour balance, ie the overall
colour impression in the halftone
dot and overlap print. Even though
the solid values measured remain
unchanged, the observer immediately detects changes in a grey solid
created from three colours, or in
colour shifts in skin tones.
Evaluation of solid measuring
patches is not enough
Evaluating the solid patches in the
measuring strip is therefore not
enough. However, if patches for
grey balance, tonal value and trapping are incorporated in the measuring strip, then image-relevant
influences become visible – and
measurable – in the strip and the
impact of dot gain or changes in ink
trapping can be recognised. Qualified printers are well aware of this
and apply such knowledge in practice, in one form or another, via
compliance with the process standard for offset. But what is new
about the combination of QualiTronic Color Control and Instrument Flight, and what distinguishes
it from other systems on the market, is that it is precisely these
measuring patches that are scanned
inline on every printed sheet within
the sheetfed press and evaluated by
Instrument Flight in real time, with
corrections instantly carried out
where necessary by means of inline
colour adjustment in the press.
Instrument Flight analyses the
grey balance patches, for example,
and from the measured values calculates and specifies the adjustments which would result in a
neutral grey. What makes it special
is that Instrument Flight automates
this process and supports closedloop control within the press by
modifying the reference values for
cyan, magenta, yellow and black
solids.
The entire concept of Instrument Flight is based on the premise
that the assessment of a printed
image depends at all times on the
subject depicted. For example,
human colour perception is more
sensitive where contrasts are
weaker, and fluctuations are initially
detected as a shift in the grey balance in mid-tones. Colour balance
during the actual print run can be
influenced by adjusting dot gain and
trapping.
Multidimensional colour control
balances process dynamics
The combination of QualiTronic
Color Control and System Brunner’s Instrument Flight delivers
more than 30 measured parameters, supporting multidimensional
colour control. As a result it is possible to counteract the process dynamics of offset printing and
maintain the correct balance within
the image, thus achieving image
consistency. The parameters measured and corrected in each ink zone
include CMY and grey balance in
mid-tones and shadows, dot gain at
50 per cent, solid densities, threecolour trapping and ink contamination.
But there is no need to remember all that theory in the press
room. As already mentioned, the
print control strip contains measuring patches for grey balance, trapping and tonal values as well as
solids, and these are scanned on
every sheet by the QualiTronic
Color Control inline colorimetry
system. From the measured values
Instrument Flight automatically calculates the optimum reference values for solids. QualiTronic Color
Control then responds with its characteristic speed, instantly triggering
the necessary adjustments.
Inline standardisation
And these are not the only innovations: inline measurement and control with the combined QualiTronic
Color Control and Instrument
Flight package effectively standardise the entire offset printing
process. Regardless of the debate
on the standard to be applied (System Brunner’s Eurostandard is in
widespread use), compliance with
the ISO norm is essential. On top
of this the user must know exactly
what standard of quality is being delivered at any moment in time, and
what remedial action must be taken
if the quality falls below this standard. QualiTronic Color Control
with Instrument Flight provides
clear, unambiguous data.
A four-page flyer on QualiTronic
Color Control with System Brunner’s Instrument Flight can be
downloaded from http://www.kba.
com/en/produkte2/bogenoffsetdruck3/qualitronic.html.
Dr Steven Flemming
[email protected]
Colour control based on grey balance and
various other parameters helps counteract the
substantial colour deviations that can occur in
4c offset images even during production runs
where solids are kept constant (the original is
in the centre)
Photo: System Brunner
Instrument Flight is a registered trademark
Report 37 | 2010 17
Sheetfed Offset | Egypt
afa was founded in 1979 by
Samir El Bialy, formerly production manager at the largest
and oldest printing company in
Egypt at that time, Moharam Press.
His entrepreneurial skill, business
acumen and far-sighted investment
strategy soon established El Safa at
the forefront of the Egyptian packaging industry, gaining recognition
nationwide and beyond. ISO 9001,
14001 and 18001 accreditation was
to follow. A string of certificates and
awards are evidence of the company’s success. Although Samir El
Bialy has since relinquished the
reins to his sons Sherif and Karim,
he still remains closely involved in
the company’s activities.
S
Three-pronged concept for success
Sherif El Bialy, the new managing
director, studied in Germany and
has ambitious plans. “The success
of El Safa is founded on training and
knowledge, co-operation and motivation. Our 380 employees are
committed to our goal of offering
customers the best possible service
based on the most advanced production technology available. We
dominate the Egyptian packaging
market, and currently export
around 28 per cent of our output to
22 countries extending from the
Arabian peninsula to Iran, Pakistan,
a number of African states and European countries such as Germany
and Sweden. We work with international brand names like Nestlé,
Unilever and Kraft, and we are
growing with their success. So we
must be able to address all their
quality and delivery specifications.”
Alexandria-based El Safa For Printing &
Packaging is the market leader in Egypt
Abdalah Al-Hareri (left), KBA sales engineer
for the Middle East, with El Safa director Sherif
El Bialy
Taking the lead in packaging with KBA
Trio of Rapidas at
El Safa in Alexandria
El Safa For Printing & Packaging, a family enterprise in Alexandria, has consolidated its position as market leader
in packaging print with the installation of three medium-format Rapida presses since 2006. Sales have climbed
to €32 million ($41.3m), and 12 million sheets are printed every month. Paper and board consumption is around
28,000 tonnes (30,800 US tons) per year.
Rapidas the key to growth
Sherif El Bialy keeps a weather eye
on current trends in pre-press,
printing and converting: “Our ongoing objective is to enhance productivity and develop attractive,
cost-effective and ecological products for our customers. We used to
work with litho presses from other
manufacturers, but KBA’s pre-Drupa
event in 2004 and a visit to its customer centre in 2005 persuaded us
to team up with KBA in future. We
are still benefiting from that decision today.”
El Safa installed its first sixcolour Rapida 105 coater press in
2006. “This flexible and wellequipped B1 press matched our demand profile in every respect. With
its high-speed package for a
16,000sph output, CX board-handling capability and semi-automatic
plate changing, ErgoTronic ACR autoregistration, DensiTronic Professional colour measurement and
control and LogoTronic management information software with
CIPLink interface, it was a genuine
innovation in the Middle East. We
were very proud of our pioneering
role and ordered a second, identical
press just six months later.”
First Rapida 106 in the world
El Safa took delivery of the first seven-colour Rapida 106 worldwide several months before
the official press launch at Drupa 2008
18 Report 37 | 2010
At the end of 2007, months ahead
of the market launch at Drupa
2008, the company took delivery of
the world’s first 18,000sph Rapida
106, a seven-colour coater press
which eclipsed even the outstanding performance, production flexibility and easy handling of its
predecessors.
“The Rapida 106 was a major
breakthrough,” says Sherif El Bialy.
“Its configuration, with fully automatic plate changers, rainbow printing capability, automated coating
forme change, washing systems for
the blankets, inking rollers and impression cylinders, and automated
pile logistics at the feeder and delivery, offered us a raft of totally
new options. We were particularly
impressed by its ability to handle a
wide range of substrates from ultrathin paper to various grades of
board and metal-coated stock. We
have even gained a foothold in
security printing. Our operators received intensive training in Radebeul to familiarise themselves with
the capabilities of this high-tech
press, and are delighted with its
easy handling.”
Summing up, he says: “Today
we are printing in a different
league. Our experience with KBA
presses and service forms a sound
basis for close collaboration in the
future. Our management plan includes firing up two further presses
in 2011, and we have already decided to add a second Rapida 106
plus our first ever large-format
press, a Rapida 162a for printing detergent packaging et cetera. We can
hardly wait to move up into large
format.”
Gerhard Renn
[email protected]
Sheetfed Offset | Packaging
Cairo is one of the largest cities in the world,
with an estimated 16 million inhabitants
First Print’s 20,000m² facility in Obour City
First Print general director Louai Ali Abdel-Wahid (front right), technical manager Reda El Assal
(on his right) and their press crew are full of praise for the Rapidas’ high output
Modern packaging production in Egypt
First Print: €40m investment
in new production plant
The dynamic growth currently experienced by the print media industry in the “Land of the Pharaohs” is exemplified by First Print, which since being launched in 2008 has expanded its press fleet with one five-colour and one sixcolour Rapida 162a plus a six-colour Rapida 105.
division of Egyptian group
First Co. For Industrial Development, First Print is now one
of the country’s leading suppliers of
board and packaging products. A
total of €40 million was invested in
First Print’s production plant,
whose location near Cairo international airport, with direct access to
Cairo’s ring road, was chosen for its
logistical advantages.
High-tech printing, guillotining,
die-cutting and laminating kit occupies 20,000m² (215,000ft²) of floor
space on three storeys, with each
department organised as a dedicated cell embedded in a digital
workflow. The spacious, impressive
building provides attractive workplaces for some 500 employees.
Alongside First Print the First
Co. group also has board- and paperprocessing divisions, First Corrugated and First Paper. Two further
divisions – First Metal and First
Service – are to be added later this
year.
A
KBA was also First Print’s preferred choice for
medium-format technology last year, when it
installed a Rapida 105
‘Deal with the top’
a successful strategy
General director Louai Ali AbdelWahid is proud of the company’s
achievements and his cutting-edge
presses: “Our philosophy is to ‘deal
with the top’. We print medium to
long runs for industry leaders in the
food, household, medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors. Our
customers include McDonalds,
Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Cadbury, Disney and Henkel. To meet
their quality demands we need the
best equipment at every stage of
production. We have ISO accreditation not only for quality and environmental management but also for
occupational health and safety standards. And we have successfully
completed McDonalds’ supplier
qualification programme, which is
considered one of the toughest
standards for primary packaging
quality.”
First Print’s final selection of
machinery and equipment for its
print centre was preceded by a sixmonth planning phase during which
exhaustive market research was
conducted and numerous visits
made to European plants. “We
wanted to create the best possible
technology base for addressing the
needs of both domestic and export
markets. In addition to the Middle
East we also serve customers in
Turkey, Tunisia, Africa and Europe.
We are aiming to grow our share of
the market and expand into other
countries,” explains Mr AbdelWahid.
The decision in favour of KBA
was unanimous. “KBA is the market
leader in large format, and also offers customised technology in
medium format,” says Mr AbdelWahid. “But KBA presses’ most
striking features are their flexibility
and reliability. On top of that, KBA
offers its customers in the Middle
East the best possible after-sales
support, with on-the-spot personnel
and service technicians. Its 24/7
service hotline also inspires confidence and trust.”
All geared up for flexible production
The first Rapida 162a was delivered
in March 2009, and was followed
by the six-colour Rapida 105. The
second large-format press was fired
up in February this year. Mr AbdelWahid says: “The Rapidas are all
mounted on a plinth and configured
with double-length delivery extensions, coaters, IR/hot-air or IR/UV
dryers and nonstop pile formation
at the feeder and delivery. Special
extras on the Rapida 162a include
microflute corrugated and heavy
board capabilities. An array of automation modules, including plate
changers, ErgoTronic ACR video
register, DensiTronic Professional
ink density control and LogoTronic
management information software
with CipLink, helps maximise productivity. The second Rapida 162a
also features inking-unit temperature control to support waterless
offset, and special rollers for low-alcohol printing.”
At present First Print operates
a two-shift system, but is expanding
to three shifts in 2011, when Mr
Abdel-Wahid expects sales to double from €20 million this year to
€40 million. “Our future lies in expanding our large-format capacities
still further, and with KBA we have
a high-powered partner at our side
capable of providing all the technical support we may need in handling specialised work, for example
metallised substrates,” he says with
evident satisfaction.
Gerhard Renn
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 19
Sheetfed Offset | Print quality
Pre-press
or managing director Volker
Knoop, DensiTronic PDF is
the crowning application in
sheetfed quality assurance. While
most printers rely exclusively on
colour measurement or control, and
only a few include an additional
comparison between the printed
sheet and a reference sheet, Mensing compares every printed image
with the customer’s original PDF. A
scanning resolution of 36 measuring points per square millimetre
means that the document comparison reveals minute errors in the
printed image which a standard inspection with the naked eye would
probably fail to detect. The press
operator scans the first good sheet
off the run using the KBA DensiTronic PDF system. Within seconds,
the automatic evaluation software
flags even the smallest deviations
from the original PDF. Alongside any
foreign particles or register marks
which may have been exposed with
the plate the system also detects
die-cutting contours, individual
blank numbers and dot gain in packaging barcodes (when printing on
thick, cheaper board). The automatic flagging of detected differences gives the operator a quick,
compact overview of all productionrelevant deviations. He can then decide whether to go ahead and print
the job or contact the quality assurance department.
F
Certified print quality
Mensing conducts automatic quality inspections at a minimum of
three stages in its streamlined production workflow: immediately following sheet layout, prior to plate
exposure and on the first and last
good sheets off the press. At the
end of this procedure the customer
Press operator Florian Domanski must tap in the
sheet format and thickness before initiating the
measuring process with DensiTronic PDF
20 Report 37 | 2010
Sheet
layout
Forme
proof
Q inspection
(forme proof)
CTP plate
PDF original
Converting
Press
(makeready/proof)
Final run
Print
Cutting, folding or die-cutting,
gluing etc.
Packing
(sampling)
Q inspection
(end product)
Certificate
End product
How quality assurance is embedded in the production workflow at Mensing Druck & Verpackung
Mensing sets milestone in print quality monitoring
Automated inline quality
control with DensiTronic PDF
Mensing Druck & Verpackung in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, is a specialist pharmaceutical and cosmetic
packaging printer of more than 50 years’ standing. At the beginning of 2008 it installed the first Rapida sheetfed
offset press in northern Germany to feature DriveTronic SPC dedicated drives for simultaneous plate changing.
Alongside extensive automation the company’s primary focus was on optional equipment to support integrated
quality assurance and control. To this end it specified DensiTronic Professional closed-loop colour measurement
and control, and became the first packaging printer in Germany to install DensiTronic PDF software. Time for a first
performance update.
can request an inspection certificate and a log of the results in one
of three levels of sophistication
ranging from a simple, single-page
statement to a detailed report, and
either as a PDF file or as a printout.
Pharmaceutical packaging and
patient information leaflets are inspected in accordance with sampling directives and cycles specified
by the pharmaceuticals industry.
DensiTronic PDF’s relevance for
The sheet is scanned on the DensiTronic desk
this field is clear. For example, if a
random speck of dust in the platesetter were to transform the digit 3
in the dosage instructions into an
8, the consequences could easily
prove fatal for the patient. What the
naked eye may overlook, this new
technology can detect with 100%
accuracy. While no such spectacular
errors have occurred at Mensing,
checks in the past have revealed a
plate scratch which was visible in
the printed image. As a result production was stopped and a new
plate made before the complete run
was printed. On another occasion a
classic pre-press error was detected: the layout cross-hairs had
accidentally been exposed onto the
plate and would have been printed
if DensiTronic PDF had not been in
operation. In both cases Mensing
avoided having to reprint the entire
job. That saved time, capacity, costs
Technical manager Klaus Trierweiler explaining how a
scanned sheet is compared to the customer’s original PDF file
in the DensiTronic PDF computer
How DensiTronic PDF works
• Operating software for the PDF scanner is embedded in the DensiTronic Professional
standard user interface
• A scanner beam incorporating a series of individual cameras produces an image every
20mm
• Scan resolution is 300ppi
• Measuring time is approximately 60 seconds on a 740 x 1060mm sheet
• The individual images are collated to provide a total image in the system computer
• The total image is forwarded to the inspection program
• The reference PDF is uploaded simultaneously (can be automatic or manual)
• The inspection parameters (error size threshold, error contrast, maximum fringe dot size,
maximum misregistration, colour mode, resolution) are set via simple screen menus
• The total image is compared with the PDF file
• An inspection certificate, detailed log and evaluation are generated
Alongside the new Rapida with simultaneous
plate changing (pictured here), the DensiTronic
desk and PDF reader are also used to check the
prints off a second Rapida press which was
installed eight years ago
and waste. Our DensiTronic PDF
thus indirectly helps to protect the
environment. It also boosts efficiency and conserves resources by
allowing the company to dispense
with forme proofs on paper.
While costs associated with returns and complaints have always
been modest, since installing DensiTronic PDF Mensing has managed
to reduce them by a further 50 per
cent. The biggest savings have been
made by eliminating errors during
the print run. Colour control with
DensiTronic Professional and the
PDF reader module installed at the
DensiTronic desk have enhanced
both production reliability and quality awareness within the company.
The new electronic quality assurance tools have been accepted
wholeheartedly by production staff,
boosting their confidence. In addition to furnishing proof of the introduction of a quality management
system for the production and sale
of pharmaceutical, surgical and industrial packaging, patient information leaflets and commercial work
compliant with ISO 9001:2008,
combining the two systems has had
a huge positive impact both internally and externally.
Value added appeals
to old and new customers alike
Monitor display flagging a scratch in a single
blank on a packaging forme
Patient information leaflets folded with (on the left) and without the aid of aqua scoring
Volker Knoop also perceives a positive marketing impact. While
Mensing is a relatively small business compared to the major players
in the sector, employing just 45
staff, its order books feature a string
of pre-eminent pharmaceutical
companies and brand manufacturers including Beiersdorf, Revell and
Johnson & Johnson. Some print buyers are in the process of reducing
the number of their suppliers, driving a need among packaging printers to develop unique, value-added
products. The meticulously proven
quality delivered with the aid of
DensiTronic PDF is a good example
of value enhancement and has
proved popular with customers.
The prospect of effective error prevention has also attracted new customers, for example manufacturers
of agricultural machinery and premium household appliances. As a
result Mensing’s order intake is
steadily increasing.
Mensing highlights the unique
possibilities afforded by electronic
quality assurance. Its own trademark PRINtector system promises
users:
• absolute confidence that the
product delivered will correspond
exactly to the PDF original provided, because the printed sheet is
compared with this original and not
with a reference sheet (which could
itself already contain errors), making this method far superior to inline inspection systems;
• a detailed inspection protocol
for their own quality management
systems;
• the certainty that even foreignlanguage texts are checked with absolute accuracy, irrespective of
production staff’s linguistic abilities;
• efficient, resource-frugal production thanks to early error detection.
Cutting-edge technology
also used for eight-year-old Rapida
Every single job for the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries is
checked using DensiTronic PDF as
a matter of routine, jobs for other
branches upon request. Some twothirds of the company’s print out-
Mensing managing director Volker Knoop is
delighted: “With our PDF-based monitoring
we can easily satisfy the demanding quality
specs of critical customers in the cosmetics
and pharmaceuticals industries.”
put is now checked against the original PDF file. Alongside the new
Rapida the DensiTronic desk and
PDF reader are also used to check
the prints off a second Rapida press
installed eight years ago. Because
the scanner is located at the DensiTronic Professional desk it can be
used to carry out density checks on
prints off the older press.
Since the new Rapida’s DriveTronic SPC system allows all the
plates on the press to be changed
simultaneously in less than sixty
seconds, Mensing can even turn a
profit on the ultra-short runs customary in the pharmaceuticals industry. At the other end of the scale
the high production outputs of both
Rapidas also allow it to print runs of
one million boxes or more without
exercising its ingenuity. With such
premium technology in place
Mensing is now busy optimising
and streamlining its production
processes still further. It has already
invested in equipment to enhance
its competence in the production of
patient information leaflets. This includes aqua scoring, a new option
that helps avoid cracking during the
folding process by softening the
folds with a mixture of softener and
water using high pressure water
jets. The folded product is thus
much flatter (see photo left).
Martin Dänhardt
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 21
Sheetfed Offset | France
The design of Imprimerie Montligeon’s
new, 8,600m² production plant in Saint Hilaire
Le Châtel incorporates the most advanced
technology in terms of materials flow and
environmental conservation
the construction of a new 8,600m²
(92,600ft²) production plant in
Saint Hilaire le Châtel (postal zone
61) whose environmental footprint
would comply with rigorous new
standards.
Productivity leap with DriveTronic SPC
and QualiTronic Color Control
Second eight-colour Rapida 106 perfector press with DriveTronic SPC and colour control
Imprimerie Montligeon
boosts productivity with
makeready world champion
Specialist commercial and packaging printer Imprimerie Montligeon in Normandy is going on the offensive with a gleaming new production plant housing the world makeready champion in B1 (41in) format, the Rapida 106. The eight-colour
press, which boasts a four-backing-four perfecting capability, DriveTronic SPC dedicated plate-cylinder drives and an inline
QualiTronic Color Control system, is the company’s second new-generation eight-colour perfector and its third Rapida 106
in just two years, the first being a five-colour coater version.
he presses are part of an aggressive four-year strategic investment programme initiated
in 2006, and the Rapida 106 was
brought on stream in June this year.
Established 130 years ago in
1880, Imprimerie Montligeon has
two production subsidiaries: Orne,
T
“We boast an impressive level of expertise
across a broad range of products.” Frédéric
Berthelat, director of marketing and R&D at
the Montligeon group
Plant director Romuald Sausse (l) firmly
believes that the new six-colour Rapida 106
is the most advanced in its class
22 Report 37 | 2010
in Saint Hilaire le Châtel, and
Sarthe, formerly Imprimerie La Fertoise, in La Chapelle du Bois. Last
year the total group workforce of
214 generated sales worth €28m
($36.4m), €9.5m ($12.3m) of
which was attributable to packaging. That is one of the group’s pe-
culiarities: in addition to 160 magazine titles it prints folding cartons
and point-of-sale displays.
In order to create the conditions essential for the organic
growth that was to underpin its industrial strategy Imprimerie Montligeon gave the go-ahead in 2006 for
The plant’s inauguration in 2008
was accompanied by a refurbishment of the entire press fleet,
which at that time comprised a
number of different brands. The
first new addition was the Rapida
106 five-colour coater press, which
is used to print packaging. It was
followed by the first Rapida 106
eight-colour perfecting press, which
prints commercials. Montligeon
plant director Romuald Sausse says:
“We chose the first eight-colour
Rapida for its cutting-edge technology, which includes automatic plate
changing with simultaneous blanket
washing, SIS sidelay-free infeed and
double-size post-perfecting impression cylinders that are fitted with
special non-stick jackets. Compared
to the existing eight-colour press
from another manufacturer, the
eight-colour Rapida 106 installed in
2008 delivered a 43 per cent productivity boost.”
His enthusiasm is evident as he
continues: “The Rapida 106 installed in June has enabled us to improve our productivity still further
and reduce waste by 50 per cent. It
runs up to saleable colour in approximately 100 sheets.” The low
volume of start-up waste offers additional benefits: “With the new
Rapida 106 we can print runs of
just 250 copies cost-effectively.
Since we regularly have to print
multiple language versions, this is a
big asset. It is also an enormous advantage when printing magazine titles whose circulations are steadily
declining.” At present the average
run length for the commercial products printed at Montligeon is
around 6,500 copies.
Ideal for short runs
“In view of the staggering performance of new-generation Rapida 106
QualiTronic Color Control has helped cut waste by almost 50 per cent:
the press often runs up to saleable colour in less than 100 sheets
presses, with their DriveTronic SPC
capabilities, and the professional
after-sales service provided by KBA,
opting for the same press as our latest acquisition was more or less a
no-brainer,” says Romuald Sausse.
“Simultaneous plate changing with
DriveTronic SPC dedicated drives
means that we can change all the
plates in the eight printing units in
less than one minute. What’s more,
the blankets and impression cylinders are all cleaned at the same
time.”
Another key feature of the
press is its QualiTronic Color Control module, with camera-assisted
inline colorimetry and dynamic
colour adjustment on both sides of
the sheet. This ensures total colour
stability after just 100 sheets, and
from one run to the next. Says Romuald Sausse: “Thanks to these
two capabilities, our new-generation Rapidas have shortened job
changes by a staggering two-thirds.
The first complete job change delivered a time gain of seventeen
minutes. This means that we can
now print shorter runs more efficiently and therefore more economically.”
He cites just one of many examples with the new press: “We
recently printed 24 four-colour perfecting jobs, 600 copies per job, in
just seven hours. That’s 3.5 jobs per
hour. With most types of substrate
we can even print at an output of
15,000 sheets per hour in perfecting mode, which is a 20 per cent
productivity gain.”
The impression cylinders after
the perfecting unit are fitted with
specially coated jackets to prevent
ink set-off from the recto page on
the cylinders. Romuald Sausse says:
“We print car magazines with a high
colour content. That demands a superior reproductive quality in four
With DriveTronic SPC, all the plates on the new eight-colour press can be changed
in less than 60 seconds
backing four, and with the new
press we need have no qualms that
the sheets will become contaminated.”
50% higher output
in packaging printing
The company is also pleased with
the Rapida 106 five-colour packaging press installed in 2008, which
features an aqueous coater and automated pile logistics. “The piles at
the feeder and delivery are changed
automatically – without stopping
the press – and this delivers substantial time gains. The delivery of
new pallets is also fully automated,
and is completed while the press
runs at the maximum production
speed of 18,000 sheets per hour.
The 106 has enabled us to boost
productivity by 50 per cent. In the
current market climate, that is more
important than ever,” says Mr
Sausse.
The two eight-colour Rapida 106 press lines – the new one with dedicated plate-cylinder drives for simultaneous plate change is on the right –
have turbo-boosted productivity at Montligeon’s commercial operation
He continues: “Notwithstanding intense price erosion in the market, with the three KBA presses we
have achieved an eight per cent increase in our production volume by
enhancing productivity. Sales were
stable throughout 2009 and business has remained brisk so far this
year too. We operate in three shifts
from Monday to Saturday. Since delivery deadlines are getting tighter
and now average just five days, our
strategy is to keep the presses running continuously and only stop
them in an emergency. The aftersales service provided by KBA is
tailored perfectly to our needs.
Service work is even carried out at
weekends.”
“Between 2008 and 2010 Imprimerie Montligeon invested a
total of eight million euros in new
capacity,” explains Frédéric Berthelat, director of marketing and R&D
at the Montligeon group. “As well
as installing new printing presses
we also refurbished the entire prepress division, adding a new Kodak
ctp system and JDF/JMF-capable
ERP software from Gamsys. The
converting department – cutting,
folding and gluing – and the
bindery were also upgraded.”
Montligeon has already attained
Imprim’Vert, PEFC (Programme for
the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and ISO 9001/
2000 accreditation, and is on track
for ISO 14001 and ISO 12647-2.
Frédéric Berthelat says: “We boast
an impressive level of expertise that
allows us to combine quality with
productivity across a broad range of
products spanning commercials,
packaging and displays.”
Luc Emeriau
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 23
Sheetfed Offset | Energy efficiency
Energy measurements were taken
on an eight-colour Rapida 106
perfector press with two coaters
Energy audit at a sheetfed offset press in shopfloor environment
Press kit and order structure have
defining impact on energy consumption
As energy prices climb and pressure steadily mounts to reduce the volume of
the production-specific power consumption of litho presses. But for greater
carbon dioxide emitted during industrial production processes such as print, there
transparency, and as a means of identifying energy losses and potential for
is a swelling chorus of voices in the marketplace calling for more precise data on
improvement, we recommend an energy audit of the entire press. This requires
the energy consumed by printing presses. The first step has already been taken
knowledge of the energy flows and their chronological sequences during
in the form of guidelines agreed among press manufacturers for calculating
production.
n order to obtain a detailed energy profile for a sheetfed press
in actual operation KBA engineers virtually camped out in the
press room, taking hundreds of
measurements over a period of several months. Records were kept
both of the energy input and of the
resulting energy flows. They then
drew up a comprehensive energy
audit for the press.
press was switched to energy-saving
idling mode. As it accelerated, the
energy input correlated with the increase in speed. The power consumption measured at the press
connection represented approximately 35.6 per cent of total energy
consumption, which included both
useful energy and the heat generated through friction and discharged to the press or the ambient
air (press room).
It is interesting to note the figures for the auxiliary devices. It can
clearly be seen that a subassembly
such as the cooling unit consumes
just as much energy as the air-compression cabinet, which has a much
higher power rating. The reason is
that the cooling unit is in constant
operation, whereas the air-compression cabinet switches off automatically when not required. And
despite their comparatively low connected load, the cooling unit and
the air-compression cabinet together consume as much energy as
the IR/TA dryer. This is because
both devices are in operation for
prolonged periods of time.
I
Data capture
The press they examined was an
eight-colour Rapida 106 incorporating a number of additional features
not included in the standard configuration. Specifically these comprised a UV and a hybrid IR/thermal
air (TA) dryer, a perfecting unit and
two coaters with the appropriate
dryers. Studying this press (pictured above) enabled them to capture data on the items of equipment
that consume the most energy during any single print job.
The data for calculating the
electrical and thermal parameters
specific to the Rapida 106 were captured during routine print produc-
24 Report 37 | 2010
tion. The information was relayed
from clusters of sensors attached to
over 120 measuring points.
Energy audit
The energy audit detailed below for
the Rapida 106 examined covers a
time frame of one month. It should
be noted that energy consumption
depends to a great extent on the
structure of the jobs printed, and
that the values recorded in the
measuring period only apply to this
specific press and the print jobs
produced on it. The focus of this
energy audit were the five biggest
consumers: the UV dryer, the IR/TA
dryer, the press itself, the air-compression cabinet and the multi-purpose cooling unit.
A total power consumption of
53.91MWh was recorded for the
one-month time frame reviewed
here (see figure 1 on opposite page).
As was to be expected, readings
taken at the power connection to
the press revealed that there was a
significant difference in energy consumption between standstill and
operation. During standstill the
The controlled air-compression cabinet is
one of the biggest consumers of energy even
though it switches off when not required
Approximately 13.9 per cent of
total energy consumption was attributable to the cooling unit, 28
per cent to the compressors and the
remaining 72 per cent to the circulating pump and the metering unit.
This energy was utilised to divert
6.84MWh of waste heat out of the
press and into the return cooling
16.6 MWh energy from exhaust air
Figure 4:
23.82 MWh
unspecified energy
19.17 MWh
UV dryer
IR/TA dryer
15.99 MWh
circuit. Additional, unspecified energy consumption comprised useful
energy as well as energy losses.
The controlled air-compression
cabinet consumed roughly 14.4 per
cent of the energy input. This was
then converted into waste heat and
Figure 1:
3.54 MWh
discharged via the return cooling
circuit (60.5%). Again, additional,
unspecified energy consumption
(39.5%) included useful energy and
energy losses. Energy consumption
in the air-compression cabinet is depicted in figure 2.
3.54 MWh (6.6%)
7.47 MWh (13.9%)
7.74 MWh (14.4%)
UV dryer
15.99 MWh (29.7%)
Cooling unit
Air-compression cabinet
IR/TA dryer
Printing press
19.17 MWh
(35.6%)
Total energy consumption 53.91 MWh (100%)
Biggest consumers of energy
Figure 2:
3.06 MWh (39.5%)
Unspecified energy consumption
Waste heat return cooling circuit
4.68 MWh (60.5%)
Total energy consumption 7.74 MWh (100%)
Energy consumed in the air-compression cabinet
Figure 3:
0.62 MWh (17.5%)
0.95 MWh (26.8%)
Heat in exhaust air
Unspecified consumption
Waste heat return cooling circuit
Total energy consumption 3.54 MWh (100%)
Energy consumed by the UV dryer
1.97 MWh (55.6%)
Air
Cooling unit
7.74 MWh
7.47 MWh
The biggest consumers of energy were the dryers. Having said
that, the UV dryer in the example
cited here played a relatively minor
role, which is explained by the type
of job printed and the level of utilisation of the UV dryer during the
period under observation. If the energy consumption of the UV dryer
is profiled separately, the following
conclusions may be made.
Power consumption by the UV
dryer depended on the number of
modules in operation at any one
time. Approximately 6.6 per cent of
electrical input during the month’s
observation was attributed to the
UV dryer. This energy was partly
converted into heat, most of which
was vented via the exhaust air
(17.5%) or the return cooling circuit
(55.6%). Here, too, there was an
unspecified proportion of energy
consumption (26.8%). This encompassed the energy utilised during
the drying process, the energy exerted on the paper, the energy
input in the press and the energy
dissipated in the press room. Energy consumption in the UV dryer
is depicted on the left (see figure 3).
The energy-efficient IR/TA
dryer, unlike the UV dryer, was in
regular operation. The substantial
fluctuations in the power load
measured during the observation
period arose from the different
types of jobs printed and the coatings applied. The IR/TA dryer accounted for approximately 29.7 per
cent of the total electrical input. It
was found that the energy generated from the incoming air in the
heat registers was much lower than
the exhaust air energy discharged
from the press. This discrepancy
can be explained by the fact that
waste air from elsewhere in the
13.49 MWh energy from water cooling
press and from the press environment was vented along with the exhaust air from the IR/TA dryer.
For anyone engaged in the development of technical processes or
concepts for utilising waste air, an
audit of the exhaust energy vented
via water and via air is of more than
passing interest. Such an audit is an
essential foundation for quantifying
the interaction and mutual impact
of these individual processes and
concepts.
The waste air recycled via the
water cooling circuit accounted for
13.49MWh of the energy vented.
This is equivalent to around 25 per
cent of the total input of electrical
energy.
The exhaust-air ducts vented
16.6MWh of waste heat. This was
roughly 30.8 per cent of the total
electrical input. A breakdown of the
energy flow within the press is
shown in figure 4.
The above audit demonstrates
that even electrically powered devices with a low connected load can
figure prominently in the overall
balance. A sustainable concept for
cutting power consumption and
utilising energy much more effectively could be implemented by
optimising press technology, deploying energy recovery systems
and installing more energy-efficient
dryers, for example KBA’s newly
launched VariDryBLUE for large formats. For printers keen on enhancing their energy efficiency KBA
offers a service tailored to their specific job structures.
Dr Sascha Fälsch (KBA)
Benjamin Scheer (Fraunhofer Institut)
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 25
Website: www.climatepartner.com
Sheetfed Offset | Environment
ClimatePartner
A consultancy established in
2006 and based in Munich, with
affiliates in Italy, Greece, Austria
and the USA. ClimatePartner’s
payroll of 30 works on individual
climate protection projects for
over 400 customers throughout
the world, more than 250 of
them in the printing and media
production industry.
Contact: Mario Schilling
Tel:
+49 89 1222 875-20;
E-mail:
[email protected]
The energy consumed by the press represents a major proportion of the carbon emissions generated by any specific print job. The Rapida 75E pictured
here was engineered to minimise emissions, and KBA demonstrated this at Ipex by connecting the press to a green electricity meter (on the right of the
red sheet counter at the delivery) so that consumption was clearly visible to all
New KBA service in collaboration with ClimatePartner
Climate-neutral print
production for a modest outlay
In alliance with Munich-based consultancy ClimatePartner, KBA has become the first press manufacturer in the
www.klimaneutraldrucken.de/kba
www.climateneutralprinting.com/kba
Koenig & Bauer AG
marketplace to offer environmentally minded customers an individual, modestly priced and convenient method of
calculating the volume of greenhouse gases emitted during print production.
ne of the first members of the
industry to team up with ClimatePartner, KBA entered the
alliance shortly before Drupa 2008
and also gave the company stand
space at the show. Since then a
large number of KBA customers
have drawn on the expertise and experience of the Munich environmental consultancy in order to
reduce their carbon footprint.
O
New online platform simplifies
emissions calculations
Printers can use the new online
platform created by KBA and ClimatePartner to calculate the volume
of carbon emitted during print production. They can then take up the
option of offsetting this by participating in certified environmental
projects. The online calculation
tools provided are practical, easy to
learn – and not restricted to KBA
sheetfed presses and printing. It is
possible to integrate other makes of
press along with all upstream and
downstream links in the production
chain, and to quantify all corporate
26 Report 37 | 2010
emissions associated with any specific print job, including material
and labour input.
Printers registering at www.climateneutralprinting.com/kba/ and
entering their emission-relevant
data will receive details of their individual carbon footprint, enabling
them to green up their entire production process. This carbon footprint can also furnish the basis for
making further improvements in
conserving resources. KBA is offer-
ing its customers this service in
order to sensitise them to the challenges posed by climate change.
Contribution to sustainable
print production
Klaus Schmidt, KBA director of marketing and corporate communications, says: “Climate neutral
printing is just one of many services
provided by KBA for sustainable
print production. Our aim is to support our customers not just with ex-
Printers logging onto
www.climate-neutralprinting.com/kba/ can
not only calculate their
production-specific
carbon emissions but
also, for a modest fee,
offset these by taking
part in certified
environmental projects
ceptionally energy-efficient printing
presses, and through our commitment to waterless offset as a
greener production technology, but
also to help them select the most
environmentally friendly substrates
and finishing processes for their
specific production scenarios.
Hence our decision to team up with
ClimatePartner and create an online
platform for climate-neutral printing.”
The new service is available in
German and English, and has so far
been launched in Europe and the
USA. ClimatePartner founder and
CEO Moritz Lehmkuhl is delighted
that collaboration between the two
companies has been intensified in
this way: “Working with KBA is a
major milestone for us.”
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Sheetfed Offset | Superlarge format
ooking at the print industry
today it is hard to recall the
technology of years gone by.
Manual labour has largely been replaced by computerised systems,
with no end in sight. Computer to
plate, CIP3 press preset and automated plate changing are just a few
of the advances that have transformed a printer’s working environment.
There have also been radical
changes in offset sheet formats.
Twenty years ago B2 (20.5 x 29in)
was the most popular choice, now
it is B1 (29 x 41in) and bigger.
Whether this shift was driven by
printers or press manufacturers is a
matter of debate: the fact remains
that the number of superlarge-format press installations worldwide is
steadily increasing. Computer to
plate and a sharp reduction in makeready times have made VLF offset
more cost-effective than either
inkjet or screen printing for highquality work, whether you’re talking fewer than 200 or more than
500 copies. Quick to exploit this
trend, Beyaert Printing installed two
7B (64in) Rapida 162 presses three
years ago. Early this year it fired up
the five-colour Rapida 205, the first
and only press in Belgium for sheets
measuring 1,510 x 2,050mm (59.5
x 80.7in).
L
Folding cartons being printed ready
for lamination
“I could spend hours watching this
fine press in action.” Bernard Ramboux,
proud owner of the Rapida 205
Beyaert Printing on growth curve with Rapida 205
Size does matter
When it comes to carving out a niche market, (sheet) size does matter. Which is why Beyaert Printing in Waregem
became the first printer in Belgium – and the only one within a radius of several hundred kilometres – to install a
superlarge-format five-colour Rapida 205.
Growing demand
for POS displays
press is a burgeoning demand for
big POS (point of sale; in the US
point of purchase) displays printed
in the highest quality. Says Bernard
Ranboux: “We have noticed local
screen and inkjet print providers
competing with us for work, but
VLF offset is more cost-effective for
runs of even just a few hundred
sheets, and certainly above. Moreover, printing off an extra 1,000 displays takes only a few minutes
longer, which is a big advantage.
What makes it all the more interesting is the fact that we are the
only printer in a radius of 500 kilometres capable of doing this!”
After seven months’ operation
Bernard Ramboux’ verdict is nothing less than glowing: “Experience
has shown that the Rapida 205 is
everything we’d hoped for. It may
sound grossly exaggerated, but both
our press crew and our customers
are full of praise for the quality of
the prints it delivers. And with its
clean lines and robust design the
new press is a real eye-catcher, too.
Mind you, the Rapidas’ easy handling and immaculate prints have
been impressing us for the past fifteen years.”
Another reason for Beyaert’s investment in the superlarge-format
Stefan Vermaercke
[email protected]
Fourth-generation
print provider
Like many family-run businesses,
Beyaert has a long history. Its
founder, Leon Beyaert, came from a
family of artists. When he started
out as a litho printer and bookbinder back in 1882, lithography
was widely popular, with both
colour and monochrome work a
major aspect of the printing trade.
Beyaert later switched to book
printing and in the late 1950s his
company was one of the first in Belgium to make the transition to offset. Today it is a specialist printer
and converter of folding cartons for
the packaging industry. Its 40strong workforce also prints sheets
for laminating onto corrugated
packaging and displays. The company is headed by Bernard Ramboux, the fourth generation in the
founding family. His right-hand man
is Olivier Storme, who is in charge
of administration.
Despite its huge format the Rapida 205 is compact and has a relatively small footprint
Folding cartons steadily growing
“As we all know, competition in the
retail trade is pretty fierce,” says
Bernard Ramboux. “So manufacturers of consumer goods are constantly searching for ways to make
their products stand out in the
crowd. Adopting more attractive
packaging is one method, bigger
packaging another. We have noticed
that packaging is getting bigger
from one year to the next. Just
think of the cartons for big, flatscreen televisions: very often the
entire surface of the carton is laminated with printed sheets, thus fuelling a demand for larger formats.
That is why we purchased the two
Rapida 162 presses three years ago.
However, no sooner had we
brought them on stream than we
noticed that demand was shifting
towards even bigger sheet sizes.
The Rapida 205 was the logical consequence.” Messrs Ramboux and
Storme see a similar development
among the board converters who
supply the company with boxes.
They, too, are investing in laminating and die-cutting machinery for
much larger formats. “We have always seen ourselves as an industry
bellwether, but this development
took us by surprise,” admits Mr
Ramboux.
Report 37 | 2010 27
Sheetfed Offset | Indonesia
Jakarta, capital of a country that has become
a major market for KBA in the high-growth
Asia-Pacific region
From the left: Stefan Segger (managing
director of KBA Asia Pacific), PT Grafitec factory
manager Ooi Teong Huah, Evi Soemardi
(KBA agency Intertek Sempana), PT Grafitec
director Rudy Ghozali and Ori Santoso Hartono
(Intertek Sempana) displaying some of PT
Grafitec’s products
Sansico Group in Jakarta takes Rapida 105 and Genius 52UV
KBA technology invigorates
Indonesian packaging sector
Within the high-growth Asia-Pacific region Indonesia is fast becoming a key KBA market. In April last year the Sansico Group,
a prominent Jakarta-based packaging major, installed a new six-colour Rapida 105 universal coater press at its subsidiary
PT Grafitec in Cikarang. In June this year the group’s second Cikarang-based production plant, PT Printec, fired up a Rapida
provement. Among many joint initiatives Sansico and Mattel have implemented a lean manufacturing
system based on balanced and
aligned sequence timing across the
Mattel assembly line and Printec’s
production flow. In addition Printec
has established a state-of-the-art inhouse lab to ensure compliance
with international standards for
heavy metals and phthalates.
105 five-colour coater press. Two of KBA-Metronic’s Genius 52UV presses are already in action at the same location, mainly
Shifting market drives realignment
printing on plastic and other non-absorbent substrates and materials. These installations followed the commissioning in late
PT Grafitec director Rudy Ghozali
says: “PT Grafitec and PT Printec
used to operate sheetfed offset
presses from other manufacturers.
But the Indonesian market has undergone far-reaching changes in recent years. Innovative products and
continual improvements in customer services have made KBA an
attractive alternative. The price,
performance, delivery time, makeready and level of automation of our
first Rapida 105 universal were
pretty compelling, and it was the
same with the new five-colour 105.
And with top-class KBA reference
installations here in Indonesia, staff
training was not an issue.”
He continues: “As we have
known for the past three years, KBA
also offers some interesting options
for green printing, one of which is
the waterless Genius 52UV. We
have great confidence in KBA
presses. We’ll continue to keep a
weather eye on technological advances and when further investments are on the table we’ll be
contacting KBA again.”
2008 of two 18,000sph eight-colour Rapida 106 perfectors at publishing market leader PT Gramedia.
ansico started out as a local
printer but soon evolved into
an internationally successful
print group for packaging and paper
products. Of its five production
plants four are in the greater Jakarta
area and one in Foshan (Guangdong, China). The manufacturing
plants are organised along various
printing processes which include
offset, flexo and gravure technologies, and are moving towards a fully
digital workflow. Each facility also
caters to specific customers and
sectors, thereby allowing a dedicated focus and high service levels.
The group employs more than
2,000 people (with seasonal fluctuations). Alongside quality folding
cartons and plastic packaging the
broad product spectrum includes
greetings cards, wrapping paper,
S
PT Grafitec director Rudy Ghozali with
some of the huge range of quality products
his company prints for industrial enterprises
and major retail chains
28 Report 37 | 2010
serviettes, giftware (bags, boxes
etc) and partyware. Sansico numbers prominent household names
such as Mattel, Target, American
Greetings, Nestlé, Coca Cola,
Costco and Walmart among its customers. Exports account for the majority of group output, and major
shipping destinations include the
USA and Europe.
Focus on Mattel
For almost two decades Sansico has
built up a close alliance with US toy
manufacturer Mattel. Through this
partnership Sansico has adopted
and assimilated best-in-class manufacturing and management practices in accordance with customer
requirements, providing a platform
for a culture of continuous im-
Gerhard Renn
[email protected]
Sheetfed Offset | Large format
Website: www.hammerpackaging.com
ur successful mantra has always been to innovate,” says
Jim Hammer, president and
CEO. “We lead the industry, not follow. In the past five years, we’ve
doubled our sales growth and we’re
anticipating that we’ll grow in double-digit figures during the next five
years. We chose to partner with
KBA because we feel that they are
well attuned to the market and our
relationship has been very good
since we purchased our first largeformat press from them in 2005.
Our new KBA Rapida 162 will be assigned to produce cut and stack
labels for our high-end national accounts and we anticipate it will be
running three shifts right away.”
He continues: “Most of our
competitors predominantly have
six-colour presses, and we’ve found
that our customers will design their
labels utilising all eight colours. This
differentiates us from our competitors. The lightweight paper package
is especially important in our market because our customers are trying to shed as much weight as
possible on their products to reduce
costs. Furthermore, we specified
the Densitronic Professional colour
control system because it is used on
all of our presses; it allows us to easily repeat customer jobs thus allowing us to shorten customer run
lengths, while keeping their inventories low and allowing them to
change their graphics as often as
they wish. Oftentimes, our customers ask for process information
in order to map the job for quality
control. We need this type of highend technology from KBA to better
maintain our own edge as well as
provide detailed information for our
customers.”
O
“
More options with film
Over the past eight years Hammer’s
customers, such as Pepsico and The
Coca-Cola Company, have turned to
cut-and-stack labels printed on film.
Unlike paper labels, film can be
clear, giving designers the additional capability to reverse print, as
well as surface print. Hammer specified that the new KBA press
needed to have a 12-foot extended
delivery in order to dry the film
substrates run on the press. “We
print a fair amount of oriented
polypropylene,” says Hammer, “and
Jim Hammer, president and CEO of Hammer Packaging, at his new KBA Rapida 162 eight-colour sheetfed press plus coater and reel-to-sheet feeder
Hammer Packaging leads industry with eight-colour Rapida 162
Premier packaging printer
innovates with increased
automation, flexibility
Hammer Packaging, a premier package printer in Rochester, New York, has installed a new 7B (64in) Rapida 162
eight-colour press plus coater, reel-to-sheet feeder, Densitronic Professional colour control and lightweight paper
package. Hammer is the only packaging printer in North America with this type of press configuration.
we need the extended delivery to
cure the job at full speed.”
Automation an absolute must
Another trend is interactive graphics. According to Jim Hammer,
“We’re seeing more extensive target marketing focusing on different
areas of locale, different groups of
people, and different types of activities.” This form of micro-marketing
requires a greater variation of
graphics on each package, as well as
changing label designs from job to
job. “Consequently, we’re running
shorter run lengths of labels. The
key is to be flexible and deliver exactly what customers need in a justin-time environment.”
Having highly automated machinery is key at Hammer Packaging, allowing its highly-prized team
to focus on quality and productivity.
The new Rapida 162’s automated
inking system measures the exact
ink amount in each unit and captures every cost involved. Hammer
replaces its equipment every seven
years believing that technology
changes enough to warrant new
models. When Hammer installed its
new KBA press in early 2010 it decommissioned an eight-colour press
from another manufacturer to make
room. Hammer will continue to use
its seven-colour Rapida 162 press
purchased in 2005 with a Grafech
Engineering sheeter. This was the
first installation of a sheeter for a
press of this size.
Hammer Packaging, established
in 1912, is a privately-held highquality package printing company
with a focus on labels and product
decoration. Core products include
cut-and-stack labels, in-mould labels, shrink sleeves, roll-on shrinkon labels, roll-fed labels, pressure-
sensitive labels, foam labels and
premium packets. Key markets include beverage, food, household
products and horticulture. Hammer’s customers also include
Nestlé Waters NA, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and Campbell Soup. The
company employs more than 400
associates and occupies over
400,000ft² (37,000m²) of operational space across three facilities.
Jim Hammer is a fourth-generation
business owner who has been the
driving force in growing the $1 million company he took over from his
father to the $90 million enterprise
it is today. In July 2009 Hammer
Packaging was ranked 64 in the
Graphic Arts Monthly (GAM) list
for top performing printing companies in North America.
Eric Frank
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 29
Sheetfed Offset | China
n the first seven months alone
Chinese printers awarded almost
thirty contracts for large-format
press lines, every one of which will
be shipped before the end of the
year. The figures underscore KBA’s
pole position in the global market
for large-format offset presses,
which is now rapidly being paralleled in the high-growth Chinese
market. Strikingly, many of the
printers signing up for big presses
are medium-format specialists and
have no prior experience of large
format. Here are a few examples.
I
From medium
format to large
One of the biggest users of KBA
presses in China is packaging
printer Beijing Jiazheng, which for
the past three years has run five
Rapida 105 press lines – one sixcolour, two five-colour (one with a
coater) and two four-colour. In autumn this year Beijing Jiazheng will
take delivery of its first Rapida 142,
a five-colour version with coater.
The company is advancing into large
format as a means of boosting productivity and honing its competitive
edge.
At Sichuan Shifang Gongyi in
southwest China a seven-colour
Rapida 105 universal coater press
has been in operation for the past
two years. This year it will be joined
by a brand-new Rapida 105 and Rapida 142. Here, too, the decision in
favour of large format was dictated
by the productivity gains it delivers.
Integrating the big Rapida in the
dedicated production flow will enable the company to print more
blanks per sheet. It will also allow
it to produce packaging in one pass:
at present each item must be assembled from several separately
printed pieces.
Zhejiang Wuyi Zhangshi in
eastern China will be firing up its
second large-format Rapida this autumn. The company started making
the transition from locally built
presses to Rapidas last year with the
purchase of a Rapida 105. A few
months ago it installed a five-colour
Rapida 162a which will now be
joined by a four-colour Rapida 142.
Again, the choice of large format
was driven by technical demands
and the wider range of products
possible.
30 Report 37 | 2010
In autumn this year Xiamen Jimei will flick the switch on a Rapida 162a – its first KBA press – at a high-tech production plant in Fujian province
Soaring demand for big Rapidas
Large-format boom
in the Middle Kingdom
Sales of Rapida presses are booming in China, with our regional sales offices booking as many as thirty orders a
month. The total value of contracts signed in the six months to July was higher than for the entire previous year.
The most popular choice across the board is our sturdy B1 (40in) workhorse, the Rapida 105, with a few top Chinese
players opting for the high-tech Rapida 106. In other words, business as usual. What is surprising is that in a country where large-format presses scarcely registered on the radar, Rapidas for bigger sheet sizes up to 1,120 x 1,620mm
(44 x 63.77in) have been selling like hot cakes.
LF customers old and new
A whole succession of printers who
have been operating big Rapidas for
some time now have recently been
expanding their fleets. One of them
is Changzhou Zhengwen, a specialist packaging printer in the
eastern province of Jiangsu. The inauguration of a four-colour Rapida
162a in 2006 will be followed in
the next few weeks by the delivery
of a five-colour Rapida 142 with
which the company is aiming to
boost its competitiveness still further. Changzhou Zhengwen’s renewed choice of a KBA press was
influenced in no small part by the
outstanding stability and performance of the Rapida 162a.
Foshan Luzhicai, down south
in Guangdong province, did exactly
the opposite. In 2005 the company
The twentieth contract awarded by a China printer this year for a large-format Rapida was signed
at the Beijing International Packaging Fair 2010, which took place from 2 to 4 June. Since then the
total has risen to almost thirty
installed a Rapida 142, which will
be joined at the end of this year by
a Rapida 162a. Here, the choice of
a larger format was dictated by a
growing demand for bigger packaging. The excellent reputation enjoyed by the big Rapidas in the
marketplace, and the reliable service provided by KBA-China, are
what clinched the decision for a
second large-format Rapida.
Xiamen Jimei in Fujian
province and Zhejiang Yixiang
were among the first-time buyers of
KBA presses – and large-format into
the bargain. Both will receive a fivecolour Rapida 162a before the end
of the year. While Xiamen Jimei currently operates presses from a different vendor, Zhejiang Yixiang is
new to the print business. Both
companies, like many others, made
a conscious decision to go for the
number one brand in large format,
and the manufacturer with the
most experience.
Martin Dänhardt
[email protected]
Sheetfed Offset | Australia
Website: www.percival.net.au
utomation modules include
DriveTronic SIS no-sidelay infeed, coating plate change and
CIPLink software. The washing system for the blanket cylinder, impression cylinder and rollers has a
return function to reduce cloth consumption. The two coaters are
linked to two pumping and cleaning
devices (one for aqueous and one
for UV). The press package also includes DensiTronic online colour
measurement and control.
For Percival managing director
David LeRoy and his partner and
co-proprietor Rod Jenkins, the
18,000cph high-performance press
is a key factor in safeguarding the
company’s future. David LeRoy
says: “Delivery, installation and
commissioning were completed
well on schedule. We have been delighted with the execution of the
entire project. Apart from the technological competence and the capabilities offered by the Rapida 106,
what won our vote was the rapid
ROI and the after-sales service provided. Prior to placing the order we
were able to inspect a similar press
in Paris and realised immediately
that the Rapida 106, with its prodigious output, would be a major advance for us. KBA has delivered a
press with everything we could possibly need for quality- and servicedriven production.”
A
A sample of Percival’s sales mix showing the quality of its printed products and customer services
Percival Print & Packaging, Perth
Rapida 106 double-coater
press debuts in Australia
At the beginning of March Percival Print & Packaging in Perth fired up the first Rapida 106 doublecoater press in Australia. The high-automation six-colour 106 replaces two litho presses from another
German manufacturer and allows Percival to apply top-quality matt, gloss and spot coatings inline for
the first time.
says LeRoy. “The Rapida’s double
coating capability is already in frequent use, and rising. We are confident that inline coating is on the
advance in Australia and will prove
a big success for us. With the 106 a
growth rate of 7.5 to 10 per cent
would be realistic for the first year.”
Inline coating on the advance
According to David LeRoy, inline
coating was a key criterion alongside a high output and fast makeready: “Print runs average 4,000
copies, so versatility and precise
quality control take precedence
over speed. We use substrates
weighing between 80 and 400gsm.
Previously we could only apply two
coats offline, but with the Rapida
106 we can apply a whole range of
coatings inline, so there are virtually no limits to the designs we can
now handle.”
Among its customers Percival
Print & Packaging has built up a reputation for first-class quality and
service. “We are targeting even
higher quality standards in the future while optimising value added,”
Percival managing director David LeRoy (right)
and his partner and co-proprietor Rod Jenkins
are proud of the first Rapida 106 double-coater
press in Australia
Perth, on the Swan River, is the capital of Western Australia and home to
Percival Print & Packaging
Supplier of the Year Awards
Percival Print & Packaging was established in 1972 by George Percival with a visionary approach to
servicing the future needs of the
business community in Perth by offering commercial products and
packaging with a strong visual appeal. The company’s commitment
to quality and service soon enabled
it to carve out a sizeable share of
the market. Today the 22-employee
firm specialises in soft folding cartons, commercial print, posters and
trade finishing work. Percival’s select customer base, which extends
far beyond Australia, includes corporates within the pharmaceutical,
food services, promotional and retail industries. It also services the
medical communication management industry, creative design studios, educational material suppliers
and advertising agencies, often fulfilling intricate, multilingual projects. The company is accredited to
ISO 9001 standards and its expertise within the pharmaceutical packaging field has won it Supplier of
the Year Awards on two occasions,
with a placing among the finalists in
other years.
Gerhard Renn
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 31
Web Offset | New products
hile KBA also builds big
presses for up to 80 pages,
in view of the current trend
towards smaller circulations and
more specific targeting by magazines, catalogues and upmarket promos, we see a parallel need for
innovative 16pp web offset presses.
After all, well over 50 per cent of
the commercial presses not just in
Europe but worldwide are for 16
pages. The C16 is KBA’s technical
response to shifting demand in
commercial markets.
W
55,000 or 65,000cph
and extensive automation
When designing the innovative new
16pp C16 we made a high net output, high-speed job changes, low
levels of start-up waste, enhanced
production flexibility and reduced
operator, energy and maintenance
input our key objectives, along with
outstanding value for money.
The extensively automated KBA
C16 (C stands for commercial) is
available in two performance levels:
55,000cph and 65,000cph. Its output falls between the Compacta
215 (max. 50,000cph), of which
there are over 150 installations,
and the Compacta 217 (max.
70,000cph) launched at Drupa
2004. However, compared to these
two models the C16 has several interesting new features and compared to similar models from
domestic and foreign competitors it
boasts a raft of technical and user
benefits. The first to fire up the
new press was German commercial
print enterprise L.N. Schaffrath in
Geldern, North Rhine-Westphalia,
which pressed the button on a
65,000cph version in August.
New press: KBA’s C16 web offset press boasting a raft of innovations and unique
features targets the 16pp sector, still the biggest worldwide
New record: the C16’s automatic PlateTronic system
can change any number of plates in less than 60
seconds and thus slash changeover times
Focus on cutting makeready, waste, handling and maintenance
KBA C16: the technical response
to shifts in commercial markets
With commercial printers still reeling from the impact of the economic meltdown, overcapacity and price erosion, most
reports of new investments in the European web offset market tend to focus on high-volume press lines for 64, 72, 80 and
even 96 A4 pages on the cylinder. But the proliferation of such presses over the past ten years has in fact contributed to the
problem by boosting capacity and driving down prices. On top of this, dwindling ad revenues in the wake of the recession
have caused a decline in print runs and pagination, exacerbating the situation. When bidding for contracts, keeping the
presses running often takes precedence over profitability. As a result wide, double-circumference presses end up printing jobs
for which a modern 16pp press like the C16 would be more cost-effective.
C16’s unique
winning features
The C16’s primary innovations and
unique features include:
• the fastest plate change in its
class (less than 60 seconds irrespective of the number of
plates);
• Our unique RollerTronic roller
locks for a longer service life
and reduced maintenance;
• a new, automatically convertible P3 folder with just one
quarterfold up to 65,000cph
and unique automated copy
control;
32 Report 37 | 2010
All neat and tidy: the web-guide elements (including optional turner bars), former and slitter
in the superstructure are easily accessable, while the modular design with dedicated drives
throughout allows extensive customisation
• networking technology with
high-powered MLC;
• dedicated AC drives for each
printing couple and other features for enhancing energy efficiency;
• flying job change with proven
imprinter technology;
• optimised EasyTronic software
for fast, low-waste start-up and
run-down at the touch of a
button;
• automatic presetting, job management and optional JDF
process integration via LogoTronic Professional;
New details: the RollerTronic automatic roller
locks which have proven their effectiveness a
thousand times over on KBA newspaper presses
also help reduce roller abrasion, maintenance
input and running costs on the C16
• user-friendly handling and optimum access to all subassemblies and feed systems.
Efficient reel logistics
and energy recovery
The C16 is fed with paper by our
well-proven Patras reel-logistics
Folder innovations: the new high-performance P3 folder can create over 30 different folds,
and even at a maximum output of 65,000cph requires just one module for the quarterfold
less than two minutes. What is
more, RollerTronic reduces roller
abrasion, the frequency with which
rollers must be changed, recoating
costs and maintenance input while
enhancing energy efficiency and
printing conditions. The C16’s drive
system is also the exception in this
class: a dedicated AC drive for each
couple (ie two per printing unit) allows the circumferential register to
be set with no abrasion-prone mechanical parts. And two motors per
printing unit generate less braking
and accelerating force than does the
usual single motor, thus conserving
energy. The C16’s inking units are
ideal for alcohol-free printing, as are
the dampening units which can be
converted from direct to indirect
operation. The dampening units’
exceptional stability guarantees a
rapid ink/water balance and therefore very little start-up waste.
Just one quarterfold module,
automatic copy control
Everything under control: the user-friendly ErgoTronic console incorporates EasyTronic software
for fast, automatic press start-up and run-down at the touch of a single button
system with custom-configurable
automation, and reelstands engineered for the maximum reel diameter and production speed specified
(Pastoline, Pastomat C or Pastomat
CL for a reel diameter of 1,524mm/
60in). The C16’s compact form
encompasses an infeed unit built
into the reelstand and all key elements (such as a web aligner) for a
precise web run. Its environmentally friendly technology includes
an energy recovery system.
New printing-unit design delivers
benefits in quality, handling...
The robust, bearer-free double
printing units in the C16 are designed for a superb print quality,
fast job changes and ergonomic operation. They feature the minigaps
developed by KBA and subsequently
adopted by other vendors, plus
blanket plates that can be changed
in under three minutes. The printfree margin is less than 6mm
(0.25in), which saves on paper and,
unlike conventional blankets, requires no adjustment. Another
unique feature is the ability to adjust impression pressure via a setting screw when switching to a
different type of paper (eg in conjunction with a sheeter). There is a
choice of automatic or semi-automatic plate change. Four forme
rollers and large roller diameters ensure a swift ink/water balance during start-up and stable colour during
long print runs.
...maintenance, cost efficiency
and emissions
With our RollerTronic roller locks all
the inking rollers can be adjusted by
push-button from the console in
We have also substantially upgraded
our P3 pin folder. Already automatically convertible from one type of
stock to another, the P3 now features just one quarterfold module
and new automatic copy control,
but with no loss of speed. This cuts
initial investment costs, relieves the
press crew of tedious setting tasks,
ensures consistent printing conditions and helps reduce waste. A
touch screen at the folder delivery
shortens walking distances for the
operator and can double as a fullscale console.
Modular design supports
customised configurations
The P3 is available in a wide choice
of configurations to support over 30
different types of fold in combination with various copy formats. The
web guide elements in the superstructure (which can also be configured with turner bars) are easily
accessed, as are the former and slitter. Our patented turner bars do
not have to be adjusted for different ribbon widths. The superstructure’s modular design, with dedicated drives throughout, means it
can be customised freely and subsequently extended with retrofits.
The same applies to the entire press
line. The C16 is available as a left/
right or right/left floor-mounted
Optional equipment
• Reel-handling system
• Webbing-up unit with chain
to former
• Flying imprint capability
• Automatic plate changers
• Desk lighting
• Height-adjustable desk
• Remoistening unit
• Colour-density control
• Cross lead for duplex press lines
• Steel substructure for
stacked configurations
• Auxiliary former
• Expansion module for 2x8 pages
• Cut-off cassette for 4x4 pages
• Die-cutter and perforator
• Coater, UV coater and
remoist gluer
• Plough fold
• Sheeter
• Compressed-air unit
• Chilling station
• P3 folder with no delta
or double parallel fold
press with up to eight units, as a
two-tier configuration or as a
duplex line with cross lead. Predelivery testing of pre-assembled
modular components cuts on-site
installation and commissioning
times.
Digital integration with ErgoTronic,
EasyTronic and LogoTronic
The upgraded, user-oriented ErgoTronic console is the operator’s central work station, where he can
initiate fast, automatic press startup and run-down at the touch of a
single button. During makeready he
can also automatically preset the
slitter, turner bars, register rollers
and former, or pre-ink the plates. To
cut start-up waste we have substantially reduced the C16’s makeready
speed.
LogoTronic or LogoTronic Professional software for capturing
operational data, downloading presetting data and storing job data to
accelerate press preset for repeat
jobs can be embedded in the customer’s workflow and even supports JDF networking.
The C16’s colour measurement
and control systems, cut-off register
controls, hot-air dryer and other
auxiliaries are all sourced from established, proven vendors.
Marc Decker
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 33
Web Offset | Saudi Arabia
Cutting-edge web press technology for Koran printer
King Fahd Complex
books Compacta 217
installation
Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an has awarded
KBA one of the biggest-ever commercial web press contracts in the Middle East.
The installation will comprise two 16pp Compacta 217 press lines with a total of
four reelstands, twelve double printing units, four dryers and two folders. The deal
was finalised during a visit by the Saudi delegation to Ipex. Delivery to Medina is
scheduled for autumn this year.
rofessor Mohammad Salim AlOufi, general secretary of the
King Fahd Complex, is looking
forward to a huge capacity boost:
“The performance of Compacta
217 press lines at Kunst- und
Werbedruck in Bad Oeynhausen
and Vogel Druck und Medienservice in Höchberg confirmed our initial impression of premium quality
press engineering and print production. The 217 came out top in
every one of the challenging print
tests we conducted. The dedication
and competence of the KBA project
team and Graphic Supplies, KBA’s
Saudi agency, also played a major
role. The two high-automation
Compacta press lines will enable us
to optimise the quality and cost efficiency of our print production.”
P
ligious publications, and to produce
audio books (CDs and cassettes). It
has printed more than 250 million
copies, of which 236 million have
been distributed worldwide, a large
proportion to the many millions of
visitors to the holy shrines. The
Complex covers around 250,000m²
(62 acres) and alongside the printing plant includes a mosque,
administration and maintenance
buildings, warehouses, accommodation, an entertainment centre, a
dispensary, a library and restaurants. Over half the 1,700 employees are engaged in text, quality and
final control.
Flexibility and output
The two identical Compacta 217
press lines, which will have a
630mm (24.8in) cut-off and a max-
Pictured at Ipex in Birmingham (l-r): Maher Ghandour, production manager of the King Fahd
Complex; Ali Saleh Al-Sanie, general manager of KBA’s Saudi agency Graphic Supplies; Christoph
Müller, KBA executive vice-president for web press sales; Talal Al-Rehaili, technical director
(Ministry), King Fahd Complex; Helge Hansen, president and CEO of KBA; and Professor Mohammad
Salim Al-Oufi, general secretary of the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an
imum web width of 1000mm
(39.37in), will be engineered to deliver the highest possible quality
within a tight production schedule.
They will feature cutting-edge control technology, a suite of presetting
software to minimise start-up
waste, automatic folder conversion
and plate-changing to minimise
makeready times, and colorimetry
and washing systems. Each press
will have two KBA Pastomat C reel-
stands with Patras M manually assisted reel loading, six printing
units, two Megtec dryers and one
P3 pin folder to support a wide
range of products. Softening and remoistening devices will ensure optimum finishing.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
13 million copies per year
Founded some 25 years ago by King
Fahd Bin Abdel Aziz to disseminate
religious publications in the Islamic
world, the King Fahd Complex is
run by the Ministry for Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da’wah and
Guidance, and has established a
global reputation for quality. In addition to promoting Islamic studies,
printing the Holy Koran and translating it into other languages (50 to
date), the King Fahd Complex’s primary function is to print the Holy
Koran, the Prophet Mohammed’s
(PBUH) Sunna and over 90 other re-
34 Report 37 | 2010
The two KBA Compacta 217 press lines with integrated Gämmerler
finishing systems will substantially boost capacity at Saudi Arabia’s
King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an
Web Offset | France
The 80pp Compacta 818 has a
web 2,060mm (81in) wide and
a variable-format V5 folder
High-volume commercial web press for the South of France
Imprimerie Rockson invests
in 80pp Compacta 818
Provence is famous for the outstanding beauty of its countryside and the excellence of its red wine. Only a few industry insiders are aware that in the heart of this
popular tourist spot, in Rognac, a number of commercial web presses and one sheetfed offset press from KBA print high-volume runs of value-added products at
Imprimerie Rockson. Now Rockson is expanding its fleet with an 80pp Compacta 818 and has taken an option on a second, identical press.
ockson’s longstanding business relations with KBA, and
the strong position it has established with its KBA fleet in the
fiercely competitive French publications market, were major factors
influencing the choice of press. Following a recent big order from
Saudi Arabia for two Compacta 217
commercial presses (see previous
page) this is a further boost for a
sector still reeling from the economic crisis.
R
Successful and profitable
Imprimerie Rockson was founded in
1970 and now employs over 100
people. Special-interest magazines
and periodicals on fashion, sport
and cultural activities account for a
large proportion of its output, along
with advertising leaflets, supplements and catalogues for the tourist
trade. Its customer base includes
publishing houses, advertising agencies and other print buyers from all
over France, Germany and the UK.
Headed by Henri Papazian and
Michel Toti, it is one of the most
successful and profitable print
providers in the country.
not only deliver a huge capacity
boost but will also enhance productivity and flexibility, enabling Rockson to provide a complete range of
services from short-run, low-pagination to high-volume, high-pagination products.
“We had been planning a major
investment before the fire,” explains Henri Papazian, “and even
wanted to establish a new production base, but the economic crisis
put paid to that.” However, nothing
could quench the company’s dynamism and determination to corner a bigger share of its competitive
market. “A major market like France
means long print runs and a high
page count. Unlike Italy, France is
poorly equipped for this. We offer
market prices yet still battle against
Italian and Spanish competitors
who have the benefit of a better
production environment. Having
said that, being well equipped is no
longer adequate. We must also address more sophisticated customer
demands with regard to labelling
and certification. That’s not always
easy, but we are ready.”
Performing to order
The time and waste savings delivered by EasyTronic during press
start-up and stop, and the enormous reduction in maintenance
input and roller abrasion achieved
with RollerTronic automatic roller
locks, will make production with
the Compacta 818 exceptionally
cost-effective, while a Patras A automated reel-logistics system optimises the materials flow.
2m-plus web width and
variable-format folder
The Compacta 818 for Rockson is
engineered for a web width of
2,060mm (81in) and a cylinder circumference of 1,197mm (47in). It
will feature a V5 gripper folder
which is unique in its ability to deliver both short- and long-grain
products. For even greater versatility the press incorporates a gluing
and softening device and a section
stitcher.
LogoTronic Professional allows
job and presetting data to be transferred directly to the press. This
well-proven system converts press,
production and administrative data
into meaningful statistics, promoting transparency throughout the enterprise.
Market-focused investment strategy
The Compacta 818 replaces a 48pp
Compacta 618 destroyed in a fire,
and joins two 16pp Compacta 215s
and a 24pp Compacta 318. It will
Pictured after signing the contract for the Compacta 818 in Würzburg: Imprimerie Rockson
president Henri Papazian and general manager Michel Toti (centre) flanked by KBA sales manager
Reiner Dluschek (l) and executive vice-president for web press sales Christoph Müller
Marc Decker
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 35
Book Printing | France
s the European market leader
in book printing we owe it to
our customers to innovate on
an ongoing basis. Our investment in
this extensively customised and
highly productive web press represents a major technological advance
and sharpens our competitiveness,”
declared CPI group president
Pierre-François Catté.
The CPI group has production
plants (printing and binding) in
France, the Netherlands, the UK,
Germany and the Czech Republic.
The new Commander CT will go
live in spring 2011 at group subsidiary Brodard & Taupin in La
Flêche (Département La Sarthe)
some 250km (156 miles) southwest
of Paris.
A
“
Raft of unique features
Custom-configured for printing paperback books, the Commander CT
for CPI will be fed by a Pastomat CL
reelstand embedded in a Patras A
automated reel logistics system. It
will have a maximum web width of
1,480mm and a maximum rated
output of 35,000 sections per hour
in both straight and collect mode.
The maximum page count in a wide
range of common formats represents a radical innovation over the
present options.
The Commander CT’s printing
towers, which are only half as high
as those of conventional newspaper
presses, will comprise four couples
with an imprinting capability for flying job changes in 1/1 production.
Compared to conventional bookprinting presses makeready time
will be virtually zero and there will
be much less waste. A PlateTronic
automatic plate-changing system
will allow the plates for the next job
to be mounted while the first job
is still being printed. CleanTronic
blanket washing, automatic colour
and cut-off register controls and
other automation modules will enhance not only productivity but
quality as well.
In response to an emerging demand from CPI’s publishing customers for books – particularly
thick books – that lie flat more easily when open, the new Commander CT press will even support
long-grain production, where the
paper fibres run parallel to the
spine. Another unusual feature is its
36 Report 37 | 2010
The Commander CT with infra-red dryer incorporates commercial technology
Productivity boost for market leader in mono book printing
CPI group in France opts
for innovative Commander CT
French print group CPI, the European market leader in monochrome book printing, is boosting productivity
with a specially modified Commander CT press line incorporating an infra-red dryer, an imprinter and a
KBA book folder.
KBA sales director Kai Trapp (left) and CPI group technology & supply chain manager Bernard
Kieffer signing the contract in Würzburg at the end of February attended by (l-r) KBA project
manager Albrecht Szeitszam, corporate lawyer Stefan Ganz and sales manager Bernd Hillebrand,
plus Frederic Duquenne of KBA-France
infra-red dryer, whose capacity can
be adjusted to production specifics
such as a narrower web so as to improve energy efficiency. In the superstructure, which was adapted
from publication gravure, the ribbons are turned 90° over individual
bars before entering the KBA book
folder where they are stitched via
the quarterfold (chopper fold) to
create two-up copies. The press will
be controlled from an ErgoTronic
console with a LogoTronic presetting system.
Alliance between
two market leaders
The CPI group was founded in
1996. In 2009 the European market leader generated sales of
€480m ($647.5m) on an output of
some 500 million monochrome
books. The group employs around
4,000 staff at production plants in
five countries (France, UK, Germany, Netherlands and the Czech
Republic). CPI co-operates with
over 2,000 publishers, among them
the top European names. It runs 17
printing plants, including FirminDidot and Aubin Imprimeur in
France, Clausen & Bosse in Germany, Koninklijke Wohrmann in the
Netherlands and Mackays in England.
The order for the Commander
CT is the first in what both CPI and
KBA hope will be a long-term alliance. After signing the contract in
Würzburg KBA sales director Kai
Trapp said: “The CPI group’s decision to opt for this new combination of innovative newspaper and
commercial press technology is confirmation of our superior competence in addressing customers’
individual requirements. We are
confident that our close co-operation in this project can create a classic win-win situation for both our
companies.”
Rene Sieber
[email protected]
Newspaper Production | Jordan
Jordan Press Foundation (JPF) director general
Nader Horani (centre) and KBA executive vicepresident for web press sales Christoph Müller
(l) signing the contract for the KBA Commander
in Amman at the end of April attended by JPF
vice chairman Mohammad Al Amad (seated,
right), Ramzi N Kteily of KBA agency Giffin
Graphics, JPF chairman Fahed Fanek and JPF
technical committee chairman and commercial
press manager Amjad Ayesh (standing, l-r)
Jordan Press Foundation in Amman
High-performance Commander
hybrid press for Jordan
The Jordan Press Foundation (JPF) in Amman is planning to boost production capacity and flexibility with a
conventional double-width Commander tower press for printing newspapers, semi-commercials and hybrid
products. The Commander will be installed at a new production complex near Amman airport.
he €25m ($32.3m) project,
which will include a new mailroom and central store, is
scheduled for completion by the
end of next year.
T
Market leader in
newspaper publishing
The Jordan Press Foundation publishes a national Arabic daily newspaper, Al Rai, which has the biggest
circulation and advertising section
in the country. Other titles include
the Jordan Times, an English publication launched in 1975, and
Hatem, a monthly magazine for children and youngsters.
The project is the biggest investment to date by a Jordanian
media company in newspaper technology. According to JPF chairman
Fahed Fanek it will enable the company to consolidate its pole position
in the market and sustain profitable
growth in the future: “With the
high-powered KBA Commander we
can offer our readers, advertisers
and print customers full-colour
newspapers, supplements and other
print products with still greater visual appeal and immediacy.”
Amjad Ayesh, JPF technical
committee chairman and commercial press manager, adds: “The
Commander’s heatset capability
will allow us to print semi-commercial and hybrid copies on newsprint
and improved paper. While we’ll be
exploiting these options and the
new press line’s productivity for our
own titles, we’ll also be accepting
contract work to shorten the payback time.”
Flexible press with an array of extras
The Commander will be engineered
for a 578mm (22.75in) cut-off on a
maximum web width of 1,520mm
(59.8in) and a maximum rated output in straight production of 80,000
copies per hour. In heatset mode
there will be a choice of web widths
from 1.260 to 1,520mm (49.6 59.8in). The maximum page count
in full-colour production will be 96
broadsheet or 192 tabloid pages,
with 16 broadsheet or 32 tabloid
pages running through the heatset
dryer.
The configuration of the substructure press will include:
• 8 Pastomat reelstands with
Patras A automatic reel logistics and two stripping stations;
• 6 four-high towers for 4/4 or
2 x 2/2 production with semiautomatic plate changers and
RollerTronic automatic roller
bearings;
• single turner bars, turner decks
and bay-window rollers;
• 2 folder superstructures with
two formers;
• 1 hot-air dryer with chill roller
stand etc;
• 2 KF 5 jaw folders with
length/cross perforation and
quarter fold;
• automatic ink pumping, colourand cut-off register controls and
fan-out compensation;
• automatic blanket and inkingunit washing systems.
The Commander installation will be
controlled from five EAE consoles
with Print software for job scheduling and press preset, a RIP interface
and a diagnostics PC. Press operators will be given in-depth training.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
The Commander hybrid press line for the Jordan Press Foundation in Amman
Report 37 | 2010 37
Newspaper Production | Investment
Big newspaper press contract from Express Newspapers in UK
West Ferry Printers
orders 22-tower Commander CT
West Ferry Printers, a subsidiary of Express Newspapers Group, is to move from its
printed newspapers within the multimedia environment. For KBA, it is the biggest
London Docklands home of the past 24 years to a new, as yet unnamed site, pos-
single contract of 2010, and a striking contrast to the widespread reluctance
sibly to the north of London and close to the M1/M25 corridor. This follows the
among members of the print media industry to invest in new kit. The decision by
announcement of a £100 million ($145.5m) spend on new hybrid coldset and
what was formerly one of the biggest newspaper printing plants in Europe to
heatset presses and ancillary equipment over the next five years by owner Richard
install a Commander CT is evidence that KBA’s innovative compact platform, with
Desmond. As debate wages on the iPad and the current crisis in the print media
its focus on future versatility, is steadily gaining converts in a media market
this major investment is a powerful declaration of confidence in the future of
wrestling with far-reaching changes.
est Ferry and Broughton
Printers’ chief executive
David Broadhurst said the
huge contract with KBA followed an
exhaustive investigation of all the
newspaper press designs and printing methods available.
mander CT presses will also print
contract work, including the Daily
Sport, and in time will be used for
semi-commercial work which will
also enable the group’s magazines
to be printed in-house.
With many publishers and
printers reluctant to commit funds
W
Heatset a possible option
The company has initially ordered
four compact high-performance
Commander CT press lines totalling
22 towers along with mailroom and
publishing equipment from Ferag.
And the plans are for additional
printing towers, reelstands and
heatset dryers at a later stage. The
first coldset phase is expected to be
up and running in early 2012.
Alongside Express Newspapers
Group titles – the Daily Express and
Sunday Express, and the Daily Star
and Daily Star Sunday – the Com-
to new equipment, this major investment is all the more significant
and shows huge faith in the future
of printed newspapers within a
Two Commander CT press lines totalling 22 four-high towers
for West Ferry Printers
38 Report 37 | 2010
multi-platform industry. This massive investment signals that the future for news is not just about
iPads, electronic publishing and digital presses.
Dramatic reduction in operation
and maintenance times
The four highly automated, doublewide Commander CT presses comprising 22 Pastomat reelstands, 22
compact four-high towers and four
heavy-duty KF 7 jaw folders will be
embedded in an automated paper
logistics system.
David Broadhurst, who has
Commander press lines in the north
west of England at Broughton Printers in Preston, said: “The high level
of automation will extend throughout the press line, dramatically
reducing the time input required
for operation and maintenance.
PlateTronic automatic plate changers, RollerTronic automatically ad-
A Commander CT with 15 towers and three folders went live last year at the Daily News in New York
just-able roller locks and NipTronic
bearing units for automatic adjustment of printing pressure are further examples of the Commander
CT’s innovative technology.”
3
4
2
1
5
4
13
4
11
14
12
6
5
8
7
9
10
The quick-response inking units with three forme rollers and precision spray dampeners in
the Commander CT support a high print quality in both coldset and heatset operation
The 4/2 presses will have a
maximum output of 90,000 copies
per hour, a 578mm (22.75in) cutoff on a 1,156mm (45.5in) cylinder
circumference and a maximum web
width of 1,460mm (57.5in). They
will come complete with ErgoTronic
consoles featuring EAE’s Print production scheduling and press presetting software. There is also a
significant amount of Baldwin technology included with the KBA press,
following a successful installation at
Broughton Printers. This includes
web cleaning equipment, ink train
cleaning systems and Maxima spray
bars.
Broadhurst added: “The £100m
investment is split between the
north and south print centres. We
have a stage two option with KBA
for the supply of a further twelve
units and two folders of the same
CT for Preston together with an additional unit for the existing Commander.”
1 Blanket cylinder
2 Plate cylinderr
3 PlateTronic automatic plate changer
(optional)
4 Ink forme roller
5 Ink drum (oscillating)
6 Ink transfer roller
7 Film roller
8 Ink-duct roller
9 Ink duct
10 Spray bar
11 Dampening distributor roller
12 Dampening roller
13 Dampener forme roller
14 Blanket washing unit
The Commander CT’s high level of automation and
compact design, with towers that split down the centre
at the touch of a button, make for easy handling and
fast edition changes
Major milestone
in KBA’s long history
KBA executive vice-president for
web press sales Christoph Müller
commented: “The fact that we are
West Ferry Printers’ vendor of
choice is both an honour and a responsibility. The commissioning of
this big KBA Commander CT installation in our 194th year represents
a major milestone in a history dating back to the invention of the
mechanical printing press by our
company founders in early nineteenth century London.”
Commitment to print
Northern and Shell owner Richard
Desmond added: “I am delighted to
announce this investment in our
print products. The Daily Express
and Sunday Express will benefit
massively from expanded editions,
full colour for readers and advertisers, and later deadlines meaning
even fuller coverage of breaking
news. This move will also allow us
to accommodate the rising circulation of the Daily Star. A few years
ago I made a pledge that we would
remain committed to our print
products and would invest whatever it took to keep control of our
printing in our own hands. This upgrade puts our group at the cutting
edge of print technology and will
give us a vital edge on our rivals in
these competitive times.”
Gary Cullum/Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 39
Newspaper Production | Innovation
German media house
Der neue Tag in Weiden
has signed up for the first
triple-wide Commander
CT in Europe
he 48pp, twin-tower press line
will be installed in a new printing plant on an industrial estate
in west Weiden, and is scheduled to
go live in summer 2011, replacing
a 1995-vintage Express. In addition
to the press hall the 16,000m²
(172,000ft²) site will also accommodate a warehouse, a new mailroom complete with loading hall,
and a pre-press department integrated in the printing centre.
T
“Voice of the region”
Founded on 31 May 1946 by Anton
Döhler and Victor von Gostomski,
Der neue Tag looks back on a close
and longstanding association with
KBA. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new print centre, publisher and board member
German Vogelsang explained that
the purpose of this, the biggest investment in the company’s history
to date, was to strengthen newspapers as the “voice of the region”. He
said: “This ambitious project is a
vote of confidence in the region
and, naturally, in our core business.
This high-tech press from Koenig &
Bauer will enable us to print our
newspapers, freesheets, supplements and magazines with even
greater timeliness, flexibility, efficiency and economy, and in superb
full-colour quality.”
Now owned by the Döhler,
Shanahan, Vogelsang and Panzer
Der neue Tag in Weiden, Germany, invests in compact newspaper press technology
First triple-width
Commander CT in Europe
German newspaper and media house Der neue Tag in Weiden, Northern Bavaria, is gearing up for future success
with a €25m ($32.3m) investment package aimed at substantially expanding its production and publishing
activities. It will become the first user in Europe to install the triple-width version of our compact and highly automated Commander CT.
families, the media house employs
more than 400 staff. Alongside Der
neue Tag, which is the biggest-selling daily in the region, it publishes
two other regional titles, the
Sulzbach-Rosenberger Zeitung and
Amberger Zeitung, plus five local
editions. The total daily circulation
of its titles is around 84,000 copies.
The company also publishes and
prints a number of weekly freesheets which, like the newspaper titles, serve a good two-thirds of the
Upper Palatinate region. To maintain a high level of production capacity Der neue Tag also contract
prints freesheets and other newspaper-related products.
Trailblazing
press technology
Our practice-proven
PlateTronic automatic plate changers
support high-speed job changes
40 Report 37 | 2010
The Commander CT 6/2 press line
for Der neue Tag will be configured
with a substructure and engineered
for a maximum web width of
1,890mm (74.4in). Its maximum
rated output will be 90,000 fullcolour copies per hour in straight
production. The two compact triplewidth towers will feature PlateTronic automatic plate changers,
RollerTronic automatic roller locks,
NipTronic cylinder bearings, FanoTronic fan-out compensation, automatic colour register control,
CleanTronic blanket washing and
central ink pumping. The two Pastomat CL reelstands will be embedded in a Patras A automated
reel-logistics system with integrated
stripping station and daily store.
Other features will include two
double turner decks, a folder superstructure with three formers,
a KF 5 jaw folder, a section stitcher,
a skip slitter and a variable perforation unit for tear-out ads
(“Zip’n’Buy”). Options also include
half-covers and flying pages. A combination of reel alignment units,
cut-off register controls and web
guidance systems will ensure that
start-up waste is reduced to a minimum. The Commander CT 6/2 will
be controlled from two ErgoTronic
consoles incorporating KBA production scheduling and press presetting
functions along with KBA EasyStart
and EasyStop modules.
Publishing house manager Reinhold Pöll says: “Tours of Commander CT installations in Würzburg and New York compellingly
demonstrated the benefits delivered by the various automation
modules in terms of makeready
times, waste reduction and print
quality, plus ease of operation and
maintenance. The compact design
reduces walking distances for the
press crew and facilitates handling.”
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
NN publisher Hans Wilhelm
Baur says: “The technology
used to print our newspaper
titles at our production plant in
Neureut, a suburb of Karlsruhe, has
always been of the highest standard. Continuing our policy of
choosing cutting-edge technology,
next year we’ll be replacing a 1995vintage Commander satellite press
and 2001-vintage ten-cylinder satellite press line with a new, compact
6/2 Commander CT. Since the CT
can be made ready much faster and
its output is much higher, it will
dramatically cut production times
for all our titles. This will give us
much greater flexibility while enhancing productivity. It will also deliver an even better print quality
and, for our press operators, be
even easier to handle than its predecessors.”
BNN publisher Hans William
Baur (third right), managing
director Joachim Ernst (right)
and head of technology Georg
Siepmann (2nd left) pictured
with (from left) KBA head of
printing unit engineering
Bernhard Harant, executive
vice-president of web press
sales Christoph Müller and
sales manager Matthias Horn
after signing the contract
B
Major daily title
in the Karlsruhe area
Under the guidance of Wilhelm
Baur, who co-founded the company
in 1946 and later became sole publisher, and his successor Hans
Wilhelm Baur, the newspaper publishing house has evolved into a
leading media enterprise both in
the Karlsruhe area and in the region
between the Black Forest and the
Rhine valley. The Badische Neueste
Nachrichten, which has a total daily
circulation of some 150,000 copies
and over 400,000 readers, is one
of the best-selling newspapers
in Baden-Württemberg. Headline
news sections – politics, sport and
business – are covered by 90 fulltime editors at the Karlsruhe headquarters plus a network of stringers
in Europe and the rest of the world.
Local news, which has steadily
gained in significance in recent
A further Commander CT 6/2 for Germany
Badische Neueste Nachrichten
snaps up 6/2 Commander CT
Badische Neueste Nachrichten (BNN) in Karlsruhe is the latest in a line of prominent German newspaper publishing houses
to succumb to the attractions of our 6/2 Commander CT. On 1 July the contract was inked for a 96pp press comprising four
reelstands, four printing towers and two folders. Commissioning is slated for the end of next year.
years, is handled by ten local editorial offices throughout the paper’s
distribution zone. Alongside the
BNN, which is published in separate editions for Karlsruhe, Hardt,
Rastatt, Baden-Baden and Ettlingen,
there are nine local titles of which
the Pforzheimer Kurier, Bruchsaler
Rundschau, Brettener Nachrichten
and Acher- und Bühler Bote are but
a few.
BNN editor-in-chief and co-publisher Klaus Michael Baur says: “We
are squaring up to the challenges
posed by the transformation of the
media marketplace in the twentyfirst century by enhancing our flexibility, in terms of what and how we
publish, while maintaining the intellectual gravity and quality of our
daily titles. This blend of tradition
and innovation will enable us to
safeguard the success of our regional titles.”
2,100mm web width
for greater flexibility
Engineered for the Rhine format,
the new triple-wide Commander
CT will have a 510mm (20in) cutoff and a maximum web width of
2,100mm (82.67in). BNN head of
technology Georg Siepmann explains: “The CT’s short makeready
times and high level of automation
will give output an enormous boost.
In future we’ll be able to print up
to 45,000 copies per hour, each
with as many as 96 full-colour
pages. Pagination changes for the
many different titles can be initiated automatically from the console. In addition we’ll have the
option of using 5/12, 7/12 and
11/12 web widths to produce innovative ad forms such as spadias.”
The Pastomat reelstands will be
located beneath the press and fed
with paper via a Patras A automated
reel-logistics system complete with
a stripping station. The printing
towers will incorporate PlateTronic
automatic plate changers, RollerTronic automatic roller locks, NipTronic bearings, FanoTronic fan-out
compensation, automatic colourregister controls, CleanTronic blanket washing, inking-unit washing
systems and central ink pumping.
Extras will include four double
turner bars, two folder superstructures with three formers apiece,
two KF 5 jaw folders, cut-off register controls, variable perforating devices for tear-out (“Zip’n’Buy”)
perforations, gluing units and a
four-page centre spread capability.
Ink-density controls, a skip slitter,
section and ribbon stitchers can be
retrofitted if required.
The 6/2 Commander CT will be
controlled from three ErgoTronic
consoles featuring EasyStart and
EasyStop automation modules to reduce waste and manual intervention during press start-up and
edition changes. The press will be
embedded in an upgraded EAE Print
production scheduling and press
presetting software suite.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
A compact newspaper press line for the Badische Neueste Nachrichten: the 96pp, triple-width Commander CT for a web 2,100mm wide
Report 37 | 2010 41
Newspaper Production | Sweden
The modular, waterless Cortina for MittMedia
Print in Sundsvall, northwest Sweden, is the
eighteenth press of this type to leave KBA’s
production line
MittMedia Print greens up with waterless offset
Heatset Cortina
for Sweden
MittMedia Print, a subsidiary of Sweden’s fourth-largest media group MittMedia
Förvaltnings in Gävle, is gearing up for sustained growth and expanding its product spectrum with a compact waterless Cortina whose hybrid coldset/heatset
capabilities will enable it to print semi-commercials (supplements and magazines) alongside newspapers.
ince there is no fan-out in waterless offset it is possible to
produce high-quality hybrid
copies containing both heatset and
coldset sections. The press line for
MittMedia Print will be the eighteenth Cortina to leave the KBA production line, but the first such
installation in Sweden. The investment package includes new finishing kit and an extension to
MittMedia’s production plant in
Sundsvall, where the Cortina is
scheduled to come on stream in
spring 2011. A city with around
95,000 inhabitants some 400km
(250 miles) north of Stockholm on
the Baltic coast, Sundsvall was previously dominated by paper and
pulp production but has since
evolved into a centre for celluloseand aluminium-processing industries, IT and telecommunications.
S
Ideal press for a
burgeoning hybrid market
“Our strategic investment in the
titles printed in Sundsvall – the
Sundsvalls Tidning and Dagbladet –
furnishes the technology to address
a brisk demand for tabloid products
on coated stock,” says MittMedia
Print managing director Jan Andersson. “We want to gain a foothold in
the heatset and hybrid market with
all possible speed. So the Cortina,
42 Report 37 | 2010
with its outstanding image quality,
fast makeready and unique, rapid
conversion between coldset and
heatset with no change of ink, is
the perfect press for this purpose.
Its impressive green credentials,
with minimum waste and a total absence of fount solution, also appeal
to environmentally sensitive print
buyers.”
Unique features
The double-wide press line with a
560mm (22in) cut-off and a maximum rated output of 75,000cph
will initially comprise two Pastomat
reelstands, two compact four-high
towers and a KF3 folder, but provision has been made for future
extensions. It will be capable of
printing 64pp tabloid copies in full
colour. PlateTronic automatic plate
changers and automatic conversion
from the maximum web width
of 1,590mm (62.5in) to another
width, eg 1,260mm (49.5in) for
magazines, support high-speed job
changes. The Cortina’s unique NipTronic bearing technology, which
guarantees optimum impression
pressure and can be adjusted
quickly and easily for different stock
types, is another winning feature,
while our innovative ribbon-splitting device cuts the conversion
times for different tabloid formats.
MittMedia Förvaltnings managing director Jan Cahling, KBA sales director Jochen Schwab and
MittMedia Print managing director Jan Andersson (l-r) signing the contract in Gävle at the end of
February watched by KBA sales manager Ulf Funke, Svein Grødum of GCON Consulting, Anders Skäär
of KBA Nordic sales, MittMedia Print production manager in Gävle Kenneth Jansson and MittMedia
quality coordinator Monica Dahlström
The webs run unturned through
the two formers, after which the
slit ribbons are assigned to the relevant stitchers. This makes it much
easier to produce tabloid sections
with different page counts.
The customised superstructure
has four turner bars, two bay-window rollers and two formers above
the folder to support a wide choice
of products. Copies can be delivered glued, stitched, perforated
and/or with a quarterfold. The
Cortina will be controlled from an
ErgoTronic console with presetting
software. Automatic colour and cutoff register controls, CleanTronic
blanket washing and a raft of other
features will enable the press to deliver a superb image and fold quality
with minimum waste.
Says Jan Andersson: “This
highly advanced compact press can
print and inline finish premiumquality newspapers and semi-commercials fast and cost-effectively, in
runs ranging from ultra-short to
300,000 copies. Our upgraded finishing department can create
tabloid copies with up to 128 pages.
The new technology package af-
fords opportunities that were previously unknown in Sweden, and we
are exploiting its unique capabilities
to expand still further in the regional market.”
Major milestone
MittMedia’s production plant in
Gävle already operates a Journal
web press. In 2004 its Östersund
facility fired up an eight-tower Continent.
The MittMedia Förvaltnings
media group owns 17 regional
newspaper titles in central and
northern Sweden with circulations
totalling 280,000 copies per day. In
addition to newspaper publishing
and digital media the group’s activities include distribution, commercial radio and commercial printing.
Following rapid growth through acquisitions in 2005 and 2008, last
year the group’s workforce of 1,700
generated sales of €160m ($207m).
Subsidiary MittMedia, which operates seven printing plants and has a
total of 115 employees, posts annual sales of around €30m ($39m).
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Newspaper Production | Finland
otnia Print’s enthusiastic production staff ensured that
commissioning and acceptance went without a hitch in just a
few weeks. The printing plant’s official inauguration in September
will be followed by a KBA user
meeting at which press demos will
be given for the benefit of other
Scandinavian newspaper printers.
For KPK chairman Juhani Hautamäki
and the management team, HSS
Media CEO Hans Boije and KPK
CEO Antti Porko, the Cortina’s impressive performance since launching into operation is confirmation
that they made the right decision in
opting for innovative waterless
technology. The press crews soon
became accustomed to their new
press and are delighted with its ease
of handling, short makereadies,
superior print quality and low maintenance. Says Mr Porko: “Our objective in installing the Cortina was
to consolidate our technological
edge. We have not only achieved
this objective but have reaped economic and quality benefits into the
bargain.”
B
Botnia Print’s brand-new production
plant in Kokkola houses the first
Cortina in Finland and the first 4/1
Cortina worldwide
Checking the first prints off the press
Waterless newspaper production at Botnia Print
Finland’s first 4/1 Cortina
goes live in Kokkola
In May this year the world’s first double-width, single-circumference Cortina rolled into action at a brand-new
production plant inaugurated by Botnia Print, a joint venture by Finnish media houses HSS Media and KeskiPohjanmaan Kirjapaino (KPK). This milestone event in the port of Kokkola was followed a few months later by the
start-up of a multi-unit 4/1 Cortina press with four heatset dryers at the Gulf News in Dubai.
Waterless newspaper production
now widespread
The Cortina in Kokkola was the sixteenth to come on stream. So far 68
of the 84 4/2, 6/2 and 4/1 towers
sold, or 16 out of 18 press lines, are
now in daily operation. Waterless,
keyless newspaper production with
the Cortina has thus long since become a matter of routine in many
places. A 4/1 Cortina with a hybrid
coldset/heatset capability is currently awaiting shipment to a desert
location in Dubai. It will be the first
of its kind outside Europe and one
of the biggest installations to date.
Users appreciate the
Cortina’s many benefits
Along with high-speed edition
changes supported by extensive
automation, an outstanding print
quality, environmentally friendly
technology and the exceptionally
low level of start-up waste typical of
waterless, keyless offset, users of
heatset Cortinas cite the fast, easy
changeover between coldset and
heatset production – using the
same inks – as one of the press’s
biggest virtues. The Cortina’s ability to handle different web widths
In addition to three daily and more than thirty weekly titles the Cortina prints a raft of products
in different formats
for greater format flexibility when
printing supplements and special
publications is also a huge asset
compared to conventional presses
with ink keys.
The 4/1 Cortina in Kokkola,
which is configured with four fourhigh towers and two KF 3 jaw folders, has a 560m (22in) cut-off and a
maximum web width of 1,600mm
(63in). It can pump out 150,000
full-colour tabloid copies per hour,
each with a maximum of 32 pages.
The press’s high level of automation
encompasses colour and cut-off reg-
ister control, blanket washing and
central ink pumping. The Patras A
paper logistics system to which the
Cortina is connected is also fully
automated. Depending on specifications, the printed copies can
be stitched, glued, perforated or
scored, and delivered after the
quarterfold.
Originally established as a
newspaper publishing house in
1917, Keski-Pohjanmaan Kirjapaino
has since evolved into a modern
multimedia group. Among the many
products printed on the Cortina are
Waterless, compact, user-friendly and
easy to maintain: the Cortina’s many
virtues are fully appreciated by the
press crew in Kokkola
three regional dailies, Keskipohjanmaa, Österbottens Tidning and
Vasabladet, plus over thirty weekly
titles.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 43
Newspaper Production | Italy
o one tower can print 12
broadsheet or 24 tabloid pages
per impression, while the entire press line can deliver 36 broadsheet or 72 tabloid pages. The
Colora is scheduled to come on
stream at a contract printing plant
in Medicina, approximately 30km
(19m) east of Bologna, at the end of
the year.
S
Respected newspaper specialist
Qualiprinters, Colasanto’s contract
production plant in Medicina,
prints some 40 international, national and local newspaper titles
plus diverse weeklies and monthlies. In addition to Bologna the Colasanto Group operates printing
plants near Milan, Rome and Naples
(Benevento). It thus has facilities at
convenient transport hubs affording
quick and inexpensive access to
domestic publishers’ distribution
areas throughout Italy. For greater
customer proximity in central Europe Colasanto also has three production plants in Belgium – one to
the north and two to the south of
Brussels.
Well geared for the future
Michele Colasanto, head of the
Medicina plant, says: “We are delighted with the KBA Continent that
came on stream in 2005 at our
plant in Oricola-Carsoli, near Rome.
Of the twenty-odd presses we operate within the Group, most of
which are two-across and onearound, the KBA is by the far the
best in terms of print quality, output and production flexibility. This,
and our highly successful relationship with Koenig & Bauer, are what
prompted us to invest in a second
KBA newspaper press, especially
since the new one is custom-engineered.”
The 3/2 Colora for Editorial
underscores KBA’s pole position
in the Italian newspaper market
44 Report 37 | 2010
The first 3/2 Colora press line worldwide will go into operation near Bologna at the end of the year
Italian printer orders further KBA newspaper press
Colasanto targets growth
with customised Colora
Italy may be experiencing a prolonged post-crisis recession that has impacted severely on investment
in the print media industry, but there are a few cheering exceptions. Rome-based Editorial, part of the
Colasanto Group, recently signed up for a customised Colora tower press that will give it much greater
flexibility in printing its many titles. Instead of the usual four plates across the cylinder width the
two-around press has just three, ie six per plate cylinder.
The floor-mounted 3/2 Colora
will primarily print tabloid copies
and is engineered for the 620mm
(24.4in) cut-off which is currently
so popular in Italy. It has a maximum web width of 1,350mm (53in)
and a maximum rated output of
75,000 copies per hour. It will comprise three Pastomat reelstands embedded in a Patras M reel-handling
system, three four-high towers, a
KF 3 jaw folder and a superstructure with two formers. The press
line will be controlled from EAE
consoles with provision for online
remote maintenance. Says Michele
Colasanto: “This configuration will
afford much greater flexibility in
meeting the needs of our print customers. As well as six single plates
it can accept two full-width plates.”
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
UV Offset | Germany
As the saying goes, “Good things come
to those who wait”, and that is certainly
true of print enterprise Druckerei Gerhard Bohm in Zehlendorf, a suburb of
Berlin. Although keen to invest in new
kit, this dynamic company in the south
of the German capital took its time in
deciding precisely which press to
choose. But the effort invested in a
painstaking screening process since
Drupa 2008 has paid dividends. The
press of choice and the key to future
success is a Genius 52UV, whose ability
to print unusual products will support
a much bigger portfolio.
KBA-Metronic’s Genius 52UV now in the capital
Berlin printer gets in gear
for specialist production
ntil then Bohm was just one
print enterprise among many.
Founded 132 years ago, it has
been headed for the past eighteen
years by Mariana Weihe, whose enthusiasm for the press is evident:
“With the Genius 52UV we can
now expand our product range with
substrates we were previously unable to print. These include mousepads and table mats, waterproof
labels and plastic point-of-sale signs,
3-D postcards and lenticulars – the
list is as endless as the possibilities
the press offers.”
match that in A3-plus format,” says
Ms Weihe. Another big asset for a
family-run business whose core
strengths lie in its agility and flexibility is that using UV inks allows it
to print non-absorbent substrates.
Which doesn’t mean the Genius
52UV is limited to printing plastic
sheets – Bohm can continue to
print conventional substrates such
as paper and board because the Genius can handle these with ease as
well.
Greater flexibility
in meeting customer specs
Asked what the biggest difference
is in the Genius 52UV, Mariana
Weihe responds instantly: “KBAMetronic’s waterless inking system,
which virtually redefines offset.”
She goes on: “We no longer have to
set the ink keys, which saves a lot
of time. Tedious colour matching
and the inevitable colour fluctua-
U
Mariana Weihe and her team are
delighted not just with the new options now open to them, but also
with the brilliant technology. The
Genius 52UV can print substrates
up to 0.8mm (0.032in) thick. “No
other press manufacturer can
Benefits count in
day-to-day business
tions are a thing of the past. And of
course water can no longer have a
detrimental impact on the ink.
Achieving the correct balance between ink and water is one of the
major challenges in conventional
offset. The Genius 52UV dispenses
with all that hassle: ink application
in its five keyless inking units requires no intervention whatsoever
by the minder. Also, the sheets dry
much faster, which shortens turnaround time substantially. Makeready is generally much quicker
than with conventional offset
presses. And the fact that start-up
waste is just a few sheets delivers
sizeable savings in material costs.
The inks cure instantaneously, so
the sheets can be finished with no
interim storage – and there are no
lengthy delays arising from poorly
dried sheets.”
Druckerei Bohm is well
equipped for the Genius 52UV,
Delighted with the Genius 52UV’s many virtues
and the wide-ranging options it offers in everyday production: Babett Prokop (front), Mariana
Weihe and Mario Weihe
with computer-to-plate systems in
pre-press. The only item that KBAMetronic had to supply was a developing device for the waterless
offset plates. In the finishing
department there is a collating machine and a glue-binder for producing brochures and catalogues, plus a
folding machine, a hand-operated
die-cutter, a scoring device and a
drill.
On 25 and 26 March this year
Bohm held an open house at its
premises in Berlin-Zehlendorf. Attendance was high, with existing
and potential customers seizing the
opportunity to watch the Genius
52UV in action and to discuss the
new dimension it represented in
offset printing at Bohm.
Klaus Schmidt
[email protected]
Report 37 | 2010 45
Shorts
ollowing a string of installations
in various parts of the world, the
B2 (29in) Rapida 75 launched at
Drupa 2008 made its successful
Thailand debut early this year at
Thammasat Printing House, a
production facility attached to
Bangkok’s Thammasat University.
For Thammasat Printing House’s
production head Pitsanu Napakorn
it was the fulfilment of a longstanding ambition.
Thammasat University was
founded in 1934 as the University
of Moral and Political Sciences, and
is often called the “University of the
People” because of its efforts to
make higher education accessible to
all classes of society.
Thammasat Printing House,
which was established in 1940 by
the university founder, Pridi Banomyong, started off printing textbooks and exam papers. While the
number of presses steadily increased, colour capacity remained
unchanged and colour print jobs
had to be contracted out. When the
F
The Rapida 75 represents a big improvement
for the press crew
Thammasat Printing House’s production head
Pitsanu Napakorn has found that production is
much more efficient with the new Rapida 75
Rapida 75 makes successful debut in Thailand
funding was finally approved in
2009, things moved fast.
Pitsanu Napakorn recalls: “We
scrutinised offers from several vendors, but in the end we were unanimous in choosing the Rapida 75.
KBA has an outstanding image
among Thai printers, and there are
any number of reference installations. The new Rapida 75 is com-
pact, fast and economical. Its practical level of automation and short
makeready times have enabled us to
expand production substantially and
streamline the workflow. Also, KBA
agency Intergraphics provides an
excellent service.”
The Rapida 75 was custom-configured to meet the demands of a
university printing plant. A digital
press handles ultra-short print runs
of up to 100 sheets, while the new
15,000cph Rapida is reserved for
runs of 500 to 2,000 copies and
prints up to ten jobs per day in oneshift operation. Products range
from brochures, pamphlets, magazines and catalogues to degree certificates and admission tickets for
the Royal Palace.
Chili Padi open house in Kuala Lumpur
At the open house the compact Rapida 75 compellingly demonstrated its fast makeready,
simple handling and superb print quality
Stefan Segger (centre, back), his team from Malaysia and Singapore and staff from KBA-Grafitec
expressing their delight at the success and popularity of the open house
t the end of April KBA Asia Pacific held an inaugural open
house at its new company premises
on the outskirts of the Malaysian
capital, Kuala Lumpur. More than
160 commercial and packaging
printers nationwide answered the
call to “come & taste KBA’s chili
padi”, a reference to Malaysia’s
popular national dish containing
small but fiery chilli peppers. The
focus of the event was an equally
fiery Rapida 75 six-colour coater
press that demonstrated print pro-
In his opening address, KBA
Asia Pacific managing director Stefan Segger interpreted the exceptionally high level of attendance as a
reflection of the Rapidas’ outstanding reputation in the high-growth
Malaysian market. The turnout was
equally high at KBA’s road shows in
Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta in November 2009.
Malaysia has long been a major
export market for KBA presses.
Alongside brisk growth in the sales
of new Rapida presses, in recent
A
46 Report 37 | 2010
duction on a wide range of substrates.
The print pros present were visibly impressed by the Rapida’s fast
plate changes and makeready. Hosting the demonstrations, KBA sales
manager Rex Teng highlighted the
press’s easy handling, flexibility and
economy. The Rapida 75 is not only
the most compact B2 (29in) press
on the market, but also the most energy-efficient. This was demonstrated with the aid of an electricity
meter at Ipex in Birmingham.
years sales of second-hand equipment have also taken off.
Throughout the region there
are perceptible signs of a sustained
upswing in investment, in Indonesia as well as Malaysia. By the end
of April this year KBA Asia Pacific
had already surpassed its total sales
figures for 2009.
Shortly after the open house
the Rapida 75 six-colour coater
press demonstrated went live at
Dragon Hitech Printing in Kuala
Lumpur.
Shorts
Left:
Central Printing production manager Tan Wee
Chan (l), pictured here with KBA Asia Pacific
sales manager Rex Teng, is delighted with the
company’s second-hand Rapida 72
Right:
The ten-year-old Rapida 105 made a fine
start at Easy Print Studio in Kuala Lumpur, as
executive director Fok Boon Leong, production
manager Lim Tiam Seng and KBA Asia Pacific
sales manager Rex Teng (l-r) can attest
Far right:
At Eastsun Superior Print in Kuala Lumpur a
Rapida 104 six-colour coater press built in the
1990s has joined four Planeta Variants
Burgeoning demand for secondhand kit in Asia
he outstanding reputation Rapida
sheetfed offset presses enjoy in
the growth markets of Southeast
Asia is not confined to the latest
generation. KBA Asia Pacific is also
doing a brisk trade in second-hand
kit, particularly in and around Kuala
Lumpur. The most popular models
are the B2 (29in) Rapida 72 and 74
and B1 (40in) Rapida 104 and 105
universal.
The surge in interest is driven
by a widespread conviction in the
market that the Rapidas are more
rugged, last longer and deliver a
better performance than some
other makes of press. So when
times are hard and budgets are tight
T
printers often opt for a good second-hand press in preference to a
costly new one. Both in Malaysia
and throughout the region KBA Asia
Pacific has steadily expanded its
service network over the past few
years in order to improve both customer proximity and quality.
Central Printing in Kuala
Lumpur recently installed a fivecolour Rapida 72. Established in
2000, the fifteen-employee company prints packaging, books and
promos. Managing director Loh
Chee Boon says: “The Rapida made
a fine start and in the first year will
deliver a 50 per cent increase in
turnover. We are equally satisfied
with the project support and service provided by KBA Asia Pacific.”
Another Kuala Lumpur enterprise, Easy Print Studio founded
in the 1990s, opted for a secondhand Rapida 105 four-colour coater
press. Directors Fok Boon Leong
and Vincent Wong Chung Mun are
pursuing ambitious growth objectives: “Here in Malaysia our MOOF
and AEIOU brands are market leaders in gift packaging, bags, wrapping
paper and other creative print products. We are confident that with the
KBA press we can materially enhance our quality and portfolio, and
anticipate a rise in annual sales
from 2.5 to 4 million ringgit.”
A six-colour coater version of
the 105’s predecessor, the Rapida
104, was the press of choice for
Eastsun Superior Print, which is
also based in Kuala Lumpur. Since
being launched by Tang Yen Fe in
1987 the company has built up a
reputation throughout Malaysia and
beyond for upmarket displays, labels and packaging. Management
has relied on the quality of presses
from KBA Radebeul for many years.
The six-colour Rapida 104 is the
company’s fifth KBA press to date,
joining a medium-format Planeta
Variant and three more in large format.
Gopsons Papers in India orders brace of Rapida 130a presses
opsons Papers, a major Indian
book printer, sealed a deal on
the KBA stand at Ipex for two 5B
(51in) Rapida 130a four-colour litho
presses. Delivery is slated for the
end of the year to Sivakasi, in southern India, where a new production
plant for quality books for Englishspeaking export markets is currently under construction. Gopsons’ headquarters in New Delhi
already boasts eight KBA litho
presses, among them a five-colour
Rapida 74 and two four-colour plus
one five-colour Rapida 105 during
the past eight years alone. All are
equipped with UV dryers and are
G
Delighted at signing a major contract from
India at Ipex (l-r): Aditya Surana of KBA sales
agency Indo Polygraph, Vasant and Sunil Goel,
proprietors of Gopsons Papers, KBA sales
director Dietmar Heyduck and Bhupinder Sethi,
also of KBA sales
networked with pre-press via CIP3.
In future the plant in New Delhi
will focus on production for the domestic market.
The two Rapida 130a presses,
whose raft of features includes
automatic plate changing, will be
the first large-format presses of
this type to ship to India in some
time.
Established in 1950, Gopsons
Papers has built up a global network
of sales outlets. The company has
been ISO 9001 accredited for many
years now and has carried off a
string of coveted prizes, among
them accolades at the Printer of the
Year Awards.
Report 37 | 2010 47
Shorts
Henan Daily orders third Comet press
arlier this year Henan Daily
Newspaper Group in Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s most
densely populated province, Henan,
reaffirmed its successful association
with KBA by signing a contract for a
third Comet press line. The order
follows the installation in 2001 and
2005 of two Comet press lines with
a total of eight towers and four folders.
Henan Daily plant manager
Chen Guo Sheng says: “The two
single-width Comet presses demonstrate their high output, reliability
and superior print quality day in and
day out. Thanks to their flexibility
and ease of operation, we can
switch from one of our many inhouse and contract titles to another
in a minimum of time.”
Henan Daily general manager
Zhang Jian is equally impressed.
“We have always been 100 per cent
satisfied with the support KBA has
provided, from the initial concept
right through to after-sales service.
So it’s a pleasure to be working
with KBA and the Comet once again
as part of our expansion project.”
Following a recent order for a
Comet from Beijing Daily Group
E
Henan Daily general manager Zhang Jian (seated, centre) and vice general manager of the import company Qian Tong Cun (on his left) pictured with
KBA sales director Stefan Segger after signing the contract in Zhengzhou at the beginning of February. Looking on (l-r) are Han Shao Sheng (KBA China
sales), Mr Lu (Henan Daily administration), Chen Guo Sheng (Henan Daily plant manager), Andreas Friedrich (KBA sales manager), Mr Wang (Henan Daily
finances), Liu Shan Jun (Henan Daily deputy plant manager) and Wang Hong Feng (KBA China sales)
KBA sales director Stefan Segger
was delighted to receive a second
order from China for this popular
press type within just a few
months. “The new press line will
make Henan Daily the biggest
Comet user to date in China. This
latest contract reflects the esteem
in which our newspaper press technology is held among Chinese
media houses.”
The new 75,000cph Comet
press for Zhengzhou will come on
stream this autumn. In addition to
high-circulation titles such as the
Henan Daily, Dahe Daily and Henan
Commercial Daily the Zhengzhou
plant contract prints a large number
of other publications. These include
several in English – China Daily,
China Youth Daily, Workers Daily
and Peoples Daily.
The four-high press with a cylinder circumference of 1092mm
(43in) and a web width variable between 630 and 870mm (24.85 34.25in) will comprise four Pastoline reelstands, three towers with
fan-out compensation and colour
register controls, and a KF3 jaw
folder. The contract includes three
KBA consoles with colour preset
and diagnostics PC.
Comet with dryer for cost-effective book production
few months ago Compañía Editorial Ultra fired up a Comet at
its production plant in Mexico City.
The new press, which features a
four-high tower for 4/4 and a heatset capability and is used to print
books, follows a Compacta 215 delivered in 2004.
A longstanding KBA customer,
Editorial Ultra is a family enterprise
which was established in 1983 and
is headed today by three brothers.
Over the years it has built up a reputation throughout Mexico and
beyond for high-quality books, periodicals, brochures and flyers. Since
the 1980s these have been printed
on Compacta commercial web
presses.
Alongside their fast-growing domestic market Mexican printers
have long since expanded into the
A
48 Report 37 | 2010
high-volume US market. Mexico is
one of the biggest printing hubs in
Latin America, alongside Brazil. So
flexible, cost-effective press lines
like the Comet, which is operation
the world over, are in brisk demand
among Mexican printers.
General manager Enrique Espinosa says: “The single-width heatset Comet, with its high output,
reliable operation, fine print quality
and production flexibility, was custom-configured to our specifications. Its performance has surpassed all our expectations. It has
enabled us to produce books much
more cost-effectively and to drive
growth in the market with much
more competitive prices.”
The Comet has a 578mm
(22.75in) cut-off and a web width
variable from 630 to 1,000mm
(24.85 - 39.37in). For book production full-circumference plates are
used. The maximum rated output is
75,000 copies in straight-run production. The floor-mounted press is
fed with paper from a Pastoline reelstand embedded in a Patras M reelloading system. Special features
include a chill roller stand, a folder
superstructure with one former and
a heatset-compatible KF 3 SC jaw
folder. Auxiliary features such as a
second cross fold, a quarter fold,
gluing and perforating devices support a wide choice of inline finishing options. The control system for
colour and cut-off register incorporates mRC cameras supplied by QI.
The press is controlled from two
KBA consoles.
From the left: Herbert Schmidt of KBA
agency Offset KBA Mexico, Enrique Espinosa
of Editorial Ultra and sales director Kai Trapp
of KBA captured by the camera at the new
Comet
Shorts
Commander CT demonstrates
cutting-edge newspaper printing
t the end of May, veteran KBA
user Heraldo de Aragón held
an open day at its production plant,
Impresa Norte in Villanueva de Gállego, drawing representatives from
just about every major newspaper
printer in Spain. It was the perfect
opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of the company’s new
compact Commander CT press.
Those present were particularly impressed by the CT’s performance
and ease of operation, and by the
superb quality of the full-colour
prints delivered.
After welcoming the assembled
guests, José Manuel Lozano Orus,
managing director of the Heraldo
Group, focused attention on the
A
high-tech printing centre with its
Comet press (installed in 2005) and
new Commander CT. He emphasised that the company’s investment in the highly automated CT
would enable it to unlock crucial
production and cost benefits in a
shifting market environment.
KBA sales manager Christian
Klein outlined the numerous advances in newspaper press technology that KBA has achieved in recent
years. The compact Commander CT
and its waterless counterpart, the
Cortina, are two outstanding example, encompassing a whole host of
unique features.
A representative from 3TControl, a Heraldo Group start-up, gave
Impresa Norte production director Miguel Angel Pérez (right) explaining the finer points
of his compact and highly automated Commander CT press
a briefing on the company’s closedloop automation system for measuring and controlling the presses’
colour and cut-off register and ink
density.
The event concluded with a
tour of the facility and a print
demonstration on the Commander
CT.
Premiere for Genius 52UV and Universys in Romania
L-r: Gabriel Petcu
(Prosystem), M-F Osiac,
A Cracium, N Viorel, O A
Bila and C Ududoiu (all
from Moniorul Oficial)
pictured at the Genius
52UV in KBA-Metronic’s
training centre with instructors Jürgen Leib
(print) and M Klafke
(pre-press)
Prospective Universys
technicians and operators
were able to familiarise
themselves with the new
kit during a week-long
training course at KBAMetronic’s experimental
printshop in Veitshöchheim,
Germany
omania’s pre-eminent printing
house, Bucharest-based Monitorul Oficial, is boosting production capacity with a B3 (20in)
Genius 52UV litho press and a Universys card personalisation system
from KBA-Metronic. The company
is planning to expand its product
R
Alongside books, business stationery
and commercial jobs Monitorul Oficial
prints Romania’s biggest daily newspaper
by circulation, The Official Journal
portfolio in the long term by adding
plastic films and special substrates.
Alongside book covers the Genius
will mainly print multi-up products
which will then be personalised on
the Universys.
Head of technology Christian
Ududoiu is fascinated by the Genius: “What caught our eye was its
ability to switch from one job to the
next in just a few minutes, and deliver saleable products after just ten
start-up sheets. Unlike our large-format machines the Genius 52UV requires no alcohol or powder. The
inks dry immediately. There are no
delays when printing work and
turn, for example, or prior to finishing. UV inks not only allow us to
print on sensitive, non-absorbent
materials, they also speed up production processes.”
He continues: “Our customers
will benefit from our ability to print
substrates with metallised or extremely smooth or shiny surfaces,
and even plastic films such as PVC,
polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyethylene, PET and ABS. The coater
supports both protective and spot
coatings, matt and glossy effects.
We can print cost-effectively even in
short runs because waste is minimal.”
The module-based Universys
system is designed for the 85.5 x
54mm (3.4 x 2.1in) ISO card format. Monitorul Oficial will use it to
personalise cards printed in multiup production on the Genius 52UV
and these will then be laminated
and die-cut in the finishing department. The Universys will mark the
individual cards, eg with PIN num-
bers, character fields or barcodes,
via two inkjet printing heads. With
the Universys it is even possible to
hot stamp a label onto the cards, for
example to prevent the pin codes
on telephone cards from being seen
by third parties. The Universys also
features a magnetic strip encoder,
making it possible to both write on
and read the magnetic strips on the
lower part of the card. The cards
can be inline printed in either landscape or portrait format. A control
camera monitors the printed data
and compares it with the database.
The Universys can personalise
paper and plastic cards between
0.25 and 0.8mm (0.01 - 003in)
thick.
Website:
www.monitoruloficial.ro
Report 37 | 2010 49
Shorts
KBA users carry off awards from International Newspaper Color Quality Club
Some of the 36 winning titles printed by users of KBA newspaper presses, who submitted one-third
of the 109 titles accepted by WAN-IFRA’s International Newspaper Color Quality Club 2010-2012
his year 162 newspaper titles
from 43 countries worldwide
competed for membership of WANIFRA’s exclusive International
Newspaper Color Quality Club
2010-2012. Alongside coldset titles the jury assessed heatset products for the first time. Once a
month, from January to April, applicants had to submit print samples
featuring a prespecified test element. Two copies of each title from
actual production runs were also
scrutinised for quality by a panel of
experts. At this, the ninth selection
trials since the Club was founded,
109 titles fulfilled the rigorous criteria for outstanding quality in
colour newspaper production and
were granted much coveted mem-
T
bership for two years. The awards
ceremony is scheduled for October
at the IFRA Expo newspaper trade
fair in Hamburg.
36 titles – one third of the winners – were printed on KBA web
presses. Users of our compact Commander CT (New York Daily News)
and KBA Cortina (Freiburger Druck
und Rheinpfalz) were among the
topmost rankings. The award-winning KBA newspaper customers are:
• Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag, Kempten, Germany (Allgäuer Zeitung);
• Dar Alyaum for Press, Printing
and Publishing, Dammam, SaudiArabia (Alyaum Newspaper);
• Freiburger Druck, Freiburg,
Germany (Badische Zeitung, Der
Sonntag);
• National Zeitung und Basler
Nachrichten, Basel, Switzerland
(Basler Zeitung);
• Büchler-Grafino AG Druckzentrum, Bern, Switzerland (Berner
Zeitung);
• DB Corp Ltd., Jaipur and
Ahmedabad, India (Dainik Bhaskar,
Divya Bhaskar);
• Diligent Media Corporation
Ltd., Bangalore, India (DNA);
• Wegener Nieuwsdruk Twente,
Enschede, Netherlands (De Twentsche Courant Tubantia, Hengelo’s
Weekblad);
• The Printers (Mysore) Pvt. Ltd.,
Bangalore, India (Deccan Herald);
• Rheinpfalz Verlag und Druckerei, Oggersheim, Germany (Die
Rheinpfalz);
• Göttinger Tageblatt, Göttingen,
Germany (Foto Presse);
• FAZ – Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung, Mörfelden and Potsdam,
Germany (Frankfurter Allgemeine
Sonntagszeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung);
• Druck- und Verlagshaus Frankfurt am Main, Neu-Isenburg, Germany (Frankfurter Rundschau);
• Concentra Uitgeversmaatschappij, Hasselt, Belgium (Gazet van
Antwerpen);
• Wegener Nieuwsdruk Gelderland, Apeldoorn, Netherlands (Havenloods Noord);
• Feza Gazetecilik, Istanbul, Turkey (Zaman);
• Ungeheuer + Ulmer, Ludwigsburg, Germany (Ludwigsburger
Kreiszeitung);
• Verlag Lensing-Wolff, Münster,
Germany (Münstersche Zeitung);
• New York Daily News, USA
(New York Daily News);
• Nordost-Druck, Neubrandenburg, Germany (Nordkurier);
• OÖN Druckzentrum, Pasching,
Austria (Oberösterreichische Nachrichten);
• Rheinisch-Bergische Druckerei,
Düsseldorf, Germany (Rheinische
Post);
• West Australian Newspaper Ltd,
Perth, Australia (Seven Days Magazine, The West Australian, West
Weekend Magazine);
• Tamedia, Zurich, Switzerland
(Tages-Anzeiger);
• Singapore Press Holdings Ltd
(The Straits Times);
• Mediacorp Press Ltd in Singapore (Today);
• V-TAB, Västerås, Sweden (VLT);
• Wetzlardruck, Wetzlar, Germany (Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung);
• Brune-Mettcker Druck- und
Verlags-GmbH,
Wilhelmshaven,
Germany (Wilhelmshavener Zeitung); and
• Heilbronner Stimme, Heilbronn, Germany (Heilbronner Stimme).
Congratulations to the new
Club members on this outstanding
achievement.
A further Rapida 106 for Fischer in Switzerland
ollowing the installation of a Rapida 106 five-colour B1 (41in)
coater press with extended delivery
in 2008 Swiss enterprise Fischer
AG für Data und Print has ordered a second, identical press line
for installation in a joint media, prepress and print production plant
which Fischer is building at the new
Grünau business park in Wabern in
alliance with Ast & Jakob, Vetsch.
The two companies’ product offerings are a perfect fit: Ast & Jakob,
Vetsch prints promos and boasts
a broad customer base among
advertising agencies and service
providers, while Fischer’s strengths
F
50 Report 37 | 2010
Fischer AG für Data und Print will soon take
delivery of its second Rapida 106 five-colour
coater press
lie in marketing and publishing
services for the magazine sector.
According to head of technology Daniel Troxler, the two presses
will afford much greater flexibility
in multiple shift production. He
says: “What persuaded us to go for
a second Rapida 106 was the enor-
mous productivity, and more specifically the absolute reliability, of the
first 106 installed in 2008: two
identical high-powered presses
form the centrepiece of a fleet that
enables us to fulfil every customer
demand in terms of both quality
and performance.”
Fischer purchased a five-colour
Rapida 105 coater press in 2005
and followed this up with a fourcolour coater version in 2006.
Shorts
Straubinger Tagblatt celebrates
150-year jubilee with Commander CT
n 3 May celebrations were the
order of the day for publisher
Martin Balle and all his staff at the
Straubinger Tagblatt/Landshuter
Zeitung media group in Germany.
Attended by a host of luminaries
from politics and business, Professor Balle pushed the button on a
highly automated 64pp Commander
CT press line at a new production
plant in Lower Bavaria. On the same
day the Straubinger Tagblatt also celebrated its 150-year jubilee.
The Straubinger Tagblatt/Landshuter Zeitung media group employs over 500 permanent and
around 1,500 freelance staff, plus a
1,500-strong delivery force. It publishes 15 newspaper titles with a
total daily circulation of some
140,000 copies. In addition to the
Straubinger Tagblatt, which first appeared in 1860, and the Landshuter
Zeitung, which dates back even further, to 1849, the group publishes
twelve local editions for southwest
Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate,
covering a corridor extending from
Cham in the north to Freising in the
south, via Bogen, Dingolfing and
Vilsbiburg. It also has an active internet presence, a number of online
titles and interests in local radio and
television stations.
The Straubinger Tagblatt and its
sister publication, the Landshuter
Zeitung, have cornered a sizeable
share of the media market around
Landshut and Straubing. One reason for their high standing is their
extensive local news coverage. This
O
emphasis on local events and culture is something the group has
consciously nurtured, and with considerable success. In the commemorative issue of the Straubinger
Tagblatt printed on the Commander
CT at the inauguration Professor
Balle wrote: “This is the biggest investment in our history. It was the
logical move because there is still a
strong demand for print: the internet cannot compete with books and
newspapers in providing intellectual
nourishment for the spirit and the
soul. In our immediate environment
our newspaper titles remain a true
documentary record of local events.
We preserve the memory of the
people in our local region.”
Thanks to the new, high-output
Commander CT, editorial close for
all the group’s newspaper titles has
been extended substantially, enhancing their immediacy. Their
colour content has been expanded
and print quality improved. The
press also prints a broad palette of
freesheets and supplements. The
company has exploited its new capabilities and the Commander’s
compelling performance to win a
succession of external contracts
that previously went to other printers.
Production manager Wolfgang
Heitzer says: “On top of the many
benefits the Commander CT’s ergonomic design offers our press
crew, the automation modules KBA
has introduced over the past ten
years ago or more, such as
PlateTronic automatic plate changers, have progressively reduced
makeready time, waste and maintenance input to a minimum. The
press’s innovative yet conventional
offset technology has enabled us to
meet all our goals in terms of product immediacy, targetability, quality
excellence and cost-effective production.”
The 45,000cph press is configured with four extensively automated compact four-high towers for
printing full-colour broadsheet
copies (Berlin format) with a maximum of 64 pages or tabloid copies
with up to 128 pages. It is fed with
paper by four Pastomat C reelstands
and incorporates two KF 5 jaw folders with two formers apiece. It is
controlled from three ErgoTronic
consoles.
The Commander CT for Straubing was the second 4/2 version of
this press type in Bavaria following
a pilot installation at the Main-Post
media group in Würzburg. Next
year Der neue Tag, a newspaper
publishing house in Weiden
(Rhineland-Palatinate) will flick the
switch on the third Commander CT
in Bavaria and the first 6/2 version
in Europe (see page 40). So don’t let
anyone tell you the Bavarians are
arch-conservatives. When it comes
to technology that label certainly
doesn’t apply.
Publisher Martin Balle greeting guests
at the inauguration of the new press and
the Straubinger Tagblatt’s 150-year jubilee
celebrations
Report
is the corporate magazine issued by
the Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA):
Koenig & Bauer AG, Würzburg
Friedrich-Koenig-Strasse 4
97080 Würzburg
Germany
Tel: (+49) 931 909-4336
Fax: (+49) 931 909-4101
Web: www.kba.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Koenig & Bauer AG, Radebeul
Friedrich-List-Strasse 47
01445 Radebeul
Germany
Tel: (+49) 351 833-2580
Fax: (+49) 351 833-1001
Web: www.kba.com
E-mail: [email protected]
KBA-Metronic AG
Benzstrasse 11
97209 Veitshöchheim
Germany
Tel: (+49) 931 9085-0
Fax: (+49) 931 9085-100
Web: www.kba-metronic.com
E-mail: [email protected]
KBA-Grafitec s.r.o.
ˇ
Opocenská
83
51819 Dobruška
Czech Republic
Tel: (+420) 494 672-111
Fax: (+420) 494 623-675
Web: www.kba-grafitec.cz
E-mail: [email protected]
Publisher:
Koenig & Bauer Group
Editor in chief:
Klaus Schmidt,
KBA director of communications,
Würzburg
Layout:
Pia Vogel, VOGELSOLUTIONS.COM
Translation:
Christina Degens-Kupp, KBA
Production manager Wolfgang Heitzer expounding the benefits
delivered by the highly automated, ultra-compact press line
Checking the commemorative colour publication printed on the
Commander CT at the official inauguration, under the Church’s eagle eye
Printed in the Federal Republic of Germany
Report 37 | 2010 51