34 www.kba.com 1|2009 PRODUCTS|PRACTICES|PERSPECTIVES Contents KBA Editorial 2 Sheetfed Open house on 4 over 4 in medium and large formats 3 DriveTronic SPC in Indonesia 5 Leasing in financial crises 6 QualiTronic Professional in the Netherlands 8 Successful transition to large format 10 Premiere for dedicated drives in northern Germany 12 Berlin takes Germany’s first Rapida 75 14 World makeready champion in Oldenburg 16 KBA coating sample book 18 Rapida 162a in Los Angeles 20 JDF in KBA customer showroom 22 Outlook bright for IGB, Italy 24 UK: Burlington’s dream team 25 Web Offset Compacta 818 for D’Auria in Italy 29 Sego Group boosts productivity with Compacta 818 30 Newspaper Quartet of 4/1 Commanders at RCS, Italy 32 Gulf News takes the plunge into waterless 33 Interview with Marc Z Kramer of the Daily News, New York 34 Quality enhancement through data optimisation 36 First Prisma goes live in India 37 Cortina 6/2 in Bremerhaven 38 Kathimerini, Athens: valuable insights into hybrid printing 40 Printing blankets are not all alike 42 Trinidad Guardian expands with Comet 44 UV Offset Druckwerker storms new markets with Genius 52UV 45 Premius for Cinram 46 Shorts 47 There’s life in print yet! Bloodied but not bowed by the global credit crunch A s the last issue of Report went to press in August 2008, the world was still largely in order. Suppliers to the print media indus- try were basking in the upbeat mood engendered by the Drupa trade fair, and looking forward to completing a string of contracts inked at the show, and to some brisk post-Drupa business as well. When reports started coming in of gaping deficits in banks’ balance sheets, and the bursting of the housing bubble in the USA, they were initially dismissed, even by many financial experts, as regional or sectoral issues with no serious impact on the real economy. But at the end of September the black clouds that had gathered on the financial horizon during the sum- Klaus Schmidt [email protected]Drupa euphoria proved to be a mere flash in the pan: within a matter of months the print media industry and its suppliers were suffering the full impact of the global financial crisis on both business and funding mer erupted in a cataclysmic storm that blew away Lehmann Brothers and presaged the end of invest- ment banks which had previously been considered solid as a rock. Press manufacturers, with their focus on exports, soon suf- fered the full impact of the finan- cial meltdown on their business activities. Contracts that had already been signed had to be can- celled for lack of funding following bank failures, the abrupt closure of credit lines and changes in central bank directives. And with market confidence rapidly waning, even solvent investors started postpon- ing major projects. The unparal- leled global dimension of this financial dislocation caused a slump in demand on a scale of mag- nitude that could not have been foreseen. It was quickly succeeded by profit warnings, short-time work and widespread lay-offs. Nor have printers escaped unscathed, as the swelling num- bers of insolvencies and takeovers testify. Like many other branches of industry, print must prepare for a long, hard slog. But this doesn't mean it is down and out. Every cri- sis represents an opportunity, and this one is no different. While oth- ers hold back, now may be the time to refocus activities and, per- haps, make strategic investments in preparation for future growth. This issue of Report offers a few examples.
Transcript
34www.kba.com
1 | 2 0 0 9 P R O D U C T S | P R A C T I C E S | P E R S P E C T I V E S
ContentsKBAEditorial 2
SheetfedOpen house on 4 over 4 in medium and large formats 3DriveTronic SPC in Indonesia 5Leasing in financial crises 6QualiTronic Professional in the Netherlands 8Successful transition to large format 10Premiere for dedicated drives in northern Germany 12Berlin takes Germany’s first Rapida 75 14World makeready champion in Oldenburg 16KBA coating sample book 18Rapida 162a in Los Angeles 20JDF in KBA customer showroom 22Outlook bright for IGB, Italy 24UK: Burlington’s dream team 25
Web OffsetCompacta 818 for D’Auria in Italy 29Sego Group boosts productivity with Compacta 818 30
NewspaperQuartet of 4/1 Commanders at RCS, Italy 32Gulf News takes the plunge into waterless 33Interview with Marc Z Kramer of the Daily News, New York 34Quality enhancement through data optimisation 36First Prisma goes live in India 37Cortina 6/2 in Bremerhaven 38Kathimerini, Athens: valuable insights into hybrid printing 40Printing blankets are not all alike 42Trinidad Guardian expands with Comet 44
UV OffsetDruckwerker storms new markets with Genius 52UV 45Premius for Cinram 46
Shorts 47
There’s life in print yet!Bloodied but not bowed by the global credit crunch
As the last issue of Report wentto press in August 2008, the
world was still largely in order.Suppliers to the print media indus-try were basking in the upbeatmood engendered by the Drupatrade fair, and looking forward tocompleting a string of contractsinked at the show, and to somebrisk post-Drupa business as well.When reports started coming in ofgaping deficits in banks’ balancesheets, and the bursting of thehousing bubble in the USA, theywere initially dismissed, even bymany financial experts, as regionalor sectoral issues with no seriousimpact on the real economy. But atthe end of September the blackclouds that had gathered on thefinancial horizon during the sum-
Drupa euphoria proved to be a mere flash in the pan: within a matter of months the print media industry and its suppliers were sufferingthe full impact of the global financial crisis on both business and funding
mer erupted in a cataclysmic stormthat blew away Lehmann Brothersand presaged the end of invest-ment banks which had previouslybeen considered solid as a rock.
Press manufacturers, withtheir focus on exports, soon suf-fered the full impact of the finan-cial meltdown on their businessactivities. Contracts that hadalready been signed had to be can-celled for lack of funding followingbank failures, the abrupt closure ofcredit lines and changes in centralbank directives. And with marketconfidence rapidly waning, evensolvent investors started postpon-ing major projects. The unparal-leled global dimension of thisfinancial dislocation caused aslump in demand on a scale of mag-
nitude that could not have beenforeseen. It was quickly succeededby profit warnings, short-timework and widespread lay-offs.
Nor have printers escapedunscathed, as the swelling num-bers of insolvencies and takeoverstestify. Like many other branchesof industry, print must prepare fora long, hard slog. But this doesn'tmean it is down and out. Every cri-sis represents an opportunity, andthis one is no different. While oth-ers hold back, now may be thetime to refocus activities and, per-haps, make strategic investmentsin preparation for future growth.This issue of Report offers a fewexamples.
Report 34 | 20092
Editorial
Turbulence in financial markets leaves its mark on the print media industry
Good times, bad times
Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, president and CEO, Koenig & Bauer
The last two issues of Report were dominated by the Drupa trade fair, aseemingly successful event for all those, like us, associated with the printmedia industry. Little more than six months ago, with bulging order booksand the prospect of further business to come in the wake of the show, wewere looking forward to a sustained lift in demand following a slow startto the year. Looking back, this optimism was misplaced: the mortgagemeltdown in the USA and existential threats to banks from crippling loss-es and massive write-offs of non-performing loans, derivatives and otherspeculative instruments had been occupying the media for the past year.But while the knock-on effects of economic downturns in the USA, UKand other markets were already being reflected in our export figures, thiswas nothing exceptional because fluctuations in demand have been aninherent feature of the press engineering business cycle for many decadesnow.
What virtually no-one foresaw was the shattering impact the financialcrisis would have on the real economy and, more specifically, on export-driven sectors such as the automotive industry or indeed the engineeringindustry, which at that time was still flourishing. This was hardly surpris-ing since the scenario of the past six months has no historic precedentwithin the past fifty years. Neither the oil crises of the 1970s and 1980snor the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 causedsuch an abrupt and universal disruption in the global marketplace. Butwhat is more important, the banking system continued to function as nor-mal. Even the economic crisis of 1931 cannot be considered comparable,because eighty years ago globalisation was nowhere near as advanced asit is today.
In all my 30 years in the press engineering industry I have never expe-rienced such a precipitate collapse in demand. As a consequence, at theend of September we were obliged to make a substantial downwardadjustment in our sales and profit forecasts for the 2008 business yearand to announce several hundred redundancies at our sheetfed division,which had been particularly hard hit. Similar unwelcome announcementswere subsequently made throughout the entire supplier sector and, witha short time-lag, in the print sector itself. Plant closures by paper manu-
facturers, a sharp decline in the sales and profits posted by prominentpre-press providers, short-time work and drastic capacity adjustments bymajor press manufacturers now dominate the headlines in the trade andbusiness media. A slide in new orders of 30% or more has since beenreported in other sectors of the engineering industry.
In common with other branches of the media industry, print is expe-riencing fallout from negative growth rates and savage cuts in advertisingexpenditure in many countries. The advertising slump has mainly hit com-mercial, magazine and newspaper printers, while lagging consumptionhas affected packaging printers: if, for example, hundreds of toy manufac-turers in China have to close down, they no longer require packaging fortheir products. A wave of bankruptcies and takeovers has swept the printmedia industry, and neither size nor prominence has proved a safeguard.There is no question in my mind that we face one, or more probably two,severely challenging years ahead.
At such times feckless optimism is as unconstructive as endlessrecriminations over the excesses of the past and unbridled pessimismwith regard to the future. While the crisis will undoubtedly acceleratestructural change and consolidation in the print media industry, it willeventually produce some winners alongside the losers. As a sector large-ly populated by mid-size enterprises we can expect little assistance fromthe state. The economic stimulus and aid packages drawn up in manycountries may be worth billions of euros, but they primarily focus on thefinancial sector and the automotive industry, while the main beneficiaryof public investment in infrastructure is the construction industry.
What is needed is personal initiative. It is in times of crisis such asthis that entrepreneurial skills come into their own. Sometime in theforeseeable future the economy, advertising and the print market will takean upward turn again. So we must all do our utmost to master the majorchallenges facing us without sustaining existential damage, and gird our-selves today for the upswing and the opportunities it will bring. May yourefforts – and your business – be crowned with success.
Yours,
Report 34 | 2009 3
KBA demos high-volume perfecting in medium and large formats
4-over-4: bigger format boosts productivity“None bigger, none better” was the banner on the invitations KBA issued for an open house on 9 December. Around
60 representatives of major commercial printers from Europe and overseas converged on our Radebeul facility
to find out more about current options for high-volume 4-over-4 production, and their practical applications. A
briefing on theory was accompanied by press demonstrations where the focus of interest shifted from the medi-
um-format Rapida 106, whose superior productivity in short-run full-colour perfecting was so compellingly
proven at Drupa 2008, to the Rapida 162a, whose sheet format in perfecting mode has been expanded to 1,200 x
1,620mm (47.24 x 63.77in).
Sheetfed Offset | Strategy
Large-format perfectors havebeen unique to KBA for manyyears, and numerous eight-
colour presses have been shippednot only to book printers but alsoto big commercial printers. Ourcalculations show that, as with64-, 72- and 80-page commercialweb offset presses or six-widenewspaper presses, switching to alarger format can enable high-vol-ume commercial sheetfed printersto enhance both their productivityand their cost efficiency. Manninglevels for large-format Rapidas areno higher than those for medium-format presses, while makereadytimes, which were once significant-ly longer, have been dramaticallyreduced by automation.
Four square metres of print per sheet– in one passFollowing an opening address byKBA executive vice-president forsheetfed sales Ralf Sammeck,Jens Baumann of our productmanagement team explained thebenefits of the proven single-drumperfecting system we use in ourlarge-format Rapidas. At Drupa lastyear we unveiled an upgraded ver-sion of the Rapida 162a that canprint the full sheet format of 1,200x 1,620mm even in perfectingmode, and has just five print-freecorridors instead of seven. Togeth-er, these advances increase theavailable image area by up to 10%while at the same time reducingtrim waste by as much as 52mm(0.25in), thus enhancing both pro-duction flexibility and layoutoptions. Numerous automationfeatures – among them a Drive-Tronic shaftless feeder with auto-
The Rapida 106 makeready champion printedthree jobs of 400 saleable sheets apiece
Anja Hagedorn and Wolfram Zehnle hosted the demonstration on the Rapida 162a
An eight-colour Rapida 162a for 4-over-4 perfecting printed the two 64-page sections of a deluxe cookery book at a speed of 9,000sph
matic preset, and automatic platechanging with simultaneous blan-ket and impression cylinder wash-ing – deliver an additional produc-tivity boost.
Effortless quality excellenceNowadays print quality must bemonitored constantly and, if thecustomer so wishes, fully docu-mented. For this purpose KBA has
developed QualiTronic, an inlinesheet inspection and colour controlsystem available in three versions(two Basic, one Professional).Inline colour density control alonehelps cut start-up waste by up to50%. And since measurement, con-trol and documentation are contin-uous processes that do not entailany press stoppages, this substan-tially increases net output. Densi-Tronic PDF, a new software pack-age developed specifically formedium- and large-format presses,has already been successfullydeployed by a number of cus-tomers. A scanner on the measur-ing arm at the DensiTronic deskscans the sheet at a resolution of330dpi and can detect even theslightest deviations (such as textu-al discrepancies) from the original
Report 34 | 20094
PDF. It is therefore possible toachieve total quality control withnone of the time-consuming andlabour-intensive input that hascommonly been required up tonow.
Rapida 106: world makeready champwith a slew of unique featuresThe automatically convertible per-fecting unit for our Rapida 106 –the world makeready champion inmedium format – offers the bene-fits of precise registration, user-friendly air settings and the abilityto handle a broad range of sub-strates. Other winning features areits DriveTronic automation mod-ules, which include two that areunique in this format class and aboon to users: DriveTronic Feeder,which can be preset from the con-sole, and DriveTronic SIS sidelay-free infeed. With DriveTronic SPCdirect plate-cylinder drives, all theplates on the press can be changedsimultaneously in just one minute,while parallel washing and convert-ing sequences reduce job changetimes still further. DriveTronicPlate Ident ensures exact pre-regis-tration during automatic platechanges and at the same time
checks that the plates are assignedcorrectly to the individual printingunits.
When does 4-over-4 production pay?Dr Roland Reichenberger of theproduct management departmentrecalled that a KBA open housethree years ago entitled “5-over-5in 3B or double the formatstraight?” had demonstrated thateconomic aspects should play acrucial role in the choice of format.He pointed out that since then sub-stantial advances have been madein both automation and productivi-ty, and gave examples of the eco-nomic gains possible with the vari-ous features and configurationsavailable for large- and medium-for-mat Rapida presses. In large for-mats, a high degree of automationcan dramatically boost capacity andthus the bottom line, while ROIcalculations for the Rapida 106revealed that the payback fromautomation increases as runlengths decrease.
Larger format an assetfor giant perfectorsTaking as an example a 128-pagesaddle-stitched book measuring
190 x 280mm (7.5 x 11in) andprinted on art paper in a run lengthof 20,000 copies, product managerAnja Hagedorn illustrated theadvantages afforded by the newRapida 162a’s larger perfecting for-mat. Since 64 pages now fit on asheet instead of just 48 pages, thenew model can print the entirebook in just two sections, com-pared to its predecessor’s three(two of 48 pages, one of 32 pages).This cuts the production timerequired by almost two hours andproduction costs by around €3,000($3,865).
The job described above – adeluxe cookery book with bled-offimages – was subsequently printed“live” during a demonstration of 4-over-4 production on an eight-colour Rapida 162a perfector. Thepress was made ready and printedthe two 64-page sections under thewatchful and critical eyes of thetrade audience, who were thenallowed to scrutinise the superbprint quality delivered. Anja Hage-dorn and Wolfram Zehnle, headof our Radebeul customer show-room, explained the individualsteps involved and the benefits tothe user of a 75mm (3in) longer
print length and fewer print-freecorridors.
Automation can be crucial to survivalA ten-colour Rapida 106 press linesporting a complete range of Drive-Tronic and QualiTronic optionsthen demonstrated the breathtak-ing speed of job changeovers possi-ble today. The three jobs it printed,each of 400 saleable sheets, lentfurther weight to the perceptionthat as run lengths continue toshrink (at least in developed coun-tries), further automation mayprove crucial to survival.
KBA Complete departmenthead Thomas Göcke showed thatan integrated workflow embracingthe print buyer can deliver bothcost and time savings. Here the keytool for process automation is aJDF-based management informa-tion system, which optimises theperipheral processes that oftenaccount for 75% of total productiontime.
Funding investment during financial meltdownsThe credit crunch and financingissues were the focus of a presen-tation by Rüdiger Freiherr vonFölkersamb of the Deutsche Leas-ing management board, whoexplained the procedures involvedin a leasing transaction. His conclu-sion: even in today’s hostile eco-nomic climate leasing remains apopular instrument for investing incapital goods. This is because thecosts and security are transparentfor both the vendor and the lessee.
Members of the trade evinced keen interest in the high-quality print samples
Printed sheets laid out for public scrutiny following the print demo on the Rapida 162a
Rüdiger Freiherr von Fölkersamb of DeutscheLeasing offered tips on financing investmentduring economic crises
Dr Roland Reichenberger's profitability calcula-tions showed how increasing automation canenhance the appeal of large-format sheetfedoffset
Jens Baumann outlined the latest advances inRapida sheetfed offset technology for mediumand large formats
Ralf Sammeck, KBA’s executive vice-presidentfor sheetfed sales, emphasised that when thegoing gets tough it is important to stay abreastof technological advances in order to comethrough stronger and fitter
Report 34 | 2009 5
PT Gramedia fires up two new Rapida 106 eight-colour perfectors
Yes, we can!The Rapida 106, KBA’s world makeready champion in medium format, is flying the flag in the high-
growth Asia-Pacific region as well. The production start of two eight-colour perfectors, both with
DriveTronic SPC direct plate-cylinder drives, continues a highly successful association that Indonesian
market leader PT Gramedia Printing Group, based in Jakarta, first entered with KBA in 2001.
The two Rapida 106 eight-colour perfectors at PT Gramedia feature direct plate-cylinder drives for ultra-fast job changes
Over the past few years KBA’s advanced press technology has contributed to the rapidexpansion of Gramedia’s Cikarang operation,where six Rapida presses are now in actionWith the two highly automated Rapida 106 presses PT Gramedia has established a leading technological position in Indonesia and beyond.
From left to right: Evi Soemardi (KBA agency Intertek Sempana), Gramedia director Hari Wardjono, Gramedia production manager Andy Budiman and Ori Santoso Hartono (Intertek Sempana)
The eight-colour perfectors willbe used at its Cikarang loca-tion to print magazines and
high-quality books – a sector inwhich PT Gramedia anticipates par-ticularly high growth rates.
The Cikarang printing centre,which opened in 2005, expanded
its production area to 12,000m2
(129,000ft2) in 2008, enhancingits prominence within the PT Gra-media Printing Group with aninvestment package worth $14 mil-lion (€10m). Gramedia directorHari Wardjono intends to maintainthe company’s strong growth rate.
Full range of optionsProduction manager Andy Budimansays: “For us, the new eight-colourperfectors mean significant techni-cal progress, and they offer greatpotential for even more quality andproductivity. Our previous fourRapidas were all four-colour press-es. However, customers’ wishesdevelop quickly and call for a newway of thinking. We didn’t skimpon our investment: on the con-trary, we utilised every possibleoption.” The two machines weredelivered, installed and put intooperation by KBA printing instruc-tors in September.
In addition to fully automaticplate changing, DensiTronic S col-orimetry, LogoTronic Basic and alightweight paper printing package,PT Gramedia also opted for Drive-Tronic SPC direct plate-cylinderdrives for the new presses. Theseallow all eight printing plates to bechanged simultaneously in just oneminute and, in conjunction with
parallel processes, permit extreme-ly fast job changes.
Andy Budiman continues:“From our team of printers wechose the twelve best employeesfor an intensive two-week trainingprogramme using the new Rapida106 systems, to enable the Rapi-das’ enormous potential to beexploited to the full. Two-shiftoperation was introduced at thebeginning of December, and in theNew Year was expanded to threeshifts. Straight away we receivedan order from the Indonesian gov-ernment for 200,000 books thatallowed no delays because theywere needed for an informationcampaign relating to the presiden-tial and parliamentary elections. Soas not to disappoint the customerwe had no choice but to say ‘Yes,we can!’ Now we can give thisresponse more often, even if dead-lines are just as tight. We currentlyprint around 300 magazine titles,and together with book productionhave reached an output of sevenmillion copies a month. The newRapida 106 presses will help us toincrease these figures substantial-ly.”
Report 34 | 20096
Aglobal slide in demand on theone hand and, on the other, amarked reluctance among
companies to invest in big-ticketproduction kit: these, in short, arethe consequences of the recentmeltdown in the world’s financialmarkets. The printing press sectoranticipates a corresponding drop inturnover in 2009 as customers’investment decisions become amatter of conjecture and uncer-tainty. Since advertising revenuesare the first to suffer in an econom-ic recession as companies slashtheir budgets, many printerswhose income is generated largelyby promotional literature will loseout on business and therefore haveless money to spend on new equip-ment.
The German government hascreated a special fund (SoFFin)aimed at stabilising financial mar-kets, and has also drawn up a res-cue package for banks. One bankafter another has sought the pro-tection of SoFFin and aid from thestate. But one of the government’spriorities should be to see that thisaid is directed towards helpingthose that are most in need: thesmall and medium-sized enterpris-es (SMEs) that are the backbone ofGerman industry. The governmentmust make sure that the money isused to keep credit lines open andthus provide liquidity for suchenterprises.
As one of the biggest investorsin the German economy, the leas-ing sector, too, is experiencing fall-
out from the financial crisis, prima-rily in the form of a liquidity short-age. The funding base for manyleasing companies has shrunk sig-nificantly, and this could well cre-ate bottlenecks when financingnew business, because if no newmoney is made available from exist-ing investments, no financingfunds can flow to SMEs. The con-sequences could be dramatic, forexample by constraining the flexi-bility with which the printing pressindustry can conduct its day-to-daybusiness. And leasing companieswhich have neither a bank nor abanking group as their parent mayfind themselves in severe difficul-ties.
German savings banks considered trustworthyIt follows that if a major invest-ment is necessary during the cur-rent economic recession, printersface a dilemma: in a challengingmarket environment such as this,who would be willing to providefunding with no knowledge of thecompany, the sector and the equip-ment required? They need a part-ner who has the ability to assesstheir financial standing properly,understands the issues involvedand the need for new kit, and whocan then provide the wherewithal.Here an in-depth knowledge of theindustry and the capital goods inquestion is essential for assessingwhether the proposed investmentis feasible or not.
Deutsche Leasing, which isowned, funded and promoted byGermany’s savings banks (Sparkas-sen), is in a relatively comfortableposition. The savings banks areconsidered to be sound institu-tions, particularly in times of crisis,which is why in the current finan-cial meltdown they have reported asubstantial inflow of funds fromtroubled investors.
Although the crisis has causedthe banking sector to be judgedmuch more critically, a fine distinc-tion has been made in the publicimages of the individual types ofbank: 70% of the Germans sur-veyed hold that the reputations ofbig banks have suffered, 55% con-sider that the Landesbanken (pub-lic sector banks) have tarnishedtheir image, but fully half of those
Rüdiger Freiherr von Fölkersamb, member of the board at Deutsche Leasing in Bad Homburg
For small to medium-sized enterprises in many countries, leasing new equipment has become a popular alternative to seeking a credit line
Sheetfed Offset | Financing
Deutsche Leasing: providing liquidity and know-how
In the current financial crisis, is leasing kit the solution?Flexible financing concepts for planned investments rank high on companies’ wish lists in the print media
industry. One of the most advanced methods of funding such investments is leasing. Two of the many benefits of
leasing are that it is a means of securing liquidity yet does not feature on the balance sheet. But what impact is
the credit crunch having on this alternative to borrowing?
surveyed believe that the savingsbanks have experienced no loss offace, and 17% are of the opinionthat the crisis has actually strength-ened them. The savings banks’sound business model, which isfounded on sustainability, reliabili-ty and an optimum profit-to-riskratio, has withstood the test oftime. The same attributes alsoapply to the business model imple-mented by Deutsche Leasing.
Know your onionsFor more than 45 years DeutscheLeasing has given its clients thebenefits of its intimate knowledgeof the industry. This is no longerrestricted purely to financing buthas been expanded into a completepackage embracing the acquisition,servicing, resale and eventual dis-posal of plant and machinery. Anda client’s extensive and longstand-ing association with their savingsbank, whose assessment of theircreditworthiness is founded notonly on bald financial figures andaccounts but on qualitative factorsas well, is an excellent startingpoint for the joint implementationof proposed investments by SMEs.Deutsche Leasing’s bellwether rolein the sector, and its strong focuson leasing plant and machinery tosmall and medium businesses,place it in a position of consider-able strength.
Joint subsidiary KBA-LeasingDeutsche Leasing has broadenedand deepened its knowledge of theprint media industry by maintain-ing excellent contacts with leadingpress manufacturers and dealers,and through joint ventures. Itenjoys an exceptionally close asso-ciation with Koenig & Bauer via ajoint subsidiary, KBA-LeasingGmbH, which was established overten years ago. The range of servic-es offered is not confined to
sheetfed or web presses but alsoembraces special presses for print-ing banknotes, securities andmetal. The association has sincebeen expanded beyond Germany.
German printing presses in demand the world overSince KBA exports over 80% of itsoutput, financing projects both athome and abroad is crucial to presssales. Deutsche Leasing maintainsbranches in eighteen countries
beside Germany, from the USA andCanada to the whole of Europe andas far afield as China, and can thusprovide valuable support abroad aswell. Its knowledge of local mar-kets and regional distinctions inbusiness practices, laws and taxsystems benefits KBA customerswho are keen to invest abroad ormove into international markets,by providing assistance and sup-port in such activities. Discussionswith clients also include suchissues as IAS/IFRS accounting orUS-GAAP standards. This helps totake the complexity out of leasingand ensures that clients are wellaware of their tax position prior toopting for leasing as a means ofprocuring new kit.
In tandem with KBA, DeutscheLeasing has gained an intimateknowledge of the sector and itsfinancing requirements. When itcomes to assessing creditworthi-ness this expertise benefits clientsbecause the recoverable value ofthe object leased is factored intothe assessment. This gives us amajor advantage over clients’ localbanks, and helps both equipmentsuppliers and investors to exploitpotential alternative financingtools to the full, even in challeng-ing times like the present.
In the print media industry, with its predominance of small and mid-sized businesses, leasing isincreasingly replacing loans as a means of financing both web and sheetfed presses
Deutsche Leasing has 38 branches in 19 countries
Report 34 | 20098
Sheetfed Offset | Netherlands
KBA Rapida 162a for Roto Smeets GrafiServices in Eindhoven
First Dutch printer to specifyQualiTronic ProfessionalThe financial crisis did not prevent John Caris, CEO of the RSDB group, and Jan van Lith, director of Roto Smeets
GrafiServices Eindhoven, from signing up in early October for a large-format Rapida 162a. Says Jan van Lith:
“An investment such as this is driven by faith in the markets, in the business, in customers and in staff. It is an
investment in the future.”
Major road works on theEindhoven bypass in thesouth of the Netherlands
are frequently necessary to accom-modate a continual increase in traf-fic. For director Jan van Lith, whohas a ringside view of these roadworks from the window of hisoffice, there are parallels to bedrawn: “It’s much the same in aprinting plant. You can’t afford tostand still.” He is the third genera-tion in his family to pursue a careerin the graphic arts: his grandfatherwas a printer, and as a boy van Lithwitnessed the changes taking placein this sector as new technologiesappeared and older ones died out.He experienced at first hand print-ing’s transformation from a handi-craft to an industry embracing acomplete range of customer servic-es. “Our new CTP device can out-put 30 plates an hour measuring1,200 x 1,620mm. No convention-al platemaking device can matchthis level of output in the sametime.”
Continuous quality control with no loss of productivityRoto Smeets GrafiServices Eind-hoven will be the first printingplant in the Netherlands to workwith the QualiTronic Professionalinline colour measurement andcontrol system which KBA unveiledat Drupa 2008. A camera insidethe press checks the colour densi-ties on each sheet, comparingthem with previously stored refer-ence values. Any corrections thatmust be made are carried out auto-matically in real time.
“The big advantage of Quali-Tronic Professional is that the pressoperator no longer has to pull asheet from the press at regularintervals and check it to seewhether adjustments need to bemade. Since sheets in this formathave a surface area of almost twosquare metres, this is a time-con-suming task. Also, we are keen toavoid disrupting production.Younger press operators are accus-tomed to running their machinesat maximum speed. And it is pre-cisely this high level of productivi-ty that gives us our competitiveedge.”
Another advantage of Quali-Tronic Professional is that it helps
avoid needless waste. In large for-mat this is doubly important.According to Jan van Lith, modernlarge-format technology delivers afurther benefit: “While the initialcapital outlay for a big press suchas this is naturally much higherthan for a medium-format one, it isnot even twice as high. And it
requires no additional personnel.This means that in comparison tomedium format it can print virtual-ly three times the image area, yetat nowhere near three times theprice.”
But GrafiServices Eindhovenwill not be increasing overall printcapacity in the market. “The newpress will replace some older ones,so in fact we’ll be reducing thetotal number of printing units. Thisis in keeping with our convictionthat the graphic arts industry inEurope is undergoing a period ofconsolidation. Adding capacity willneither ease competitive pressureon prices nor increase our marketclout. Our corporate philosophy isfounded on enhancing efficiencyand productivity while at the sametime keeping a weather eye oncosts.”
Predictable qualityThe Eindhoven plant is one of twosheetfed offset operations withinthe RSDB group, the other beingRoto Smeets GrafiServicesUtrecht. The contract for the large-format Rapida and the purchase of
The Eindhoven facility will soon fire up the first Rapida press line in the Netherlands to boast QualiTronic Professional inline quality control
Jan van Lith, director of Roto Smeets GrafiServices
Roto Smeets GrafiServices is part of the publicly quoted RSDB group, which witharound 2,300 employees is one of the top fiveindependent graphic enterprises in Europe
new pre-press kit are all part of amedium-term business plan whichRSDB has drawn up for the twocompanies.
“The object of this businessplan is to enhance efficiency andshorten turnaround times. Theprinting plant in Utrecht specialis-es in B2 (29in) and B1 (41in) for-mats. It was decided that the Eind-hoven plant should go for biggerformats and also for five coloursplus coating,” explains van Lith. “Aproduction speed of 13,000 sheetsper hour in this format is all welland good, but the beast has to befed with work and materials.” Tosupport such a speed, in 2007 thecompany developed its own onlineworkflow management system,GrafiServer.
Says Van Lith: “This enablescustomers to submit their dataonline and receive instant feed-back on the quality of the data sup-plied. Digital files can be sentstraight to the platemaking lineand the printing process startedjust fifteen minutes later. Not onesecond is lost. And because bothour printing plants have ISO12647 accreditation, our cus-tomers receive a consistently pre-dictable print quality.”
Inline print productionThe Rapida 162a is even suitablefor products involving still largerformats, such as posters, art repro-ductions, billboards, displays andmaps. At the other end of thescale, with 50 individual A4 pagesfitting on a single sheet the 162acan print flyers more cost-effective-ly than a smaller press. The press isequally productive when printingcatalogues, books, brochures andpamphlets.
Another option for enhancingpress productivity is to expand fin-ishing capabilities. “A few years agoour finishing department was spunoff as Nadruk, a bindery specialist,located a few kilometres away.Since then it’s not just transportthat has become an issue, but allthe associated activities such asloading and offloading the pallets.We are therefore planning to inte-grate this business under one roof.As an offset printer we are seeking
to set up inline production work-flows in order to support evershorter delivery time frames. Thiswas also one of the reasons why weopted for a coater on the Rapida162a. It allows us to deliver print-ed products faster than everbefore.”
Reducing time to marketAs if the ability to pump out sheetsmeasuring 1,200 x 1,620mm(47.24 x 63.77in) at a maximumrated production speed of 13,000per hour were not enough, theRapida 162a is engineered forexceptionally short makereadytimes. This dramatically reducesjob turnaround times, which inturn cuts “time to market” for cus-tomers’ products.
Roto Smeets among Europe’s top fiveRoto Smeets GrafiServices’ pub-licly quoted parent company RSDB,with headquarters in Deventer, isamong the top five independentgraphic enterprises in Europe forwhom paper is the dominant infor-mation vehicle.
RSDB’s core activities are con-ducted by two business divisions:Print Productions and MarketingCommunications. Print Produc-tions focuses on the efficient pro-duction of web and sheetfed prod-ucts by specialist service providers.These service providers function asconsultants, producers and direc-tors of the entire value-added chainfrom pre-press to the mailroom.Marketing Communications con-centrates on developing a dedicat-ed, cross-media communicationschannel for its customers, with theemphasis on concept, creation,development and supply. Thegroup has 2,300 employees. AllRSDB printing plants in theNetherlands have ISO 12647accreditation for both pre-pressand press.
“You can’t afford to stand still.” Jan van Lith
The Rapida 162a – pictured here at the pre-Drupa open house in Radebeul – is by far the most successful press in the global 7B (63in) market
Report 34 | 200910
Sheetfed Offset | Austria
Successful transition from medium to large format
Krammer-Repro Flexo Printfocuses on niche marketKrammer-Repro Flexo Print based in Linz, Austria, is betting its future on large-format technology. The most
recent addition to its press room – a five-colour Rapida 142 with coater – has opened up new opportunities and
business lines.
To accommodate the new Rapida 142 a section of the concrete ceiling had to be cut out, providingan excellent view of production
DensiTronic measurementat the console: the qualityand performance of thenew Rapida 142 have seriously impressed KlausSchobesberger, Dr HaraldGranegger and press operator Wilhelm Hammerl (from left)
Press operator Matthias Bachtrog soon mastered the new Rapida 142 and now gets the utmost out of it in terms of both quality and performance
Like many other companies,Krammer-Repro Flexo Printlooks back on a highly eventful
history. Established by Franz Kram-mer back in 1926, it was originallya block-maker for a daily newspa-per. Until 1958, when Krammer’swidow sold off the business to theSchobesberger family, the compa-ny primarily produced letterpressprinting formes. In 1960 there fol-lowed a move into the productionof lithographic and offset plates,since by then a lot of printers hadswitched over to this new process.Krammer’s contract platemakingbusiness was highly successful andremained so until well into the1990s, when desktop publishingand the increasing digitisation ofpre-press technologies allowedmany customers to bring such pro-duction in-house.
Launch into offset printingFor joint managing directors KlausSchobesberger and his brotherMatthäus, the time had come torealign the corporate structure.Their objective – to enhance quali-ty and flexibility – led them toinvest in new pre-press and finish-ing technology and to enter the off-set printing market with a Rapida104 five-colour press. At that timethey also added flexo to theirplatemaking activities, and to thisday generate around 60% of theirtotal turnover with two Esko CDI(Cyrel Digital Imager) systems.
Offset proved to be an immedi-ate success, and in 2003 the com-pany installed two Rapida 105presses – one four-colour and onefive-colour hybrid coater version –
in response to rising demand. Cus-tomer acquisition and productdevelopment were pursued withequal intensity, with the aim of cre-ating a range of coated products tothe highest possible quality stan-dards. Alongside standard businesslines Krammer started specialisingin hybrid-coated products for agen-
cies, industrial enterprises andpublishing houses. At the sametime the company expanded intoposter and packaging printing,which today accounts for around10% of turnover and was one of thereasons why the two brothersdecided to make the move intolarge format.
Premium serviceSpace restrictions at the company’spremises meant that the two exist-ing Rapida 105 press lines had togo in order to make way for thenew, bigger press. The Rapida 142that took their place is one of thefirst large-format presses in Austriawith five units, a hybrid coater and
Dr Harald Granegger (l) and Klaus Schobesberger know they can rely on their new Rapida 142 to print a wide range of products – from commercials to posters and packaging – quickly and cost-effectively
At Krammer-Repro FlexoPrint, automation andergonomics are key, and the fully automated Perfecta guillotine oper-ated by David Holzingeris no exception
The pre-press department handles small- to large-format offset and flexo workKarin Huber at Krammer’s Agfa Avalon VLF platesetter which has an average throughput of 60 Agfa Thermostar plates per day, both for in-house and external use
an extended delivery. Says KlausSchobesberger: “We were natural-ly keen to retain all the capabilitiesof the existing presses while at thesame time adding several more.After discussing our requirementsin detail KBA came up with a high-ly customised configuration –something their competitors wereunable to offer. The entire project,from the initial concept to thecompleted installation, was imple-mented without a hitch, despitethe challenges posed by the severelack of space, and this has servedto strengthen our confidence inKBA.”
The new Rapida 142, whichcan handle sheets measuring 1,020x 1,420mm (40.5 x 55.9in) and amaximum print format of 1,010 x1,420mm (39.75 x 55.9in), ismounted on a 420mm (16.5in)plinth and can pump out up to15,000 sheets per hour. Its fiveprinting units and hybrid coatersport the most advanced technolo-gy on the market. Features includeboard and lightweight paper capa-bilities, a 2.6m (8ft 6in) delivery
extension, automatic plate chang-ers throughout, inking and damp-ening rollers for different types ofink, inking-unit temperature con-trol and an anilox roller changingdevice, to name but a few. As aresult Krammer-Repro Flexo Printcan print any substrate thicknessfrom 0.04mm to 1.2mm (1- 48pt).
“The press incorporates a raftof technologically outstanding fea-tures that deliver substantial bene-fits in terms of both quality andcost efficiency,” says director DrHarald Granegger, who is head oftechnology. “These include IR, UVand thermal dryers, a DensiTronicmeasuring system and reversesheet gathering at the feeder. As aresult we can offer our customersnot only an extensive range ofproducts but also, thanks to theRapida’s high level of automationand flexibility, competitive priceseven for short runs.”
Fast makereadies and job changesQuality, cost efficiency and flexibil-ity have contributed in no smallpart to the company’s success. It is
not uncommon for a day’s produc-tion routine to include as many asten plate changes and substratesranging in size and weight from A4to large format and 80 to 300gsm(55lb book to 110lb cover) respec-tively. Fast makeready, automatedplate changing and automatedwashing cycles for the inking anddampening units are thereforeessential. As Klaus Schobesbergerexplains: “With this press we cancost-effectively print A0 posters inruns as short as 100, and A4 prod-ucts from 1,000 items upwards.We are thus able to address thecurrent trend towards ever shorterprint runs yet ever greater productvariety.”
The press room is supported byan integrated pre-press workflowwhich allows the company to han-dle all eventualities. Krammer-Repro Flexo Print has all the hard-ware and software technology itneeds to handle the layout and pro-duction both of internal data anddata supplied by customers. Along-side a Kodak Prinergy workflow thecompany operates an Esko packag-ing workflow that includes Back-stage and FlexRip plus a Heidel-berg Signastation. Common to allthese is the ability to process PDFfiles and utilise CIP4 data for presspresetting.
Plans for the nicheHaving successfully embedded thenew Rapida 142 in the productionflow Krammer is already planningto expand its policy of specialisa-tion still further. Says KlausSchobesberger: “With this presswe’ll be focussing on growing ourlarge-format and packaging print-ing activities. We believe that this
is an area where we can differenti-ate ourselves from our competitorsand hone our profile in the high-end sector. If we achieve our objec-tives, and we are confident weshall, then we’ll eventually have tomove to a greenfield site in orderto increase our production capaci-ty. This will enable us to offer ourcustomers an even broader rangeof options while enhancing thecareer prospects of our 70 staff,who will no doubt reward us witheven greater dedication.”
Report 34 | 200912
Sheetfed Offset | Packaging
Premiere for dedicated drives in northern Germany
Rapida 105 with DriveTronic SPC at Mensing Druck & VerpackungThe first Rapida press in northern Germany to feature dedicated drives has been in operation at Mensing Druck & Verpackung, Norderstedt, since the beginning of
last year. This five-colour coater version with DriveTronic SPC (simultaneous plate change) demonstrates that dedicated drives for the plate cylinders can deliver
enormous benefits in packaging production where small batches demand fast job changes and a high degree of flexibility. Mensing not only prints folding cartons
but also offers a complete, one-stop service. Its product spectrum includes patient information leaflets for the pharmaceutical industry along with CD, skin and
special packaging, blister cards, stand-up displays and much, much more.
Mensing Druck & Verpackung has 4,000m2 ofproduction floor space, with the new high-baystore in the foreground providing ample roomfor loading and unloading
The new 18,000sph press with DriveTronic SPC simultaneous plate change was erected at right-angles to a seven-year-old Rapida 105 (in the foreground)
As many as 19 jobs in a single shift are nothing out of the ordinary for Rapida 105 operatorMax Ringhand
Walter Gzella, Thomas Koch and Volker Knoop (from left), joint managing directors of Mensing Druck & Verpackung, with Ralf Engelhardt of KBA sales at the new Rapida 105
Print runs normally vary from3,000 to over one million, butjobs of just 700 or, more
recently, just 300 to 500 copies
have become part of the regularroutine. These are best printed ona press with an advanced level ofautomation. The new Rapida 105
has handled as many as 19 jobs ina single shift, while at the otherextreme it has also printed 50 mil-lion patient information leaflets forlongstanding customers. On aver-age the two five-colour pressesconsume 100 plates per day.
Rapida power from lightweight paper to corrugated boardMensing invested in its first Rapida105 seven years ago. But as the vol-ume of orders steadily swelled thecompany found itself having to out-source more and more of its work-load. The addition of the second B1Rapida delivered enough capacityto allow all print work to bebrought in-house once again andproduction reduced from threeshifts to two.
The new Rapida with Drive-Tronic SPC is used for all the short-
run work, the older presses forlonger runs. The two highly versa-tile B1 presses can handle a broadrange of stock from 45gsm light-weight paper (63lb cover) to stan-dard solid board weights and even1.2mm (48pt) G- and F-flute corru-gated. While direct offset on corru-gated represents just a small pro-portion of total output, and only a
Report 34 | 2009 13
www.mensing-druck.de
The new high-bay store is used both for consumables and for completed work
DensiTronic PDF detects the smallest deviations in the printed image and is thus an outstanding tool for total quality management
The printed sheets are scanned by a high-resolution line camera mounted on the measuring arm ofthe DensiTronic Professional colour control system, whose high-powered computer then comparesthe scan image with the original PDF
Harald Hartmann changing the tools on one of the two automatic die-cutters
handful of customers request it,Mensing’s philosophy is to includethis in its product range despitefalling prices for laminates and alimited choice of offset-printablecorrugated board.
The ability to print an exten-sive range of substrates is just oneof the Rapida 105’s many winningfeatures. Others include a suite ofDriveTronic components (nonstopfacilities at the feeder and delivery,sheet monitoring between theprinting units, inking-unit tempera-ture control, automatic simultane-ous plate change and a no-sidelayinfeed), an anilox coater withquick-action plate-clamping, apumping and cleaning system forcoatings, and climate-friendly emis-sions extraction at the delivery – infact everything the modern-day
metric measurement and controlthis ensures that production con-forms to the rigorous quality stan-dards prescribed eg by the drugindustry. Management sees Densi-Tronic PDF as the icing on the cakethat allows the company to delivervalue added for special customers.
Not surprisingly, Mensing hasmaintained DIN ISO 9001:2000accreditation by the DQS (GermanAssociation for the Certification ofQuality Systems) for many yearsnow. It has also implemented itsown in-house hygiene conceptbased on HACCP (hazard analysisand critical control points) -– keycriteria for printing pharmaceuticaland food packaging. Preparationsare nearing completion for environ-mental accreditation to ISO14001.
printer could wish for. The Rapida105 has since been superseded bythe Rapida 106 launched at Drupa2008.
Quality control to the highest standardsOne spectacular new feature thatwas also unveiled at last year’sDrupa is DensiTronic PDF, whichcompares the printed image withthe original PDF at high speed andwith 100% accuracy. A line cameramounted on the measuring armof the DensiTronic Professionalcolour control system scans thesheets at a resolution of 300dpi,and a high-powered computerdetects even the most minute devi-ations from the original. In con-junction with automatically gener-ated monitoring logs and densito-
Investment in the futureIn recent years Mensing has invest-ed heavily in new plant andmachinery. In 2007 it opened anew warehouse with more than700 pallet bays in which it storesfinished packaging for regular cus-tomers. An additional automaticdie-cutter was installed to elimi-nate bottlenecks in the finishingdepartment. The installation of thenew Rapida 105 in January lastyear was a key investment. Plansare afoot to streamline the produc-tion workflow still further. At pres-ent the company has 50 employees(including management), havingtaken on a number of new staffover the past two years. Whilethere may be bigger packagingprinters, Mensing prefers to focuson maximising flexibility. With itssmall yet dedicated workforce andpotential for expanding productionby adding a third shift, the compa-ny is well poised for future growth.
Mensing has been in the pack-aging business for more than 50years, having started by printingrecord sleeves. In the near futurethere are plans to enhance efficien-cy still further. In a market wherepricing competition is fierce, quali-ty alone is not enough as cus-tomers consider this a given. Butthey can still be won over by acombination of competitive pricesand short turnaround times. Thenew Rapida 105 furnishes themeans to achieve this.
Report 34 | 200914
Sheetfed Offset | B2 format
Capital press for the capital city
Germany’s first Rapida 75 goes live in BerlinThe first Rapida 75 in Germany came on stream in Berlin last September at
Druckerei Elsholz, a family-run business with just five employees and 300m2
(3,230ft2) of production floor space. The company's customer base includes a
For Dagmar and Olaf Elsholz, the Rapida 75 was the biggest investment in their company’s40-year history
Master printer Frank Reissner had a say in choosing the new press
Elsholz’s product palette isexceptionally diverse, rangingfrom newsletters to promo-
tional flyers and high-quality tick-ets for cultural events such as exhi-
bition openings, and even stampsfor private postal services.
Elsholz’s appeal lies in its fami-ly-based structure, its flexibility,reliability and direct, personal con-
tact with customers – an aspectwhich is becoming increasinglyrare with the onslaught of digitalcommunications. Established 40years ago in the district of
Kreuzberg, in 1986 the companymoved north to an industrial estatein Schwedenstrasse, in the districtof Wedding. The printing, die-stamping and folding machines areall located on the ground floor,while the administration, pre-pressand digital print departments areon the second floor along withadditional space for finishing anddespatch. Elsholz’s origins weremuch more modest: when HaraldElsholz took over the business in1969 it was just a printshop withno customer base, just one Rota-print machine, a light-table and adesk.
Compact and greenThe Elsholzes first came into directcontact with KBA three years ago.At the beginning of last year HaraldElsholz and his master printerFrank Reissner started lookingaround for a new press andchanced upon the Performa 74.When KBA’s Radebeul plantunveiled its successor, the Rapida
high proportion of longstanding regulars, among them advertising agencies,
banks, craftsmen and tradesmen. With the Rapida 75 Elsholz has expanded from
two-colour to four-colour B2.
Report 34 | 2009 15
Highly coloured areas and reverse type: master printer Frank Reissner (l) showing KBA sales manager Michael Grieger the first prints off the four-colour press
Die-cutting form and printed sheet of stamps for a private postal service
Ergonomic press operation at the GrafiControl consoleLack of space was not a problem with the compact Rapida 75
75, shortly afterwards the twodecided to wait for the newermodel. They took delivery of theirnew press on 3 September and on9 September ran the first job on it:a six-colour ticket printed in twopasses and finished with a coating.For the four-colour version of theRapida 75 that they had specified,this baptism by fire included imageareas with a lot of colour and lightreverse type: a challenge the pressmastered with consummate ease.Since then just about every job ithas printed has been four colours.According to Harald’s son Olaf,who is now managing director, theRapida’s compact footprint and lowenergy consumption – both ofwhich lie well below the norm forthis format class – were decisivefactors influencing the choice ofpress. This is because pressroom
architecture left very little roomfor manoeuvre in configuring fourcolours, while trimming energycosts is a major objective of anycompany. The benefits have beenreflected in the low quotations thecompany can give for jobs.
Master printer Frank Reissner,who has worked with KBA pressesat previous employers, appreciatesthe CIP4 link to pre-press and theconvenience of controlling theprint run via the touch-screen dis-play at the delivery. A practice-ori-ented level of automation, whichincludes diagonal register, washingunits and the GrafiControl consolecomplete with online densitome-ter, makes press operation eveneasier. After working with the Rap-ida 75 for the first few weeksReissner believes that the prints itdelivers can easily bear comparison
with those of the bigger models. Itjust happens to be built on a small-er scale.
Elsholz’s flexibility and cus-tomer focus are reflected in itsprint runs, which can be as short as50 flyers or 100 Christmas cards,printed either digitally or in offset.Sometimes customers specificallyrequest offset for quality reasons.Of course, Elsholz is also happy toprint longer runs, ranging frombusiness documents to brochuresand leaflets to folders and a raft ofother products, all of which can bescored, folded, perforated, die-cut,saddle-stitched and film- or foil-laminated. This means that it iseven possible to produce stamps.While Deutsche Post does not fig-ure in the order books, Elsholzhandles an increasing volume ofwork for private delivery services
which have found that there is amarket for images specific to theirsales regions. Print runs rangefrom 10,000 to 5 million items,and the Rapida 75 has no troublemeeting the high quality standardsdemanded for stamp production.
Generational successionThe new press and the introduc-tion of a digital workflow havebeen accompanied by a succession-al transition in the family enter-prise. Harald Elsholz now works forjust a few hours a week, while hiswife Dagmar continues to head thefirm, handling customer contactsand administration. Son Olaf con-centrates on pre-press and finish-ing, but will also operate one of thepresses if need be. Frank Reissnerand a third-year apprentice operatethe presses assisted by contractworkers if there is rush of orders.
The Rapida 75 has substantial-ly increased capacity and this hasenabled Elsholz to recalculate itsproduct portfolio. As a result a lotof customers no longer notify thecompany of new orders but simplysend the print data, and the Rapida75 enables the job to be turnedaround in a minimum of time.Speed and flexibility – these, too,are indicative of the changes thatare taking place in the print indus-try, and ones that even family busi-nesses must take on board.
Report 34 | 200916
Sheetfed Offset | Germany
Premiere in northern Germany
Dato-Druck fires up Rapida 106 world makeready championAt one time Dato-Druck was the smallest print enterprise in Germany to install a 4-backing-4 B2 (29in) press. Even
then the company's job structure was shifting away from short runs to higher volume production. Ten years later,
on 21 November 2008, Dato celebrated its 106th anniversary by officially flicking the switch on the first Rapida
106 in northern Germany.
Dato’s management team – Gert and NinaDannemann, Thimo Fehrenkamp and UweDittmann – with Bollmann, their “securityguard”
Olaf Rüscher running a new job on the five-colour coater press
Preparations for the invest-ment had been initiated twoyears earlier, when technical
staff at this 26-employee familybusiness analysed the company’sjob structures and applied theirfindings to determine which typeand configuration of press wouldbe most capable of handling pres-ent and future customer demands.The conclusion they reached wasthat a fifth printing unit, inlinecoating and the ability to handle awider range of substrates would bepreferable to pure 4-backing-4 pro-duction. So the launch of the Rapi-da 106 at Drupa last year could nothave been better timed. It deliverscutting-edge technology, one of thehighest output levels on the mar-
ket and world-beating jobchangeover times – a key criterionwhere print runs are steadilyshrinking. It was thus a perfect fitwith Dato’s product spectrum.
Commenting on the reasonsfor choosing the Rapida 106, jointmanaging director Nina Danne-mann says: “Shortest possiblemakeready and changeover timeswere the deciding factor, becausethey allow us to alter the produc-tion sequence or add a job at shortnotice.” With five inking units, acoater, an extended delivery and aperfector after the first unit, thepress furnishes precisely the flexi-bility required for such quick-firechanges. It can print either fivecolours straight or one backing
four plus a coating. Mono perfect-ing jobs can also be run in onepass. Printing units not requiredfor the job can be simply disen-gaged. This saves energy andreduces wear and tear on the ink-ing rollers.
DriveTronic SPC dedicateddrives for the plate cylinders allowjob changes to be completed innext to no time. “Whether thistakes fifteen minutes or just eightmakes an enormous difference,”says Ms Dannemann. “We, too,have noticed a reduction in theaverage run length, with runs ofmore than 10,000 copies now con-sidered to be at the high end of thescale.” So short makeready timesplay an increasingly pivotal role.
Simultaneous plate changing and much, much moreBut it is not just the simultaneousplate changing that makes jobchanges so fast on the Rapida 106.The setting- and sidelay-free Drive-Tronic SIS infeed system also playsa part by ensuring a precise,immaculate sheet infeed even athigh press speeds. On top of thisthere is a complete gamut of make-ready aids, among them automatedwashing systems and automaticadjustment from the console of thesuction heads on the suctionrollers in the delivery, to minimisemanual input. The coating platesare changed via a quick-actionclamping system, while with ACR-Control register corrections can becarried out in a matter of seconds.
A high degree of flexibility wasthe second criterion governing thechoice of press, and this is wherethe Rapida 106 scored highly withits ability to handle a wide range ofsubstrates from lightweight paperto medium board. The press is alsopreconfigured for inline perfora-tion. Other features include tem-perature controls for the inkingunits, and a height-adjustable non-stop roller facility in the delivery. ALogoTronic system supports theonline transfer of CIP4 pre-pressdata for automatic press preset,while job storage and protocol soft-ware cuts setting times for repeatjobs, which represent around 30%
Report 34 | 2009 17
At the official inauguration on 21 November the press demonstrated its prowess to an attentiveaudience of some 200 people
From the left: Dato-Druck joint managing directors Gert and Nina Dannemann toasting the smoothstart-up of their new Rapida 106 with Jürgen Fischenich, head of KBA's northwest sales outlet, andRalf Engelhardt of KBA sales
Dato celebrates a world champion: during the official inauguration six different brochuresfeaturing photos taken at the event were printed “live” on the press
Olaf Rüscher at the control console and Hendrik Bruns at the delivery are delighted by the new Rapida 106’s advanced level ofautomation and superb print quality
of total output. The Rapida 106 isalso embedded in a quality controland documentation system basedon DensiTronic Professional densit-ometry and spectrophotometry.
Press operators welcome the new pressEven though the foundation for thenew high-tech press line had to bepoured alongside an existing presswhile production continued un-abated, the installation was com-pleted on schedule and without ahitch. Press minders were keen towork with the press right from thestart. Initial awe at the advancedlevel of automation soon changedto enthusiasm once operators sawthe quality of the prints delivered.Inline coating, which was also newground for the press crews,became a routine part of the pro-duction workflow within a matterof weeks. Dato’s customers – mostof whom are industrial enterprises,
advertising agencies and museums– have been quick to appreciatethe finishing options now open tothem.
Long-term plans include in-stalling a new platesetter to satisfythe world makeready champion’svoracious appetite for plates. Butfirst Dato’s existing pre-presscapacity must be exploited to thefull, with one shift per day beingexpanded to two whenever busi-ness demands it. In the finishingdepartment, which is directly adja-cent to the press room, guillotinesand folding machines are in actionalongside a gang stitcher. Here,too, further investment is plannedin the medium term to keep pacewith the higher print output.
Regional trailblazerDato moved to its present locationin 1989. In 2001 it added anotherhall, increasing the total produc-tion floor space to around 1,700m2
Website: www.dato-druck.de
(18,300ft2). The Rapida 106 is thefourth B1 (41in) press to beinstalled here, and stands along-side an eight-colour perfector. Bothpresses are alcohol-free. Dato isalso the first, and at present only,printing plant in Oldenburg toachieve offset process standardcertification under ISO 12647-2,with FSC (Forest StewardshipCouncil) certification soon to fol-low. Nina Dannemann, joint man-aging director since 2004 and thefourth generation to head this fam-ily business founded in 1902, isout to defend Dato’s position asthe regional bellwether.
The Dannemann family hasextensive experience in guidingthe company through troubledtimes, and last year was no excep-tion: the cost of substrates, print-
ing aids and energy rocketed evenas prices for print products fell, notleast as a result of competitionfrom web-to-print services. ForDato this meant maximising pro-duction by streamlining the work-flow. The Rapida 106 furnished asolid starting point, as did new costcalculation software which wasinstalled at roughly the same time.Staff rose nobly to the challengeand after a few initial problemssoon mastered the technology. Theaddition of so much new kit in2008 was only possible becauseeveryone pulled together and pur-sued clearly defined objectives. Butthe key factor was the personaldedication of every single employ-ee and the flexibility demonstratedin every single department for thegood of the company.
The official premiere of theworld champion Rapida 106 in lateNovember was attended by some200 of Dato’s customers, suppliersand business friends, who wit-nessed at first hand its unprece-dented standard of efficiency andproductivity. The first product offthe press was a street map of Old-enburg, after which the plateswere changed and six differentbrochures – each featuring photostaken at the event – were printedin two separate demonstrationsand immediately finished. All in all,a stunning performance by theentire Dato team.
Report 34 | 200918
Sheetfed Offset | Finishing
KBA brings out book of sophisticated coating samples
Practical guide to fine, reproducible finishing
For sheetfed printers keen to raise
their market profile with sophistica-
ted, value added inline and offline
coating effects, KBA has brought out a
handy guide to the production proces-
ses involved in creating and reliably
reproducing such effects. The guide,
“Coating Sample Book – Technology
by KBA”, contains a stunning assort-
ment of coating effects complete with
detailed instructions on how to create
them, the press configurations requi-
red and the materials used. Weighing
in at over one kilogram (21/4lbs), this is
a unique and invaluable aid.
Some of the samples were finished using a KBA ColdFoiler
Sheetfed finishing of thefinest order: KBA’s coatingsample book is a handyguide to the many issuesassociated with this technology
KBA has long been an engine ofinnovation in the develop-ment and standardisation of
finishing and coating processes.One example is the hybrid technol-ogy we introduced some ten yearsago, which made it possible to cre-
ate previously inconceivable coat-ing effects in a single pass on a five-or six-colour press featuring justone coater. These include contrast-ing matt/gloss effects (without theneed for costly photopolymerplates!), diverse surface structures
and haptic properties, gloss grada-tions and filigree gloss effects –even on ultra-fine type or graphics.
For our development engi-neers, providing comprehensiveinformation on the many coatingoptions available and, in collabora-tion with Fogra and other Germanpress manufacturers, defining stan-dards for the materials used inorder to enhance process reliabilityhave always been a top priority.Among other things it includes thecertification of consumables forUV and hybrid processes. KBA’stechnology publications ProcessNo. 3 (quality enhancement withhybrid production) and Process No.4 (inline coating) were both devot-ed to this topic. The coating sam-ple book provides visual evidenceof the options available. KBAProcess No. 5 (printing on plasticsand composites), which has justbeen published, discusses theissues associated with coating non-absorbent substrates.
Report 34 | 2009 19
Martin Dä[email protected] instructor Jens Pille checking a sample print at the console of the Rapida 106 in our Radebeul showroom
The coating samples arealso available in the form of a swatch
Broad coating spectrumOur sumptuous coating samplebook contains 29 chapters on alter-native coating processes and a totalof 40 print and coating samples.The sheer diversity of the process-es and information contained sur-passes all other collections of thiskind on the market.
The first chapters are devotedto high-gloss UV coatings on hybridinks. These are followed by variousmatt and special-effect coatings aswell as contrasting matt/glosseffects using hybrid and drip-offtechniques. Haptic effects such assoft touch and gentle touch arealso featured. Other chapters are
dedicated to the different dualcoating effects possible by combin-ing various materials. There is prac-tical advice on using aromatic, blis-ter and iridescent coatings, and ondifferent ways of creating metallicsurfaces (eg with a KBA ColdFoil-er). Coating options for labels arealso dealt with at length. These
include UV opaque white on alu-minium-coated substrates or Met-alFX special-effect inks in conjunc-tion with various coatings. Glosstest formes, finishing options suchas die-cutting and cold-foil stamp-ing, and information on combiningmultiple processes complete thisremarkable compendium.
Precise documentationNo less important than the samplesthemselves are the accompanyingdetailed descriptions of the exactprocesses involved. The samplebook carefully explains the pressequipment required, which canrange form a five-colour press withone coater – perfectly adequate formany types of coating – to highlyspecialised 14-unit presses withthree coaters and four interdeckdryers. Each individual stage inproduction is described in detail,complete with all the relevant aidsand consumables, making it easilycomprehensible for print profes-sionals. Most of the samples wereproduced using Crescendo, Chro-molux, label stock and other typesof paper from Schneidersöhne.Charts and graphics provide a con-venient overview of the diversecoating processes used.
Alongside the lavish and costlycoating sample book we have alsoproduced a swatch with accompa-nying explanatory booklet. Smallenough to fit easily into hand lug-gage, this is much handier for trav-elling sales reps, who can take italong when calling on customersand prospects. Both book andswatch can be used for consulta-tive discussions with print buyers.The sample book, which is distrib-uted by our sheetfed sales depart-ment, is restricted exclusively toprinters. The swatch, which is alsoavailable to non-printers, can beobtained free of charge from IlkaDemuth (e-mail: [email protected]) in our Radebeul market-ing department.
Report 34 | 200920
Sheetfed Offset | USA Website: www.suplitho.com
Los Angeles-based Superior Lithographics adds large-format Rapida 162a
Quick turnaround and a fastresponse to customer demandsSuperior Lithographics, a premier supplier of high-quality litho labels, top sheets and folding cartons for the
corrugated box industry, has installed a fully-automated Rapida 162a 7B (64in) six-colour sheetfed press with
UV coater.
Prior to the press installation Superior’s lead press crew was trained atKBA’s headquarters in Germany
A Superior Lithographics employee carries aplate to be hung on the new Rapida 162a
Just-in-time large-format production on the high-automation Rapida 162a
Our entire firm is built aroundgiving our customers anincredibly fast response to
their printing needs,” explainsCEO and president Doug Rawson.“We needed a tailor-made presswith all the latest technologicaladvances to rapidly produce high-quality large-format work. KBAshares our vision of being super-responsive and has delivered everystep of the way.” The new Rapida162a is equipped with a long list ofaward-winning features, includingLogoTronic, interdeck UV coatingand DensiTronic S scanning densit-ometry.
“We practise lean manufactur-ing,” says Rawson. “We typicallyhave one week’s worth of backlog,yet we run 24 hours a day, sevendays a week. Since everything weprint ends up in a Big Box retailer,we need to consistently providelead time of two or three days tomeet our customers’ needs. Key tochoosing KBA was their fundamen-tal understanding of our businessand their ability to match theirequipment and technology to ourneeds. We can makeready the pressin 20 minutes and have seen runrates in excess of 12,000 sheetsper hour.”
“The DensiTronic S scanningdensitometer was another impor-tant feature for us,” says Rawson.“Much of our work is repeat orderswhere we need to match the priorrun and have consistent colour.”The DensiTronic S is a combineddensity and colour measuring sys-tem for quality control both duringand after printing. Unlike other
systems, DensiTronic S permitsdirect “X,Y” measurements withinthe image. Deviations from definedtarget densities, colour values andother quality parameters (dot gain,trapping, etc) are recognised anddisplayed not only reliably, but alsovery quickly in comparison tohand-held measuring devices. With
integration for online control, thedensity and spectral deviations areconverted into corrective adjust-ments for the individual ink keys.The DensiTronic S system controlsthe density and spectral parame-ters of each sheet by measuringalong control strips or directly onthe image.
Fast customer service response,advance trainingSuperior Lithographics has madefast customer response its numberone priority. One of its uniqueofferings is to have all its sales rep-resentatives equipped to providean immediate quotation fromwherever they are. Additionally,online proofing capabilities allowmultiple people in various loca-tions to view the proof online andapprove the job without having tospend time transporting the proofor visiting the plant.
Superior sent its lead presscrew teams to Germany foradvance training on the Rapida162a prior to installation, so theywere ready to start printing as soonas the press was installed.
Founded in 1987, SuperiorLithographics has 75 employeesand is located in a 60,000ft2
Left: The high-speed Rapida 105 two-coaterpress (on the right) installed last year at ModelObaly in Hostinné runs alongside a Rapida 105(formerly Rapida 105 universal). Both pressesare mounted on plinths
Model Obaly in Hostinné was the first packaging printer in the Czech Republic to achieve BRC/IoP accreditation for its production workflow
View from the feeder, showing the extra pileheight afforded by the 375mm press plinth
Model Obaly in Hostinné boosts growth with Rapida 105
Model Holding, one of the leading manufacturers of packaging in Europe, employs Rapida technology at its
Czech production plants. The most recent addition, the third Rapida 105 (formerly Rapida 105 universal) in
succession, came on stream last October in Hostinné.
The graphic arts industry has along tradition in Hostinné. Thehistory of Model Obaly’s fac-
tory there dates back to 1887,when it started producing hand-glued paper bags. The printingcompany operated under the nameKrpaco until 1998, when it wastaken over by Cofinec. This wasacquired in 2003 by Swiss-basedModel Holding, which proceededto invest heavily in new kit. Todaythe Hostinné facility produces abroad spectrum of exclusive pack-aging for food and luxury goods,for which it was extensively refur-bished. Within four years the com-pany pressed the button on threeRapidas. It also invested in newtechnology for the finishing depart-ment, including a die-cuttingmachine from Bobst.
The first B1 (41in) Rapida,which shipped to Hostinné in2004, was a six-colour coater ver-sion with extended delivery. Withsales steadily climbing, it soonbecame evident that productioncapacity had reached its limits.
After conducting a rigorous selec-tion procedure management optedfor a six-colour Rapida once again,this time with two coaters and twointerdeck dryers. With this press itis possible to print conventionalinks followed by a UV coating ortwo aqueous coatings, and thiscapability has been exploited to thefull.
Blistering growth“With this press we can respond toa broad diversity of customerdemands. We have not yet decidedwhether to embrace all-UV produc-tion, because some of our cus-tomers still prefer conventionalinks and aqueous coatings,”explains Petr Etrich, productionmanager of Model Obaly’s Hostin-né plant. “When the second Rapida105 went into operation two yearsago, it was not long before wenoticed that our production capac-ity was still too small. In 2007 thevolume of incoming orders swelledby 25%. And the first few monthsof last year saw a further 15%
increase. Management thereforedecided to add a third press alongwith a new production line forfolding cartons.”
A contract was signed at thebeginning of May and in October2008 a Rapida 105 of the newgeneration exhibited at Drupalaunched into action. Once againthis was a six-colour coater versionwith extended delivery. “Our threeRapidas not only deliver a superiorprint quality but have also fur-nished the capacity to respondquickly to customer demands,”says a delighted Petr Etrich. “Allthree press lines feature nonstopsystems at the feeder and deliveryto support on-the-fly pile change.”The most recent Rapida wasembedded in the existing Logo-Tronic network and linked to aDensiTronic Professional densitom-etry and spectrophotometry sys-tem.
Petr Etrich continues: “Soonafter we switched to KBA itbecame evident that installing theRapidas had been the right move.
All three presses function flawless-ly, deliver a superb print qualityand are highly productive. Not fornothing does KBA enjoy an out-standing reputation among packag-ing printers. And the Rapidas areideal for our product lines.”
Today Model Obaly in Hostin-né is one of the best productionplants in the entire Model group.At present around 8,000 tonnes(8,800 US tonnes) of board areprocessed into folding cartonsevery year, but over the next twoto three years there are plansto increase the volume to 10,000tonnes (11,000 US tons). Theplant in Hostinné specialises in theproduction of high-grade blisterpackaging and primary packagingfor the food industry, and was thefirst packaging manufacturer in theCzech Republic to achieve BRC/IoPaccreditation for its productionworkflow.
JDF-enabled process automation in KBA customer showroom
The customer showroom, whichhouses a number of small-,medium- and large-format Rap-
ida presses for demonstration pur-poses, is itself embedded in aHiflex MIS workflow. So prospectscan experience at first hand thecompelling benefits of networkingfor their own specific job struc-tures.
Management information sys-tems (MIS) are being increasinglydeployed in the print media indus-try as a central storage facility forall the technical and process-specif-ic data required for order fulfil-ment. They are a means of elimi-nating cost-intensive duplicateactivities and of melding individualworkflows into a single network.
But if the investment is todeliver rapid returns and concretebenefits with regard to processautomation, print buyers and con-sumables suppliers must also bebrought on board and willinglyaccept that they have a role to playin the MIS workflow – a role whicheffectively blurs the distinctionbetween internal and externalprocesses.
Integrated non-proprietary workflowIn the new KBA Complete Loungeat our Radebeul facility membersof the print media industry canattend demonstrations highlightingthe immense potential of a JDF-/JMF-enabled workflow throughout
The Hiflex MIS management information system assumes a central role in the production workflow
In the KBA Complete Lounge demonstrationsare given both from the customer and the staffperspective of how process components fromvarious manufacturers can be embedded in auniversal workflow using MIS
Customer Agency Sales Supplier
Web to printvia internet
Pre-press Hiflex MIS
Scheduling and operational data capture
Financial and payroll accounting
Finished goods and raw materials
Delivery and mailing
Gang stitching Folding Trimming
Printing
When deploying modern proprietary software to streamline print production,
success largely depends on how smoothly print buyers and consumables suppli-
ers are integrated in the workflow. In a well equipped demo centre at our
the entire processing chain. Practi-cal demonstrations show not onlywhat is technically possible butalso, and equally important, what iseconomically feasible. Close collab-oration between KBA Completeand leading technology providersallows it to demonstrate diversepermutations of pre-press, pressand post-press systems, all embed-ded in an automated workflow.Prospects can thus more easilyassess the benefits to their busi-ness of modifying their productionprocesses accordingly.
The implementation of MIS isdemonstrated from two perspec-tives, that of the print provider andthe print buyer, so that both caneasily understand just how theprocess components from differentmanufacturers interact seamlesslyat every step, from the customerenquiry, submission of quotationand receipt of order (including dataupload and approval by the cus-tomer) through production sched-uling and pre-press to press, post-press and dispatch. Statistical costaccounting, which is equally impor-tant for the successful manage-ment of a company, is also analysedin detail.
MIS software unites the indi-vidual systems and functions as acommunications control hub. Theresult is more effective processcontrol, enhanced transparencyand flexibility in order fulfilment, adramatic increase in productivityand substantial cost savings.
Innovative web to print solutions for KBA customersWeb-to-print capabilities can be akey instrument in winning newaccounts, and more and more printentrepreneurs are exploiting thisoption. Demonstrations in the KBAComplete Lounge showing how tointegrate print buyers and consum-ables suppliers in the print produc-tion workflow therefore includethe effective use of web-to-printtechnology.
Druckhaus Dresden: customised networkingDruckhaus Dresden, a public limited company in which many of its 80-strong workforce hold shares as part of
an employee participation scheme, recently celebrated its centenary. Its press room houses three Rapida 105
medium-format presses which handle between 25 and 30 jobs per day totalling 500,000 to 700,000 sheets. Fol-
lowing heavy investment in equipment upgrades for the pre-press, press and post-press departments the compa-
ny is now focussing on optimising internal processes, ably assisted by KBA Complete.
On its way out: the job docket held by managing director Karl Nolle (r), who is pictured here with project manager Tobias Stange
Sheetfed Offset | Workflow
Joint managing directors Christland Karl Nolle perceive anunmistakable trend towards
shorter run lengths coupled with amounting demand for faster turn-around times and lower prices. Asa result print providers are underincreasing pressure. “Competitionin the marketplace is ferocious. Ifyou don’t maintain the pace you’reout of it!” says Karl Nolle. “For usthis meant analysing all the produc-tion processes within the company,with a view to optimising andautomating them. We consultedKBA Complete, which gave usevery assistance we could have
wished for. Since we deploy sys-tems and workflows from variousproviders, uniting them in a singleworkflow is crucial to our survival.That is why we chose KBA Com-plete to implement the integrationas well.”
Process automation the key to successThe key move in automating theproduction process at DruckhausDresden was to install a manage-ment information system (MIS)based on Hiflex MIS software,which allows the potential inher-ent in a multi-level, vendor-inde-pendent networking system to beexploited to the full. MIS softwarenot only enables process compo-nents from different manufactur-ers to interact flawlessly, it also
regulates and controls communica-tion among the individual systemswithin an integrated workflow.
“We needed an overview ofthe company’s entire productionprocess. Anyone can buy a printingpress, but organising and optimis-ing all the processes within a print-ing plant – that really takes somebrains,” declares Karl Nolle.
Lode Vlayen, managing direc-tor of KBA Complete, says: “Onceyou have invested in new press kit,the only way you can boost produc-tivity and earnings still further –and thus achieve additional timeand cost savings – is to streamlineand integrate internal productionand digital workflows, and auto-mate them as far as possible.”
Italian drug and cosmetics packaging printer drives growth with two Rapida 105s
Outlook bright on IGB’s 40th anniversaryIndustrie Grafiche Bressan’s slogan “We pack your business” reveals little of this North Italian packaging printer’s creativi-
ty and outstanding performance. Established by Dino Bressan as a small commercial printer in Viggiu, near Varese, IGB has
evolved from a two-man business into a major player and provider of choice for sophisticated cartons, blister packaging
and displays.
The high-performance Rapidas have already delivered a big boost in sales
Alessio Bressan (2nd left) and his press crew make the most of their new Rapidas’ high productionflexibility and enormous output
IGB founder Dino Bressan and his son Alessio celebrated the company’s 40th jubileelast year
IGB’s 30 staff work with cutting-edge technology in productdevelopment, pre-press, press
and post-press. ISO 9001:2000quality accreditation and punctualdelivery have enabled the companyto build up a customer base amongmajor manufacturers of pharma-ceuticals and cosmetics in Italy andSwitzerland.
First high-tech presses from KBALast year Dino Bressan and his sonAlessio, who joined him at thehelm in 1999, celebrated IGB’s for-tieth anniversary by installing twohigh-performance B1 (41in) KBApresses at the Via Varese premises.The four- and five-colour Rapida105s – the first from KBA followinga succession of small- and medium-format presses from other manu-facturers – have delivered an enor-mous productivity boost along witha superb print quality.
In view of the features speci-fied, this is not surprising. Theyinclude coaters, a hybrid capability(five-colour press), a triple deliveryextension, a CX package for print-ing packaging, DensiTronic S scan-ning densitometry and LogoTronicBasic production management.These not only make for muchgreater production flexibility butalso allow colour and gloss effectsto be created on carton and blisterpackaging that were previouslyimpossible.
Accumulated production benefitsSays Alessio Bressan: “We hadbeen aware for some years of KBA’sexperience and know-how in inlinefinishing, and were provided withdetailed information on the Rapi-das by highly competent staff fromKBA-Italia. While we were mainlylooking to increase capacity, theRapida’s additional benefits havedelivered much, much more.”
He continues: “The two press-es are fast, reliable, easy to operateand complement each other per-fectly. So in one shift, for example,we can print the same productwith either hybrid or conventionalinks, enabling us to respond to cus-tomer demands with much greaterflexibility. There is an emergingtrend towards shorter, on-demand
print runs. Since our customersare unwilling to compromise onquality or delivery deadlines, wemust gear up accordingly. The two
KBA Rapida 105 presses are usedfor jobs of 20,000 copies or more,and combine a high output withfast job changes.”
Process automation to JDF standardsApproximately 90% of the stockhandled is 250 to 350gsm (14 -18pt) cartonboard. “The Rapidasperformed impressively right fromthe start, enabling us to boost salesby around 30%,” explains AlessioBressan. “But the CX package evenallows us to print substrates up to400gsm. We are aiming to steadilyincrease the proportion of hybridwork and blister packaging. Atpresent we are in the process ofbringing our workflow up to JDFstandards and have already net-worked the Rapidas with pre-press.”
Pureprint’s Yvie Dear pictured with KBA (UK)managing director Christian Knapp (l) and hostJimmy Carr after receiving the environmentalaward
Sheetfed Offset | United Kingdom
Six colour with coater joins ten-unit long perfector
Burlington’s dream team
Pureprint scoopsKBA environmentaward
Cambridgeshire-based commercial printer Burlington Press has streamlined its press
room with a second B1 (41in) Rapida 105. The new press was specified with six colour
units, inline coating and heavy stock handling options to complement an existing ten-
colour long perfector version.
Director Andrew Tooke ex-plains: “The ten colour hasdone everything we expect-
ed. We have been delighted withthe machine’s performance and itwas always our intention to replaceour older Speedmasters. The per-formance and quality of the KBAjust brought that decision for-ward.”
Mr Tooke had anticipatedreduced downtime at makereadybecause of the advances in technol-ogy on the KBA, but found other,less expected, benefits: “We weresurprised by the massive step up inproductivity, the faster runningspeeds, better wash-ups, quickermakereadies – just everything isbetter,” he says. “But we havebeen really delighted that the Rap-ida was able to deliver the consis-tency of quality to allow us toachieve ISO 12647-2 colouraccreditation so easily.”
KBA (UK) MD Christian Knapppresented the Environmental
Company of the Year Award toPureprint Group’s Yvie Dear at ThePrint Week Awards ceremony 2008at London’s Grosvenor House.
Ms Dear’s title, Director forCorporate Social Responsibility,reflects the importance Pureprintplaces on its commitment to theenvironment; the Group’s “leader-ship in driving the change of envi-ronmental attitudes across theindustry” was cited by judges asthe defining factor which distin-guished Pureprint from the 22other category entries to win thecoveted award.
“Apart from instances wherewe need the quality assurance,there are quite a few jobs with fivecolours and sealing or six coloursthat our five-colour Speedmastercouldn’t handle, or work on coversor backing boards that need to beturned round very quickly,” saysMr Tooke. “The six colour withcoater gives us the ideal comple-ment to the long perfector plus weasked for the heavy stock optionsto give us that extra degree of flex-ibility.”
Much of the work plannedthrough the Rapida 105 ten-colourperfector is in the form of sectionwork for magazines, brochures,books and R&A, typically printingfour-back-four with sealing. Thedecision to broaden the spec onthe new press has already paid div-idends, with contracts for greet-ings cards, postcards and packagingfor airline catering and branded TV
food products being added to itsstaple diet of covers and generalcommercial print.
Burlington Press is celebratingits 100th anniversary this year. Itwas acquired in an MBI by AndrewTooke, his brother Richard and JackLindop in December 2000. It oper-ates a comprehensive bindery andhas added a digital division, directmarketing and fulfilment servicesto its product offering.
Burlington Press has an on-tar-get £7m ($10.8m) turnover,employs 72 staff and serves a cus-tomer base primarily in London,the Midlands and East Anglia –both direct to end client andthrough designers, agencies andpublishers.
Pureprint has achieved a 75%reduction in the use of chemistryin pre-press, a 4% to 94% increasein dry waste diverted from landfilland an EMAS-accredited 50%reduction in CO2 emissionsbetween 2005 and 2007. Says YvieDear: “It is important that manu-facturers like KBA show they areworking with us to help makeimprovements, and we value thisaward as an endorsement of ourcontinuing efforts in this criticalarea.”
Christian Knapp emphasisedKBA’s commitment to developingtechnological improvements in allareas of printing. “Environmentalconsiderations are at the centre ofall our ongoing programmes and,very often, they converge withcommercial interests – for exam-ple, the energy efficiency of ourpresses has a significant positiveimpact on both carbon footprintand the bottom line.”
Andrew Tooke has expanded capacity at Burlington with two Rapida 105 presses
The Giunti Editore group’sactivities are not limited topublishing and printing books
on art, literature and science: itsproduct range also embraces text-books for schools and titles onmusic, tourism, cookery, leisureand sports, along with cataloguesand magazines. On top of this thefirm is heavily engaged in newmedia and e-learning projects.
Industrial production since 1991Originally a modest printshop thatused to outsource work when nec-essary, Giunti Editore only startedprinting on an industrial scale in1991, following the acquisition ofa printing plant in Iolo Prato, nearFlorence, and its integration in thegroup under the name GiuntiIndustrie Grafiche. Today this130,000m2 (1,400,000ft2) produc-tion site, which has 42,000m2
(453,000ft2) of production floorspace, provides employment foraround 160 staff in pre-press,press, binding, finishing, packingand despatch.
Giunti Editore’s associationwith KBA dates back to 1996 and
the delivery of a Rapida 104 five-colour B1 (40in) press. This wasfollowed in 2000 by a five-colourRapida 162a and in 2003 by a four-colour version of the same model.More recently Giunti has installeda new-generation Rapida 105 five-colour press with high-speed pack-age to support an output of up to16,000 sheets per hour and sub-strates weighing between 60 and350gsm (84lb cover to 160lb Bris-tol). The press has a CIPLink net-
working capability, ACR automaticregister control and DensiTronicclosed-loop densitometry to max-imise productivity by minimisingmakeready times.
Confidence in quality and innovationProduction director Piero Gallisays: “This latest investment inRapida sheetfed technology reaf-firms our confidence in KBA. Whatwe most value about their presses
is the exceptionally fine quality ofthe products delivered and theirpolicy of ongoing innovation. Wehave always profited directly fromnew advances in both large- andmedium-format technology. And asfar as service is concerned, beingan all-KBA printshop affords a lot ofbenefits.”
Pierluigi Benedetti, divisionalprint manager at Giunti IndustrieGrafiche, agrees: “Our press opera-tors received first-class trainingand know the KBA presses insideout. The Rapidas complement eachother perfectly and afford a highdegree of production flexibility.Roughly half the jobs printed onthe new Rapida 105 are covers andbooks. Even though the press hassuch a high output we can still useit to print low-pagination titlesbecause its high-speed makereadymeans it can even print short tomedium print runs cost-effectively.The fifth printing unit can be usedeither for text imprints in differentlanguage versions, or for coating.”
From the left: divisional print manager Pierluigi Benedetti, KBA sales manager Silvano D’Alessandri, production director Piero Galli and KBA-Italia marketing manager Dario Braschi at the new Rapida
Giunti Industrie Grafiche specialises in the exquisite manufacture of limited editions of works by Leonardo da Vinci and other world-famous artists, printed using only the finest materials
Giunti’s production plant in Via Ghisleri, Iolo Prato, near Florence
Giunti Industrie Grafiche operates three Rapida medium- and large-format sheetfed presses
Pazazz differentiates itself with new large-format Rapida 142
Montreal-based printer offersnew solutions and better serviceMontreal-based Pazazz Printing has invested $5 million in a new Rapida 142 size 6 (56in) six-colour hybrid UV press at the
firm’s 65,000ft2 (6,000m2) facility. The investment totalling $7m and a whopping 150 tons of printing equipment includes
a Fuji Film Ultima CTP large-format platesetter, a Busch pile turner and a Perfecta large-format guillotine.
The one-stop printshop offersconventional and UV lithoprinting, digital and flexo-
graphic label printing and digitallarge-format production, all underone roof.
Bigger is better“This is BIG! We are officially seiz-ing the large-format specialty mar-ket and differentiating ourselvesfrom the 40-inch sector,” says War-ren Werbitt, Pazazz founder andCEO. “We now have the largestKBA press in Quebec, the first ofits kind, and are offering solutionsthat no other printer in the coun-try can. Bigger is definitely better,and that’s a promise.”
The Rapida 142 six-colourhybrid UV press allows much moreflexibility and is capable of produc-ing a variety of high-quality printeffects and textures. “Unique fin-ishes and coatings such as strike-through, soft touch and gator, aswell as scented inks, truly enhancethe final product,” explains Wer-bitt. “We can now print on multi-ple substrates up to 48pt as well ascompete with the silkscreen mar-ket. Paper, board, foil, flute, corru-gated, plastics, vinyl and styrenecan all be used on this uniquepress. We don’t just print. We printwith pazazz!”
When Werbitt was consideringa new press purchase, he had anumber of factors to consider.First, he decided to stay away fromthe traditional B1 (40in) press anddifferentiate his firm with a large-format model, thus rising abovecompetition with the majority ofB1 printers in the same market.Second, he wanted to put the serv-ice aspect back into print purchas-ing; his choice of a large-formatpress allows his customers toquickly prep a 16-page sheet ratherthan an eight-page sheet on the B1models, saving them time andmoney. Third, he wanted to main-tain his firm’s commitment to theenvironment by using a largersheet size that requires less make-ready and by installing full inter-deck UV capabilities.
Making the impossible possible“With our new KBA press we’renow able to show our customers avariety of different printing tech-
niques that they didn’t think werepossible,” says Werbitt. “Whathave they said? Not one customerhas turned us away!” Pazazz cannow achieve consistent colourmatching and deliver all visualbranding values across printed mar-keting materials, labels, signage,boxes and POP displays. “Not onlyis a one-stop printshop powerful;having one production team trans-lates into efficient, accurate andtrue economies of scale,” Werbittcontinues.
Werbitt learned of KBAthrough the Independent PrintersWorldwide (IPW) group, for whichKBA is a supplier. “KBA is it!”exclaims Werbitt. “They are theleaders in large-format presses.
Our press installation has been sosmooth; it’s been a dream.”
Founded in 1992, Pazazz is afull-service independent printerbased in Montreal with offices inNew York and Shanghai. Pazazz hasacquired four companies since1992 and has seen its staff grow to80 full-time employees. The com-pany has been steadily bolsteringits position as a leader in the indus-try through a variety of procure-ments, significantly increasingservices and efficiency. In additionto being certified by the ForestStewardship Council (FSC), theProgramme for the Endorsement ofCertification Schemes (PEFC) andthe Sustainable Forestry Initiative(SFI), Pazazz promotes eco-friendly
inks and recycled paper. Pazazz isalso a member of IPW, which con-sists of more than 150 independ-ent printers with an excess of$2.5bn of print revenue. Pazazz’srecent claim to fame is its viralvideo “Printing’s Alive,” which hasbeen viewed by more than155,000 people on YouTube andwas recently inducted into Market-ingSherpa’s Viral Hall of Fame.Most recently, Werbitt was pre-sented by Graphic Monthly withCanada’s Printer of the Year Awardfor 2008. This award is bestowedupon individuals in the industrywho have built exceptional busi-nesses.
Pazazz Printing‘s entire company,including founder and CEO WarrenWerbitt (centre, light blue shirt),welcome the Rapida 142 six-colourhybrid UV press installed at theirnew facility
KBA and Heidelberg had al-ready unveiled a joint conceptfor the certification of UV and
hybrid applications at Fogra’s userforum on UV printing in 2006. Theobjective was to enhance processreliability, safety and predictabilitywhen using different types andbrands of consumables. At the2008 print forum in Stuttgart,KBA, Heidelberg and manrolandsigned a letter of intent to expandtheir collaboration to the certifica-tion of print consumables and aidsfor UV production. The crux of thiscollaborative agreement is the pro-gressive standardisation of all theresources and parameters involvedin the process.
Conditions for certificationBefore any attempt can be made tooptimise the UV offset printingprocess, it is necessary to locateand eliminate the weak points inthe system. And parameters forpress acceptance must be clearlydefined with regard to the printingformes, the printing process (withand without interdeck UV dryers),the number of lamps, substratespecifications and printing speed.Specifications for the colour char-acteristics of hybrid and UV offsetinks must also be defined, includ-ing their compliance with stan-dards (ISO 2846-1) and permittedtolerances. Reference values al-ready exist in the CIELAB colourgamut for the solid-tone primarycolours red (M+Y), green (C+Y)and blue (C+M) – but there is nomention of the permitted toler-ances.
As far as process stability isconcerned, further investigation isneeded of dampening tolerances,dampening additives and theirimpact, the impact of washes, thedefinition of materials compatibili-ty, swelling and changes in the vol-ume of rubber blankets and theirsuitability for hybrid production.The aim here is to enhance pressreliability and thus customer pro-ductivity by identifying press-com-patible print consumables.
Energy efficiency in UV print production“It’s hard to accurately estimatethe energy consumed by a UVpress,” says Dr Sascha Fälsch of
2004: The formulation of initial directions for testing hybrid consumables; launch of a KBA initiative to provide certification of hybrid consumables through Fogra
2005: Award of Fogra test certificates to manufacturers of hybrid consumables
2006: Instructions for expanding the consumables testing procedure to include UV consumables; approval of a joint standardisation concept by KBA and Heidelberg; signing of a letter of intent to define the standards for mandatory test specifications
2008: Signing of a letter of intent by KBA, Heidelberg and manroland to introduce universal standards based on mandatory test specifications for the certification of: • UV and hybrid inks• press-compatible consumables• printing formes and norms for UV and hybrid inks.Fogra user forum on UV print production: continuation of tests on consumables with accreditation of ink, blanket and roller manufacturers by KBA, Heidelberg and manroland.
KBA. General guide values shouldbe treated with caution if they donot include comparable colorimet-ric specifications, consumablescharacteristics, data on press speedand reflector coatings, dosages for
special applications (opaque white)and care and maintenance of theUV lamps.
How much energy must/can aUV lamp emit, how is UV intensitymeasured, at what stage of cross-
linking is the ink on the sheet real-ly “dry”? Here the systematicobservation of process steps andcontent is necessary in order toreveal genuine potential for optimi-sation and not just a lucky strike.
Dirk Jägers of IST Metz pointsout that with an electronic induc-tion coil and dichroic reflector fit-ted in his company’s MBS-5 dryerit is possible to reconcile energysavings, improved lamp perform-ance and quality assurance, provid-ed that production parameters arecompatible with the product beingprinted. And as Katia Studer ofCiba demonstrated with the helpof data from a study of UV inksformulated in-house, it would behelpful if inks could “indicate” theprecise energy input required forcuring.
An alliance forged by manroland, KBA and Heidelberg (from left) has enabled some decisive advances to be made in the certification of consumables for UV and hybrid print production
How KBA has pioneered the standardisation of hybrid and UV print applications
Report 34 | 2009 29
Commercial Web Offset | Italy
KBA the provider of choice once again
D’Auria invests in new Compacta 818Like many other Italian commercial printers, D’Auria in S. Egidio alla
Vibrata, in the province of Teramo, operates a 16pp Compacta 215.
Installed just eighteen months ago, the press will soon be joined by
a 64pp Compacta 818 as part of this family business’s ambitious aim
to move up into the high-volume league.
For D’Auria, the Compacta818’s big attraction is its598.5mm (23.5in) cut-off on
a cylinder circumference of1,197mm (47in), and its narrowerweb width of 1,680mm (66.14in).Normally a 64pp press has a maxi-mum web width for standard A4 of1,905mm (75in). Company propri-etor Dr Cristiano D’Auria deliber-ately opted for the narrower width
because 48pp and 56pp productsmake up a large proportion of hisportfolio. Running a web that is230mm (9in) wider than a stand-ard 48pp long-grain press’s1,450mm (57in) will enable him toprint 64pp copies in a slightlysmaller (untrimmed) format of 210x 299mm (8.25 x 11.75in). At atime when printers are being hit bydownward pressure on prices, yet
spiralling costs, Dr D’Auria and histechnical director Iolando De Lucabelieve that this specific configura-tion, which is unique in Italy, willenable them to raise their companyprofile by offering high-volumeservices at a highly competitiveprice. Says D’Auria: “With cus-tomer demands becoming evermore sophisticated, we needed toenhance diversity and productivitywhile keeping a tight rein oncosts.”
The new 90,000cph Compacta818 will be embedded in a KBAPatras A automatic reel-logisticssystem to which the Compacta 215is also linked. Alongside a perform-ance-proven P5 pin folder the presswill feature KBA’s new RollerTronicroller locks for commercial presses.First demonstrated at Drupa 2008,these locks automatically set theprecise throw-on pressure for theinking rollers, thus helping to opti-mise print quality while reducingroller abrasion and maintenance. Asoftware program, KBA EasyTronic,allows the press to be started up,run down and converted in a mini-mum of time and with a minimumof waste. Automatic plate changingand webbing-up shorten makeread-ies and facilitate operation.
The Compacta 818 is sched-uled to ship in mid-2009 and willallow D’Auria to print productsthat previously could only be print-ed on wider presses. Other bene-fits of the special configurationinclude easier paper handling,reduced energy consumption, andless trim and production waste.
D’Auria installed its first KBAmachine, a secondhand Varimatfour-colour sheetfed press, in1998. In 2002 there followed alarge-format Rapida 162 four-colour, in 2004 a medium-formatRapida 105 universal and in 2008 anew Rapida 162a. The company’sexpansion into commercial weboffset with the KBA Compacta 215enables it to print much longerprint runs, and the recent pur-chase of a 64pp version is evidencethat D’Auria made the right choice.
Satisfaction all round at the choice of a Compacta 818: Dr Cristiano D’Auria (centre), KBA-Italia commercial web press sales manager Alessandro Puppo (left) and KBA sales manager Martin Schoeps
At the console for the Compacta 215 (l-r): KBA project manager Albrecht Szeitszam, D’Auria technical director Iolando De Luca and technical consultant Attilio Dalfiume
In long-grain production thehigh-volume 45,000cph offsetpress line, which has a maxi-
mum web width of 2,060mm(81in) and a cylinder circumfer-ence of 1,197mm (47in), can printeither 72 A4 pages or 80 pages ina slightly smaller format of 200 x285mm (8 x 11.22in). In short-grain production it can print 84pages in reduced A4 format or 96pages in the pocket format that isso popular in France. All types ofproduct can be glued or stitchedinline in the delivery. PierreRichard, founder and president ofthe Sego group, is delighted:“Innovative features such as thesehave enhanced our productionflexibility enormously.”
Driver of print innovationThis is no coincidence, because theSego group has been a driver ofprint innovation in France eversince it started up in 1962. It was
one of the first in the market tolink up two presses as a means ofdoubling pagination: two 16-pagepress lines to deliver 32-pagecopies and two 48-page lines for96-page copies. Today Sego is theonly printing group in the countrythat is able to offer a complete,one-stop service from productdesign to despatch. This was made
possible by organising the groupinto no fewer than eleven affiliatedcompanies: five for pre-press(among them the CFP group, themarket leader in France), three forprint production (with a total ofeleven narrow- and wide-web off-set presses for eight, sixteen,twenty-four and forty-eight pages,plus the new 72-page Compacta;
three B1 sheetfed presses for four,five and six colours; and two digitalpresses), two for finishing andmailing (with eight gang stitchersand four film-wrapping machines)and Print Alliance – a joint venturewith the Agir Graphic group –which is also a print enterprise andruns 16- and 32-page presses.
The Sego group employs aworkforce of around 550 and postsannual sales of more than €80 mil-lion ($103.8m). Roughly half ofthis total is generated by periodi-cals, among them a number ofwell-known titles such as L’EquipeMagazine, Le Nouvel Observateur,Le Figaro Magazine, TV Magazine,L’Auto Journal (180,000 printedcopies), Closer, Choc, ValeursActuelles, Arts & Déco and Têtu.
Sego also runs a highly suc-cessful business printing cata-logues, particularly for mail ordercompanies (La Redoute, Quelle,Damart, Camif etc), and productsfor major retail chains.
Compacta 818 with configuration that is unique in France
New products deliver huge productivity gain for SegoThe Sego group, one of the top five printing operations in France, pressed the button some months ago on a new 72-page Compacta 818 with variable-
format V5 folder at its production plant in Taverny, near Paris. The press line, which has a maximum rated output of 45,000 copies per hour, boasts a feature
that is unique in France: it can print both short- and long-grain products. The Compacta can therefore handle a wide spectrum of products in an extensive
range of formats.
“Commissioning of our new Compacta 818 was completed on scheduleand the print quality is immaculate.”
Plant manager Pierre-Yves Barroso
The new 72-page Compacta 818 was installed at Sego’s production plan in Taverny, near ParisSego group president Pierre Richard (2nd left) and his son Hervé (r), who is chief executive, with plant manager Pierre-Yves Barroso (l) and Frédéric Duquenne of KBA-France
Plant manager Pierre-Yves Barroso likes the spacious design of the superstructure
The EasyTronic automatic presetting system with CIP3 colour management allows the press to be started up and run down with a minimum of waste
Sego installs first KBA pressThe choice of the Compacta 818represented a turnaround in policy,since all the presses at Sego’s webprinting plants – fourteen altogeth-er since the company was founded– had previously been supplied byanother German manufacturer. ButKBA’s offer was simply too good tomiss for a number of reasons, oneof them being the short deliverytime-frame of just seven monthsfrom the signing of the contract atthe end of May 2007 to the arrivalof the press at the beginning of Jan-uary 2008. “This was, in fact, oneof our main reasons for choosingKBA,” declares the Sego group’schief executive, Hervé Richard.
Two into one does goHe continues: “Space is at a premi-um at our Taverny plant, so the V5folder immediately caught our eye.To support the same degree ofproduct diversity with any othermake of press, two folders wouldhave been needed.”
Other benefits that tipped thescales in favour of the Compacta818 included the guarantee of spe-cial, on-the-spot support by KBA forseveral months, the creation of adedicated spare-parts store and athree-month maintenance agree-ment for the folder to ensure max-imum productivity. “As a result wefound commissioning relativelyeasy,” says plant manager Pierre-Yves Barroso. “When the timecame, we had no trouble at allswitching production of a wholeraft of jobs from the 48-page press-es they were previously printed onto the new 72-page KBA press line.And the print quality was immacu-late. Not only that, there werefewer web breaks than with ourother presses because web tensionis more uniform between the reel-stand, the dryer with its optionalEcocool package, and the super-structure. The Ecocool system,which also remoistens the web,prevents both wrinkling on lighterweight stock and web breaks dur-ing press start-up. Now we have notrouble printing stock weights ofjust 36 to 115 grams.”
The 220-tonne (242 US ton)press is configured as four printingunits with semi-automated plate
changing, a reelstand for a maxi-mum reel diameter of 1,524mm(60in), a 16.8m (55ft) long thermalair dryer with integrated Ecocoolchill roller stand, a magazine super-structure and, of course, the V5folder, which was developed from
gravure technology. The KBAEasyTronic automatic presettingsystem with CIP3 colour manage-ment via CTP allows the press tobe started up and run down with aminimum of waste. “Another thingwell worth mentioning is the spa-cious design of the superstruc-ture,” says Pierre-Yves Barroso.“With the Compacta in this config-uration, offset presses nowapproach the quality and output ofgravure presses. That is not justour opinion – we have evenreceived comments to this effectfrom publishers, which is a rarecompliment indeed.”
From periodicals to cataloguesWithin weeks of coming on streamthe new 72-page Compacta 818was working flat out. In fact busi-ness was so brisk that an extra shifthad to be added on Saturday morn-ings. Alongside the magazinesmentioned above, the range ofproducts printed on the press
includes La Parisienne, the month-ly supplement to a daily newspapertitle, Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui enFrance, with 450,000 copies and48 inline stitched tabloid pagesA3; free newspaper titles such asDirect Soir and Sport (multiple sec-tions); travel catalogues such asClub Méditerranée and Air France;mail-order catalogues, including an80-page equipment and accessorycatalogue with a circulation of180,000 190 x 270mm (7.4 x10.6in) glue-folded copies, for theFrench fire services; and promo-tional flyers for major retail chains.
Hervé Richard is delightedwith the new press line. “It hasmaterially expanded the productspectrum we can offer customersand prospects.” For example, Segocan now print in-house a numberof jobs which prior to the installa-tion of the Compacta 818 wereroutinely outsourced to Italy,where there are a good twenty 72-page presses, as opposed to justfive in France. This step has alreadybeen taken for some of the cata-logues printed, with severalmonthly magazines due to followsuit. Since the Taverny plant, withits 55,000m2 (592,000ft2) of pro-duction floor space, also has a bigfinishing and mailing subsidiarywhich allows it to offer a one-stopservice “we have been able toextend editorial close by a full dayor more,” says Richard.
The Sego group’s industrialstrategy is founded on sustaina-bility: “With this new-generationpress the drives consume a mini-mum of energy,” explains Richard.“What is more, narrower plate-clamping gaps and amazingly shortsetting times also help minimisepaper consumption, while blanketwashing units and alcohol-freeprint production reduce our car-bon footprint.”
But for Pierre-Yves Barroso,the most outstanding feature ofthe new 72-page press is its enor-mous production capacity. “It’s agreat machine and a highly effec-tive tool which has enabled us tobuck the current crisis.”
Report 34 | 200932
The punctual production start-up of four new 4/1 Commander presses by leading Italian media group Rizzoli
Corriere della Sera (RCS) completes the second stage of a transition to full colour initiated in 2003. The mammoth
project, which entailed conversion from broadsheet to tabloid, was the biggest the European newspaper industry
has seen in recent years.
RCS Mediagroup
Quartet of 4/1 Commandersfor La Gazzetta dello Sport
Three of the four nine-cylinderpresses came on stream in Pes-sano (near Milan), Rome and
Padua on 29 March 2008, littlemore than twelve months afterRCS placed the order with KBA.The fourth Commander was start-ed up in Pessano, RCS’s biggestproduction plant, in Decemberonce the existing Wifac press hadbeen dismantled.
This renewed demonstrationof confidence in KBA technologyfollows a €200m ($258m) upgradeat RCS’s production plants and theaddition of nine 4/2 Commandersplus two Comet presses.
Custom-configured tabloid pressesThe Commander tabloid pressesfor the Corriere della Sera wentlive in July 2005. They have a webwidth of 1,880mm (74in), a cylin-der circumference of 1,400mm(55in) and can output 96-pagecopies. By contrast the 4/1 Com-mander presses for La Gazzettadello Sport have a cylinder circum-ference of 620mm (24.5in) and amaximum web width of 1,800mm(70.75in). They are engineered forthe production of 75,000 full-colour 64pp copies per hour. LaGazzetta dello Sport has a 310 x450mm (12.2 x 17.7in) format.Corriere della Sera was initiallypublished in a 350 x 500mm(13.75 x 19.68in) format but fol-lowing a reduction in web width in2007 this was changed to 350 x470mm (13.75 x 18.5in).
The 4/1 Commander pressesare all tabloid only and feature
KBA’s patented ribbon splitting sys-tem. Straight-run production deliv-ers cost savings by halving plateconsumption. The absence of turn-er-bar decks shortens makereadytimes and reduces total pressheight.
Close collaborationRoberto Sardi, technical director ofRCS Quotidiani, the group’s news-paper division, is delighted withthe performance of the 4/1 Com-mander presses: “Over the pastfive years the two projects haveposed some major challenges thatcould only be mastered with astrong partner. Throughout thattime KBA demonstrated compe-tence and flexibility in addressingour specific needs, meeting all ourspecifications relating to quality,automation and productivity. Thisis what gave it the edge in winning
the second project. The outstand-ing relationship we have built upwith the competent KBA staff hasenabled us to achieve all our objec-tives.”
Enhanced productivity, reduced costsRoberto Sardi explains that the 4/1configuration was chosen becauseLa Gazzetta dello Sport has a small-er format, and double-wide, one-around presses are much moreflexible. The 4/2 press lines arenine-cylinder satellites, and thesame configuration was specifiedfor the 4/1 Commanders to min-imise fan-out on the relatively widewebs.
Says Roberto Sardi: “We testedsemi-automatic plate changing inRome and Padua, and will expandthis to Pessano by the end of theyear. Labour costs are high in Italy,
which is why we went for a highlevel of automation and output.”
Positive response from readers and advertisersLa Gazzetta dello Sport’s new for-mat and layout, enhanced qualityand colour content have been wel-comed by readers and advertisersalike. As a result its circulation hasbucked the current trend in Italy toremain stable at 400,000 copies,and the title has further consolidat-ed its pole position in the sportsmarket by increasing readership to3.7 million. With the new 4/1presses now in action at the Pes-sano, Rome and Padua productionplants, where 80% of La Gazzettadello Sport’s circulation is printed,RCS is well poised for furthergrowth.
Sheetfed Offset | Italy
La Gazzetta dello Sport is Italy’s leading sports title, with an average circulation of 400,000 copies
Roberto Sardi (r), technical director of the RCS group, with Davide Madureri of KBA agency GAM International at the new Commander
The four new 4/1 Commander presses in Pessano (near Milan), Rome and Padua expand RCS Mediagroup’s KBA press fleet to fifteen
Report 34 | 2009 33
The high-automation fourteen-tower press with fourteenreelstands, four hot-air dryers
and three folders will be the firstCortina installation outside Europeand the first four-by-one version. Itwill be capable of printing 112 full-colour broadsheet pages including32 heatset pages.
Waterless pioneers in the desertBy opting for our Cortina Al NisrPublishing is blazing a trail forwaterless from Europe to the Mid-dle East, demonstrating once againits groundbreaking credentials.Managing director Obaid HumaidAl Tayer says: “For many years wehave set the pace of innovation innewspaper production in the Arabi-an Peninsula. For example, GulfNews was the first newspaper inthe region to introduce a tabloidleisure supplement, a family and achildren’s weekly magazine, a sep-arate tabloid classifieds section,
comprehensive business and sportssections, heatset sections onglazed paper, automated pagemake-up and the use of recyclednewsprint. The innovative KBACortina underscores our acknowl-edged role as technological pio-neers in the Middle East. The con-figuration we have chosen, withfour dryers, will allow us to printan exceptionally broad spectrum ofcoldset, heatset and hybrid prod-ucts with no time-consumingchanges of ink. This awesome flex-ibility is only possible with the
Gulf News takes the plungeinto waterlessDubai-based media house Al Nisr Publishing LLC, whose reputation for pioneering new technologies and publica-
tion forms extends beyond the UAE and the Middle East, is making the transition to waterless in mid-2010. The
publisher of Gulf News, an English-language newspaper for expatriates, Al Nisr Publishing signed up for a Cortina
4/1 press line following a rigorous selection procedure.
The decision in favour of the Cortina followed intensive test productions in Belgium and Denmark with and without the use of dryers
The big Cortina 4/1 press line for Gulf News in Dubai, UAE, will have four hot-air dryers, enabling it to print coldset, heatset and hybrid copies
Pictured at Ifra Expo 2008 in Amsterdam (l-r): Gulf News procurement manager PhilipEapen, production manager Dean du Toit and technical manager Alan Finch
Dubai newspaper pioneer orders big Cortina hybrid press
waterless Cortina. On top of thisthe press’s advanced technologywill enable us to enhance the printquality both of our main title, GulfNews, and of all our many supple-ments and magazines, while simul-taneously trimming makereadytimes, waste and manning levels.”
KBA executive vice-presidentfor web press sales ChristophMüller says: “The decision infavour of our innovative Cortina isa vote of confidence in KBA’s com-petence and an invaluable boost tothe implementation of new ideas
for enhancing quality and efficien-cy through process standardisa-tion.”
Thriving UAE media groupFirst launched in 1978 as a tabloidnewspaper with a daily circulationof 3,000 copies, Gulf Newsswitched to the broadsheet formatin 1980. Having expanded outsidethe UAE, it is now distributed inBahrain, Oman, Saudi-Arabia,Qatar and Pakistan. At present ithas an average distribution of118,339 copies from Saturday toThursday and 122,303 copies onFriday. An online edition (www.gulfnews.com) was launched in1996. Magazine titles include Fri-day, Wheels, Sport Xtra, PropertyWeekly and Entertainment Plus(weekly) and 4Men, Aquarius andInsideOut (monthly). Al Nisr Pub-lishing, which also manages twoEnglish language radio stations, is akeen sponsor of the arts, music andsport.
Report 34 | 200934
Newspaper Production | Interview
Marc Z Kramer, CEO of the Daily News, New York
“Print will remain the backbone of our business”Over the past few years the US newspaper industry has experienced wrenching changes. With the mood increas-
ingly defensive, the New York Daily News’ bold investment a good twelve months ago in a multi-unit Commander
CT press line for its popular title daily caused a minor sensation. KBA Report spoke with CEO Marc Z Kramer on the
current situation in the US newspaper industry, the different strategies of individual companies and future plans
for the high-profile publishing house he heads.
The way of the future in newspaper and semi-commercial production: the compact,high-tech Commander CT with conventionalinking and dampening
Marc Z Kramer, CEO of the New York Daily News
KBA Report: Mr Kramer, with anaverage operating margin of 10% ormore the US newspaper industry isstill fairly profitable compared tomany other branches of industry.Yet the mood prevailing in this sec-tor is deeply pessimistic. How doyou and your colleagues at theDaily News interpret the situation?
Marc Z Kramer: While the financialcrisis has affected many companiesthroughout this country andthroughout the world, we at the
Daily News remain optimisticabout the future of newsprint andthe future of our business, whichcontinues to grow in new and inno-vative directions.
KBA Report: Do you believe thatpurely defensive initiatives aimedat cutting costs, for example byadopting narrower formats toreduce paper consumption, canstrengthen printed newspapers’position in a fiercely competitivemarket environment?
Marc Z Kramer: Cost cutting alone isnot the answer for the newspaperindustry. Newspaper publishersneed to continue to provide a valu-able service to readers and adver-tisers. That means investing in thequality award-winning journalismthe Daily News is known for, aswell as being innovative and work-ing with advertisers to developtheir businesses.
A newspaper must constantlyre-invent itself every 24 hours witheach edition to maintain reader
Marc Z Kramer (l) pictured with KBA deputy president Claus Bolza-Schünemann during a visit to KBA Würzburg
interest and provide advertiserswith top-notch audiences. To becompetitive in today’s fast pacedand evolving market the DailyNews also recognises the need toprogressively integrate a transfor-mation of the newspaper model,which is why we are investing innew KBA printing presses whichwill allow us to bring full colour toevery single page.
KBA Report: Some publishers, andthat includes European ones, pre-fer to invest their money in over-priced internet portals than inprint – often with only modest eco-nomic success. When allocatingyour budget, how do you maintainthe delicate balance betweenonline and print with the limitedresources at your disposal?
Marc Z Kramer: Print is the backboneof our business and will remain sofor many years to come, but wealso recognise that our growingaudience has new and diverseinterests and needs. Extending ourreach through online and mobileplatforms is a key element in ouroverall media package and it allowsus to enhance our print product byproviding useful and entertaininginformation to as many householdsas possible. Web production ischeaper and faster, therefore theallocation of resources in relationto return is more easily managed.But while our online traffic andrevenue continue to grow everyyear, as the focal point of our busi-ness print will continue to com-mand much of our energy for along time to come.
KBA Report: Your website, NYDaily-News.com, is a big success, yet youare investing millions of dollars inyour printed product. Whatprompted this decision?
Marc Z Kramer: NYDailyNews.com isone of the fastest growing newspa-per sites in the United States, hav-ing nearly doubled its online webtraffic over the past year, and it wasrecently ranked one of the top30 global news destinations byNielsen. However, at this time,web revenues have not come closeto approaching those of print. Asthe top-selling newspaper in the
largest media market in the US, wecontinue to dominate in our localmarket. Every website competesagainst thousands of competitorson the internet, but the Daily Newsis very much ingrained in people’slives and it generates a hugeamount of loyalty because it is atrusted source of news and infor-mation. While we continue to growand to innovate with other plat-forms, we do not have plans todivert from our printed product.
KBA Report: While press automationhas never been as popular amongUS newspaper printers as it is inEurope, the triple-wide KBA Com-mander CT press you ordered is asautomated as they come, and evenincludes automatic plate changing.What were your reasons for choos-ing this press, thus assuming a pio-neering role in the USA?
Marc Z Kramer: In making the invest-ment in new presses, we knewthat we had to do something differ-ent to gain an advantage in themarketplace. The key factor forselecting our new KBA presses wastheir vivid colour. We live in acolour world and need to provideour content and ads in 100% crispcolour.
In addition, the new presseswill provide advantages for editori-al, advertising and circulation withtheir flexibility, enhanced speedand functionality which will allow
us to make last minute updates toour product and provide our read-ers with a newspaper that is bothtop quality and timely.
Six-by-two newspaper presstechnology offers significant eco-nomic and productivity increasesover conventional four-by-twopresses. The flexibility of triplewide formers above the folderallows for a variety of special sec-tioning, wire stapling and otheroptions to meet the future needsof our advertisers and readers.
Because each printing unitprints 50% more pages, a thirdfewer printing units are requiredcompared to four-by-two presses,making the overall press lengthshorter. With fewer printing unitsweb leads are shorter, fewer rollsof newsprint need to be handledand fewer automatic reel changesneed to be made.
On a traditional press whereevery page can be printed in fullcolour the number of plates thatare required to plate up a press isconsiderable and very time con-suming for the press operators,who have to climb up and downstairs on conventional colour towerpresses. That won’t be the casewith our new presses.
One of our objectives was toreduce the time taken to plate upthe press and have fast editionchanges. The low height of theKBA Commander CT press means
there are no stairs for the pressoperator to climb in order to plateup.
The fully automated KBA Plate-Tronic system will plate the entirepress in about two-and-a-half min-utes.
KBA press control systems,combined with NipTronic controlof printing pressure and Roller-Tronic for the automated setting ofinking rollers, will assist in main-taining optimised press settings,print quality and productivity.
KBA Report: In view of the informa-tion overkill and the lack of inter-est in reading among young peoplein the USA, do you believe printednewspapers have a long-term fu-ture in metropolitan districts likeNew York?
Marc Z Kramer: As the top tabloid inthe largest media market in theworld, we do believe in the futureof newsprint. While it is impossibleto predict the future, the DailyNews plans to be around for a longtime to come as both a printed andan online product. New Yorkerswill always need access to newsand information and our reader-ship numbers and web audiencestell us that people rely on the DailyNews as their trusted news andinformation source. As we men-tioned earlier, our new KBA full-colour printing presses are going toraise the bar on newspaper print-ing in the United States. When ournew presses are fully operational,the Daily News will be the onlymajor market daily newspaper inthe country that can print in 100%full colour, positioning us milesahead of our competitors.
Report 34 | 200936
We primarily perceive printquality as being enhancedwhen the contrast is
increased. This can be achieved byusing a whiter grade of stock,increasing colour saturation and/orboosting image depth. While thepurpose of such enhancement is toheighten the impact not just of theindividual printed images but ofthe entire product, when printingnewspapers it is often not possibleto use a whiter grade of stock. Sopressure has been exerted onindustry experts to deliver anenhancement using the other con-sumables that are available on themarket. The trouble is that whendata are generated using conven-tional ISO profiles it only takes amodest increase in ink feed topush offset to its physical limits.
Only use colour where it is seenAbove a specific area coverage theCMY process colours deliver novisible quality enhancement if theyare under a film of black ink.Indeed, if the volume of inkapplied exceeds this level it gener-ally causes quality issues such asset-off, quite apart from being awaste of resources. The area cover-age specified for all the ISO pro-files is far too high. However, a fewyears ago a means was developedof optimising data specifically forthe printing process. It is based oncolour separation using more greycolour removal and a smaller totalapplication of ink. The relevant cal-culations are made on entire PDFpages, which significantly reducesthe risk of defects without impair-ing throughput.
The process entails optimisingevery single element on the page.Intervention is only possible ingrey scale data, which can be “fine-tuned” to the specific characteris-tics of the offset process. Settingscan be used which in pre-presswould normally be avoided for fearof subsequent adjustments in thecolours. Data are optimised eitherduring ripping or shortly before-hand on a colour server.
Given that, with newsprint,paper white remains unchanged,then the benefits of data optimisa-tion are most evident in the pressand during finishing. They shouldtherefore be of greatest interest tothe press minder and downstreammachine operators. Quality en-hancements undertaken solely inthe image or the consumables usedoften deliver the desired effectonly after numerous attempts andthus tend to be extremely time-consuming and costly.
More colour is not always an advantageThe normal means of enhancingquality at the printing press is toincrease the volume of ink appliedand to adjust registration to give asharper image. But increasing thevolume of ink can have negative aswell as positive consequences, asthe following indicates:
Benefits of a higher ink volume• bigger colour gamut• greater colour saturation• sharper colour contrast
Drawbacks of a higher ink volume• higher consumption of ink
Newspaper Production | Quality
Process-specific data optimisation
How to enhance print qualitywhile cutting costsThere is a widespread move towards equipping newspaper presses with heatset dryers for printing semi-commer-
cials alongside standard coldset newspapers, or even combining both processes in a hybrid product. As market
demand becomes ever more sophisticated, many printers find themselves having to enhance quality on an ongo-
ing basis while at the same time trimming costs. Proof that such activities need not be mutually incompatible is
laid out below by pre-press specialist and quality expert Oswald Grütter of Swiss management consultancy Qual-
ity and More.
The left-hand half of these images was separated in accordance with ISO-newspa-per26v4.icc standard profile using a total inkapplication of 240%, the right-hand half wasseparated using a higher GCR and with totalink application limited to 180%
• higher costs• overtaxed inking units• higher consumption of fount
solution• instability/shift in grey balance• tendency to faulty overlap print-
ing
Drawbacks in heatset and coldset• higher ink costs• increased show-through on light-
weight stock• blocking on winding and stack-
ing systems
Additional drawbacks in coldset• deeper penetration of ink in the
paper• increased set-off on guide and
draw rollers• more frequent marking on the
folding jaws• increased set-off on opposite
page• set-off in the mailroom.
ConclusionWhen focussing solely on applyinga higher volume of ink, the risk ofcausing defects far outweighs thepotential benefits. It is thereforebest to optimise data further upthe production chain, in pre-press.
In addition to quality enhance-ments, deploying a data optimisa-tion program can deliver diversecost savings which soon recoup theinitial capital investment. While itis hard to estimate the savingsgained by reducing the number ofproblems that arise during printingand finishing, experience showsthat they can be even greater thansavings from reducing ink con-sumption.
Quality benefits of optimised data• reduction or even elimination of
the above-mentioned drawbacks• lower consumption of ink
(CMY)• lower consumption of fount
solution• more stable grey balance and
tertiary colours• fewer visible colour fluctuations• more stable, manageable process
Cost benefits of optimised data• fewer issues with fast-running
presses• less ink mist and hence less
cleaning• less set-off in the press• faster ink penetration and drying• fewer problems during finishing• higher densities possible• ink savings in CMY, only modest
increase in consumption of blackink
• total ink savings of 10% - 20%.
Report 34 | 2009 37
Newspaper Production | India
Diligent Media is a joint ven-ture between two mediaheavyweights, the Dainik
Bhaskar Group and the Zee Group.One of India’s premier print mediaplayers, the Dainik Bhaskar Grouppublishes not only India’s topHindi newspaper, Dainik Bhaskar,but also the no. 1 title in Gujarat,Divya Bhaskar. DB Corporation isthe group’s printing arm. In all, theDainik Bhaskar Group has over 40editions, with a total print order ofmore than 4 million copies eachday. The group’s papers have atotal readership of 20 million-plus.The DB group also owns and oper-ates 17 radio channels in principalIndian cities, and has major foraysin internet portals, cable TV, realestate, outdoor media etc. ZeeGroup’s Zee TV reaches more than250 million viewers in 120 coun-
tries through its 30 channelsbroadcasting in eight languages.
DNA: fast-growing English-language titleDiligent Media Corporation’s titlesinclude an English-language daily,Daily News & Analysis (DNA), and aSunday edition, DNA Me. “DNA isthe fastest growing English news-paper in the country,” says CEO KU Rao. “The intention is to becomea large national player with domi-nant readership and circulationover the next few years.”
A new, 140-page national edi-tion of DNA Me was launched inOctober 2007, and the group isplanning to lift circulations overthe 600,000 mark. “To achieve thislevel of growth we need high-pow-ered printing technology,” saysRao. “We awarded the contract to
First of seven Prisma presses rollsinto actionIn December 2007 Diligent Media Corporation and DB Corporation – two compa-
nies owned by India’s Dainik Bhaskar Group (DB Group) in Mumbai (formerly
Bombay) – placed an order with KBA for a total of seven four-by-one Prisma
presses configured as four press lines with a total of 25 towers and seven folders.
The first of the presses, which are destined for several production sites, was offi-
cially inaugurated in Bangalore just one year later, on 14 December 2008.
The first of seven Prisma presses thatwill print an English-language title,Daily News & Analysis (DNA), plus a raft of other titles, came on stream in Bangalore in December last year
KBA after carrying out detailedtechnical appraisals of all the possi-ble press lines and seeing the 4/1Prisma in action at the BangkokPost, where it compellingly demon-strated its user-friendliness andhigh print quality. Also, KBA’s repu-tation for innovation is well-knownin India.”
Following the successful pro-duction start of the first press lineat the high-tech centre in Banga-lore the other presses will be pro-gressively brought on stream incoming months.
Higher output, first-class kitThe four Prisma presses will have ajoint capacity of 480,000 full-colour copies per hour. Cut-off is546mm (21.5in), web width canbe varied up to a maximum of1,397mm (55in) to enhance for-
mat flexibility. The press is fed viaPastostar RC reelstands and aPatras M reel-logistics system.Press kit includes automatic inkpumping, colour/cut-off registerand fan-out controls. The super-structures on the KF 5 folders willhave three formers apiece, whilesome of the presses will also fea-ture prefolding units for four-pagecentre spread adverts or posters.Control technology includes a RIPinterface and EAE’s Print job-scheduling and press presettingsoftware. In-depth training is beingprovided for the press crews.
Successful start-up at DNA in Bangalore marks first step in major project initiated by DB Group
The press line comprises twofour-high towers, each with acylinder circumference of
1,020mm (40in) and a maximumweb width of 2,100mm (82.75in)for printing 24 broadsheet or 48tabloid pages. In terms of quality,waterless offset delivers additionalbenefits in a wide-web pressbecause it eliminates fan-out.
Alongside the Nordsee-Zeitungand its associated titles, the Zeven-er Zeitung and the KreiszeitungWesermarsch, the Cortina pressline also prints Nordsee’s free-sheets and a number of contracttitles, among them the CuxhavenerNachrichten. Around 100,000copies are printed every nightbetween 10.30pm and 3.30am.The Nordsee-Zeitung, which wasfirst published in 1947 and todayhas a circulation of some 70,000copies, is the leading daily in thisregion of Lower Saxony centred onBremerhaven.
€26 million for cutting-edge newspaper productionThe Cortina 6/2 is fed with paperby two Pastomat RC reelstandsembedded in a fully automatedPatras A reel-logistics system. Twodouble turner bars, a triple-formerfolder superstructure, cut-off regis-ter controls and a KF 5 jaw folderwith section stitcher afford a highlevel of production flexibility, allpush-button controlled from Ergo-Tronic consoles. The plates for thewaterless Cortina are imaged in anew X-Jet CTP imagesetter fromKrause – the first time such an
Waterless newspaper production on the Waterkant
First triple-wide Cortina goes live in BremerhavenIn early October last year the first Cortina 6/2 went live at Nordsee’s Bremerhaven production plant printing
the Nordsee-Zeitung along with other products published by the Ditzen publishing group, plus contract work. The
official inauguration ceremony for the new printing centre and its innovative compact press took place on 8 Octo-
ber attended by some 200 guests of honour from the world of business and politics.
Matthias Ditzen-Blanke (34), managingdirector of Druckzentrum Nordsee, is delightedwith his new compact KBA press
The striking new printing and logistics centre on the approach road to the Bremerhaven-Geestemünde motorway
Publisher Roswitha Ditzen-Blanke showing guests the special edition of Nordsee-Zeitungthat was printed to commemorate the official production start-up of the new Cortina
The Cortina 6/2 press line is the pride of the new printing plant
imagesetter has been used for aCortina. The €26 million ($34.3m)investment package for the newprinting and logistics centre, withits striking architecture, encom-passes new pre-press and Feragmailroom technology along withthe new press. A good 40 of theDitzen publishing group’s 1,200employees work at the printingplant.
Enhancing quality and sustainability“This high-performance Cortina6/2 tower press is laying the foun-dations for future growth,” de-clares Druckzentrum Nordsee’smanaging director MatthiasDitzen-Blanke. “Setting aside thequality gains from exploiting water-less offset technology, which evenallows us to print semi-commer-cials in screens of up to 175lpi, theenvironmental perspective is main-tained throughout production. Allthe cleaning materials we use areenvironmentally friendly, we large-ly dispense with oil lubrication andhave also eliminated solvents inplatemaking. And as an addedbonus, waste levels are normallymuch lower than in wet offset.”
Report 34 | 2009 39
Since Azerbaijan PublishingHouse is directly subordinateto the presidential office, Pres-
ident Ilham Aliyev gladly seized theopportunity to attend the inaugura-tion as guest of honour and person-ally press the start-up button at theconsole of the new press.
The entire project was com-pleted in record time, and the firstcopies hit the Comet’s deliveryjust seven-and-a-half months afterconstruction work commenced ona new printing plant at the end ofFebruary 2008. Despite an excep-tionally tight schedule AzerbaijanPublishing House implemented allKBA’s recommendations regardingthe new production hall. For exam-
ple, the foundation for the Comet’sconcrete substructure incorporatesa new vibration-damping systemfrom AirLoc-Schrepfer, while thewater preparation system for thefount solution was supplied byTechnotrans.
President Ilham Aliyev fires upfirst Comet in AzerbaijanBaku, the capital of Azerbaijan and a major scientific, cultural and industrial centre on the shores of the Caspian
Sea, was first documented almost 5,500 years ago. In October last year the inauguration of a Comet at Azerbaijan
Publishing House opened a new chapter in the history of the national newspaper industry.
President Ilham Aliyev at the console for the new Comet attended by (l-r) KBA printinstructor Harald Weber and installation man-ager Thomas Dimpfel, Azerbaijan PublishingHouse deputy managing director Allahverdi P Mamedov and director Ismayilova Basti, and Halal managing director Javid Babayev
Configured as four towers with two folders, the new Comet in Baku supports a wide rangeof production options
The installation of the newpress within such a short time-frame would not have been possi-ble without the combined effortsof Azerbaijan Publishing Housestaff, KBA’s Azerbaijani agencyHalal and the KBA project team
headed by Peter Müller. Executivestaff from Russian print enterpriseProfMediaPrint provided invalu-able support in a consultativecapacity.
The Comet press line in Baku,which comprises four four-hightowers, four reelstands and twofolders, has a maximum rated pro-duction output of 75,000 full-colour copies per hour, either as64-page tabloids or 32-page broad-sheets. With the additional capaci-ty Azerbaijan Publishing House isplanning to expand from threenewspaper titles to four.
The single-width Comet’s cut-ting-edge technology redefines thequality benchmark in Azerbaijan’snewspaper market. It is a showcasenot only for Azerbaijan PublishingHouse but for the entire Azerbai-jani printing industry.
Newspaper Production | Azerbaijan
Press installation completed in record time
Report 34 | 200940
Newspaper Production | Hybrid printing
The investment in a double-width Colora complete withdryer and heatset capability
paved the way for the productionof semi-commercials and similarproducts by this prominent Athens-based newspaper printer. Whilethis is not the first Colora to beconfigured with a heatset capabili-ty, what is new is that Kathimeriniis using the press not for eithercoldset or heatset production, butfor both processes simultaneouslyto deliver hybrid copies.
Engineered for a maximumrated output of 75,000 copies perhour in straight production, a cylin-der circumference of 1,000mm(39.5in) and a cut-off of 500mm(19.75in), the floor-mounted four-high tower press is configured withlaterally adjustable formers andremotely adjustable draw rollersfor greater flexibility. As a result itcan handle web widths rangingfrom 1,080mm (42.5in) to1,460mm (57.5in). In broadsheetformat the press can print 64-pagecopies with 48 full-colour and 16two-colour pages. Alternatively, 16pages can be run through thedryer, delivered separately or, inhybrid production, inserted in acoldset copy. In tabloid production
Extensive field tests at Kathimerini in Athens
Valuable insights into hybrid printingExhaustive field tests on a new Colora coldset/heatset press line at
Greek customer Kathimerini have given KBA engineers and print tech-
nicians valuable insights into semi-commercial and hybrid print pro-
duction of a depth and breadth previously unknown. They will be
applied to exploit optimisation potential in both press technology and
the offset printing process, and to seek solutions to the issues associat-
ed with the emerging trend towards hybrid production among newspa-
per printers. KBA does not leave users to fend for themselves when they
are pioneering new processes, and benefits from the collaboration just
as much as the customer does.
the maximum number of pages is128, with a page width of 250mm(10in) and a page height variablebetween 270 and 365mm (10.5and 14.5in).
This is not the first time thatKathimerini has pioneered innova-tions such as heatset productionon KBA newspaper presses, orglue-folded daily titles. In additionto its own titles and products,which include its eponymous dailywith a circulation of around230,000 copies, Kathimerini usesthe new Colora press line to printa large volume of contract work.
The close, longstanding associ-ation between the Greek printinghouse and KBA afforded a soundbasis for systematically examiningthe potential and limitations ofprinting hybrid coldset/heatsetproducts in the same press.
When applied to a newspaperpress, hybrid production is thecombination of one or more cold-set webs with a dried heatset webvia a common former. Highergrades of paper, for example light-weight coated, are commonly usedfor the cover and/or a certain num-ber of inside sections, and standardnewsprint for the rest. The out-come is a product which, from the
Hands-on involvement: KBA’s head of print technology, Werner Scherpf, personally checking the results of some tests
Keen and dedicated: Kathimerini’s press crew
reader’s perspective, will boastsome unusual optical and tactileproperties. So what challengesdoes such hybrid production posefor the press operator?
Hybrid production demands a high level of competenceWhen processing different con-sumables to create a single prod-
uct, the greatest challenge is tomaintain control and tolerances.Conventional newsprint, for exam-ple, tends to spread, or fan out,during coldset impression becauseit absorbs water from the fountsolution. If the same type ofnewsprint is used throughout theproduct, then the impact will bethe same on all the webs, and each
Report 34 | 2009 41
Original web width Fan-out duringimpression
Shrinkage in dryer Width gain between dryer and folder
The different types of paper and their tendency to shrink or spread
Schematic of web travel through the press. The top schematic shows web fan-out and shrinkage in the individual press sections
Paper type Degree of Degree of
pre-dryer fan-out in-dryer shrinkage
Newsprint very high very high
SC high high
LWC moderate moderate
newspaper section will spread by auniform amount.
But in hybrid productionentailing, say, standard newsprintprinted coldset and improvednewsprint or LWC stock runthrough a dryer, the webs may fanout to the same extent duringimpression, but the heatset webswill shrink again to a certaindegree when moisture is extractedin the dryer (see schematic).
As a result, the webs enteringthe folder – and delivered as a sin-gle product – will be of differentwidths. It is then not unusual forthe coldset inner section to pro-trude beyond the heatset coverbecause the web it was printed onhad spread.
The extent to which fan-outand shrinkage take place is basical-ly determined by the physical prop-erties of the paper used (see table).
While shrinkage also occurs inpure commercial production, theparameters are always the samebecause the type of paper and inkused for each of the webs is identi-cal. The minimal change in copydimensions due to web shrinkage
can be addressed by trimming thecopies on three sides in the finish-ing department.
Customer and KBA profit equally from successful series of testsThe objective of the KBA test teamand Kathimerini’s highly motivatedpress crew was to counteract thephysical phenomenon of shrinkageusing a number of different meth-ods, and to document the results infull.
The first and most obviousmethod was via the primary vari-able, drying temperature. Howev-er, they very soon found that theimpact of the drying temperatureon shrinkage was much more mod-est than expected. What did have amajor influence was the tempera-
ture of the web and the equilibri-um moisture content of the paper.
The team started by examiningthe impact of remoistening subse-quent to drying. Here their aimwas to compensate for shrinkageby remoistening the web while atthe same time ensuring that theapplication of water did not impairproduct quality. The tests carriedout provided a wealth of data onthe volume of water that must beapplied, the length of time that theweb must be remoistened, and theimpact attributable to the surfacetension of the various types ofpaper used, and their absorbency.One interesting fact that emergedupon observation was that shrink-age detectable on the delivery beltand attributable to the type ofpaper used was gradually remedied
by the absorption of ambient mois-ture if the copies were stored forany length of time.
Another of the team’s experi-ments involved stretching thepaper mechanically over a specialspreading roller once it had dried.Here, too, the results were mostencouraging, and it was found thatthe spreading roller could also beused to increase web tension toler-ances, particularly in the sectionbetween the chill roller stand andthe former infeed. As an addedbonus it also enabled troublesomecreases and wrinkles to besmoothed out of the web, and sili-cone to be applied much moreevenly. The optical and tactileimpact on the product soonbecame evident in the cross-stack-er and was ultimately noticed byreaders as well.
Kathimerini has been inundat-ed with enquiries from customerswho are delighted by its stunninghybrid products – and even fromcompetitors keen to learn howsuch products can be printed…
Report 34 | 200942
It follows that, when a press is inoperation, the geometric cir-cumference of the blanket cylin-
der will not correspond to therolling length. This can cause vari-ous problems, eg• discrepancies in the cut-off
length compared to the pagelength
• fluctuations in web tension andtravel
• circumferential forces in the nip(due to unrolling errors preven-ting the cylinder from runningangle-synchronously and true)and consequently· uneven loading on the AC
drives customarily fitted atimpression cylinders, with theresultant risk of overloading
· increased plate abrasion (irre-spective of drive system).So not every blanket is suitable
for every cylinder constellation(blanket-to-blanket, blanket-to-steel). Unfortunately no meaning-ful data are available from whichprinters can deduce the rollingcharacteristics of blankets.
High-precision measurement on KBA’s automated test rigEver since dedicated drives werefirst developed for printing press-es, KBA has been heavily engagedin defining the physical phenome-non of cylinder rolling at the nip,and has devised an appropriatemeasuring methodology. Anotherproduct of these developmentactivities is a fully automated testrig with which it is possible to doc-ument all the pertinent mechanicalproperties of printing blankets.The test rig simulates a blanket-to-steel printing couple and wasrecently expanded to accommo-date inking rollers (IR)(see photoabove). The steel impression cylin-
Newspaper Production | Process technology
How defining blanket characteristics can optimise rolling
Blankets are not all alike – and key parameters are lackingEveryone knows from personal experience that pastry lengthens when rolled out. Similarly, radial indentation of a printing blanket in the
contact zone between the cylinders causes the blanket surface to stretch. The extent of this elongation is largely defined by the composition
of the different layers in compressible blankets.
der (IC) is seated below the blan-ket cylinder (BC) in bearings thatare rigidly mounted in the sideframe. The test rig is designed toallow the steel cylinder to be incontact with either the blanketcylinder or the inking rollers. Thisnon-typical cylinder constellation,with two adjacent sections of dif-ferent diameters, allows a range ofcut-offs to be examined, from620mm (24.5in) to 940mm (37in)and even 1,260mm (49.5in). Foreven greater flexibility the cylin-ders have exchangeable clampingmechanisms for testing differentthicknesses of both textile and
Test rig in KBA’s R&D department
Right: CAD model showing sensor positions and variables measured
metal blankets. All the cylindershave dedicated drives. When thetest rig is in operation the positionsof the adjustable cylinders (gapwidth can be set automatically),their speed and torque and thebearing forces at the steel cylindercan be measured and logged.Whole series of measurements canbe taken with little added input.Routine pressroom safety mecha-nisms such as protective hoods andoverload switches were also added.Once a sample blanket has beenfitted and measurement initiatedat the console, the automatedmeasuring sequence ensures re-producible results irrespective ofthe operator.
While the measurements arebeing taken, minor adjustments aremade to the advance (the speed ofthe IC relative to the BC) until apoint is determined at which therolling error caused by surfaceelongation of the blanket is nulli-fied by IC advance. At this point notangential forces are generated inthe nip and the cylinders run true.
The figure below shows themeasurements for two differenttypes of textile blankets, A and B,both with a thickness of 1.95mm(0.077in) for newsprint. In the dia-gram the tangential forces in thenip are given per metre (39.5in) ofblanket width and with a differentIC advance. The three sets of meas-urements (a straight line through
Comparison of the tangential force in the rubber-to-steel nip for blankets A and B with changes in advance and indentation (∂ [mm])
five measuring points) for eachblanket were taken at indentationsof 0.11mm (0.0043in), 0.16mm(0.006in) and 0.2mm (0.0078in).
Enormous differences in blankets of equal thicknessThere was a perceptible differencein the rolling properties of the twoblankets: while a steel cylinderadvance of -0.8‰ was sufficient toachieve true rolling (TR) with blan-ket A, the true rolling point withblanket B was +2.3‰. The impactof these seemingly negligible (‰)differences is illustrated in the fol-lowing calculation: if press parame-ters (undercut) are adjusted for therolling properties of blanket A, fit-ting blanket B (“B for A”) in thepress will generate tangentialforces of around 420N per metre(992pdl/ft) of blanket width. Witha plate and blanket cylinder cir-cumference of 940mm (37in) anda web width of 1,920mm (75.5in),at a production speed of 40,000cylinder rph a rolling error of thismagnitude would result in 8.4kWof power being transferred via thenip. Conversely, adjusting pressparameters for blanket B but fittingblanket A (“A for B”) would giverise to tangential forces and powertransfer that are even more dra-matic – around 710N (1,565pdl/ft)or 14.2kW – because the charac-teristic curve for blanket A is thatmuch steeper. In all probability this
would lead to an overload on thedrives, or technical problems. Thecomparison in the graph below wasbased on a three-month series ofmeasurements on newspaper blan-kets, and highlights the enormousdifferences that can be found inblankets that are classified in themarket purely by their thickness.
KBA’s standard measuring pro-gram applies the procedure de-scribed above to determine a setof blanket-specific characteristiccurves for cylinder rolling with arange of indentations and cylinderspeeds. Because measurements aregenerated automatically, they canalso be used to evaluate other char-acteristics such as dynamic linearforces etc.
All the new blankets that comeonto the market are tested andmeasured on an ongoing basis sothat the findings can be incorporat-ed in new press designs and recom-mendations made to customers.
Need for classification of blanketsDefining a standardised set of char-acteristic parameters for blanketsas they rotate with the cylinderwould enhance the stability of theentire web offset printing process.While it is accepted that blanketmanufacture would no longer becost-effective if the permitted tol-erances were too tight, and thatthe tolerance range for press spec-
ifications, even if it is centred onthe ideal operating point, shouldbe sufficiently generous to allowprinters a choice of different typesor makes of blanket, classifyingblankets in accordance with a uni-versally comparable methodologythat goes beyond positive, neutraland negative would enable printersto assess blankets with muchgreater precision. Problems arisingfrom a blanket change in the time-sensitive night shift would then bea thing of the past.
A wasted opportunityWith a standardised classification itwould be possible to make a pre-liminary selection from the blan-kets available on the market and toconcentrate on testing the proper-ties of just these few. At printers’initiative Germany’s bvdm (Print-ing and Media Industries Federa-tion) set up a working committeeto study the transfer characteristicsof printing blankets. It was unani-mously agreed that prior to estab-lishing a standardised process atest rig should be installed at anindependent institution as a con-tact point for all the parties con-cerned. KBA offered to place itsknow-how and engineering skills atthe committee’s disposal. Regret-tably, none of the other press orblanket manufacturers could bringthemselves to support the intro-duction of a standardised classifica-tion system, despite the fact that asimilar methodology is alreadyused for internal purposes. Theopportunity to limit at least one ofthe unknown factors impeding thenecessary standardisation of theweb offset process will thus remainunexploited for another few years.
TR point blanket BTR point blanket A
Blanket B for A
Blanket A for B
Tang
entia
l for
ce F
tan
[N/m
]
Tangential force in rubber-to-steel nipBlankets A+B, different indentations, frot = 10 Hz
Steel cylinder advance A [o/oo]
linear(0.16 A)
linear(0.16 B)
0.11 A
0.16 A
0.20 A
0.11 B
0.16 B
0.21 B
-2.0
1000
-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
1 m
Ft
f
f*(1+A)
∂
800
600
400
200
0
-200
-400
-600
-800
Report 34 | 200944
The Trinidad Guardian, a newspaper with a reputation for journalistic excel-
lence, was first published in Trinidad and Tobago in 1917. At the end of 2007
production was transferred to a new KBA Comet, bringing a big enhancement
Trinidad Publishing Companyplaced the order for theComet in 2006, the year the
ANSA McAl group, which holds a56.7% stake in the company, cele-brated its 125th anniversary. Sinceits foundation in 1881 ANSA McAlhas evolved from an agriculturalbusiness into a group of more thanfifty companies with over 5,500employees. Its diverse industrialactivities extend beyond theCaribbean to the USA and SouthAmerica.
New printing plant in the heart of the islandThe Comet was installed not inPort of Spain, the capital ofTrinidad, but in a new 4,000m2-plus (43,000ft2) printing plant onthe highway to Chaguana, a fast-growing city in the heart of theisland. The $10m investment pack-age also included a mailroom andbindery. In addition to the TrinidadGuardian Trinidad Publishing Com-pany owns five radio stations andCNC3 cable TV through TrinidadBroadcasting Company.
The new floor-mounted Comethas a maximum output of 75,00096pp tabloid copies per hour (48full-colour pages). It is configuredwith six Megtec AR 70A reel-stands, two four-high towers, twoH-type printing units and a KF 3jaw folder complete with length/cross perforation and a quarterfoldcapability. The web width can bevaried from 635 to 1,000mm (25 -39.5in), enabling it to print a widerange of supplements, magazinesand other products in different for-mats.
Most of the newspaper pressesin the Caribbean are elderly instal-lations that fall far short of today’sstandards. The Trinidad Guardian’sinstallation of the globally success-ful Comet tower press has rede-fined the regional benchmarks. Inaddition to its title daily, which ispublished six days a week and hasa circulation of 50,000 to 60,000copies, the company also prints theSunday Guardian and numeroussupplements (business, sport, mo-toring, house and home, appoint-ments). External titles includeCaribbean Compass, ETNT, Grena-da Today, Grenada Informer andInternational Weekly.
KBA reference sites in the USA clinch the decisionTrinidad Guardian General Manag-er Douglas Wilson says: “We madean exhaustive analysis of the mar-ket through our US subsidiary,ANSA McAl (US) Inc., and toured anumber of press manufacturers’reference installations in the USA.But we chose KBA because theyoffered us the customised technol-ogy we needed for future growth.”
The installation and commis-sioning schedule for the newComet had to be closely co-ordi-
nated with the erection of the newplant and finishing department andleft no room for delays. But thestart-up went smoothly, and whilethe transition from the aging Gosspresses represented something of achallenge, after being trained bothon site and at the Santa Fe NewMexican, the press crew had notrouble mastering the new technol-ogy. The benefits were well worththe effort. The press runs in threeshifts, 18 to 20 hours per day. SaysDouglas Wilson: “The shaftlessKBA Comet is a high-speed ma-chine and a major milestone in ourcompany’s development.”
Newspaper Production | Caribbean
The Trinidad Guardian and other products printed on the new Comet
Douglas Wilson, general manager of theTrinidad Guardian, has big plans for his newKBA Comet
The Comet for the Trinidad Guardian went live at the end of 2007 at a new printing plant near Chaguanas
Report 34 | 2009 45
Since word has spread of justhow many materials Druck-werker can print with the
Genius 52UV, Hannes Fischer andhis production team have beeninundated with work from conven-tional printers and serviceproviders to the advertising indus-try. The customer base of thisambitious small-cap enterprise,which serves both printers andretailers, extends well beyondVienna and its suburbs. Whileshort-run colour catalogues, books,brochures, business cards and per-sonalised direct mail (completewith folding, scoring, laminating,cutting and stitching) have longbeen a part of Druckwerker’s regu-lar portfolio, the Genius 52UV hasenabled a whole raft of new prod-ucts to be added. These range fromlabels and loyalty cards on varioustypes of synthetic substrates to fly-ers and pamphlets not just onpaper but also on substrates thatare too sensitive for the company’sdigital and copying equipment tohandle. The press has a fifth print-ing unit for applying special coloursincluding white, gold and silver.
Largely thanks to the Genius52UV’s keyless inking units, make-ready is exceptionally short,enabling Druckwerker to completejobs much faster than was previ-ously possible. Because the pressdispenses with fount solution andalcohol along with the ink keys, itruns up to saleable colour in a min-imum of time and generates a min-imum of waste. The benefits whenprinting costly, high-quality sub-strates can be substantial. “Colouris stable after just a few sheets,”enthuses Hannes Fischer, eventhough he is no stranger to sucheconomy in digital print.
The integrated UV dryerensures that the inks cure instant-ly, and UV technology even allowsmaterials such as PVC, ABS, PC,PS, magnetic, lenticular and 3-Dfilm and metallised paper etc to beprinted. “This means we can offerour customers a choice of sub-strates that are more extravagant,more sophisticated and opticallymore appealing than ever before.We are constantly exploring newoptions,” reveals Fischer. Creativityneed know no bounds. Substratesthat were previously restricted to
silk screen can now be printedwith ease on the Genius 52UV.
The Genius 52UV’s most strik-ing quality is its ability to deliver aghosting- and streak-free image.The five printing units are config-
Druckwerker captures newmarkets with Genius 52UVWhat started out ten years ago in Vienna city centre as a copyshop with an in-house digital print department has
entered a new stage in its evolution with the installation of a Genius 52UV from KBA-Metronic. “We are now in
a position to target offset printers and provide contract capabilities on unusual substrates such as plastic and spe-
cial iridescent paper,” says a delighted managing director Hannes Fischer.
Press operators Markus Fritz (l) and Peter Nowack at their new Genius 52UV
“With the Genius 52UV we can offer
our customers a choice of substrates
that are more extravagant, more
sophisticated and optically more
appealing than ever before. We are
constantly exploring new options.”
Hannes Fischer, managing director of Druckwerker in Vienna
ured around a large commonimpression cylinder, so substratesare printed in one gripper bite. Notonly that, they can be up to 0.8mm(0.03in) thick. “It’s ingenious,”exclaims Fischer. “As a rule no off-
set printer will accept such thickmaterials, and digital cannot han-dle them either.” The absence ofwater means that the Genius deliv-ers high-contrast images in suchbrilliant colours that they look likephotos. A lot of the jobs printed onthe Genius 52UV routinely entailan ultra-fine screen of 120lpc(300lpi), or a frequency-modulatedscreen. The customers served byHannes Fischer and his team atDruckwerker are delighted to havefound such a competent printprovider in this niche offset mar-ket.
Constantly exploring new options
UV Offset | Austria
Report 34 | 200946
UV Offset | Germany
Top international entertainment provider picks press technology from KBA-Metronic
Premius press lines for CinramCinram in Alsdorf, near Aachen, lays claim to being one of the world’s biggest providers of home entertainment.
Now the company has boosted its production capacity with the installation of several highly specialised KBA-
Metronic Premius presses for printing optical data storage media. What decided the choice of press was the Pre-
mius’ high level of cost efficiency in handling the shorter run lengths that are increasingly common.
Each one of the Premius presses in Cinram‘s production hall can printup to 7,200 discs per hour
The delivery station supports nonstop operation
A flatbed screen printing unit is used to apply white primer to the discs
Plate change on the four Premius offset inking units
Along with mastering and repli-cating CDS and DVDs usinghigh-definition formats Blu-
ray and HD DVD, Cinram’s productrange also embraces screen andoffset printing. “World Class Serv-ice for World Class Customers” isthe banner on the corporate web-site.
The German operation isowned by Toronto-based CinramInternational, one of the world’sleading manufacturers and logisticsspecialists for optical storagemedia. The Canadian parent hasother facilities in the USA, the UK,France and Mexico. In Alsdorfalone between 1.6 and 1.7 milliondiscs are replicated, printed,packed and shipped to customersevery day. During peak productionperiods the factory may completeas many as 700 jobs per day. Annu-al output for the group is around1.8 billion discs in all types of for-mat. Regular trading partners areWarner Music Group, a number offamous record labels and leading
Hollywood studios, plus prominentgames and software manufactur-ers. Cinram’s Alsdorf subsidiaryemploys around 1,200 staff.
Management at the Germanplant first noticed the Premius in2004. What struck them most wasthe consistently high quality deliv-ered by the press’s four keyless off-set and two flatbed screen printingunits. On top of this, the Premiuscan be made ready in a remarkablyshort space of time, which is ahuge advantage for a specialistmanufacturer of CDs and DVDswhose work entails an increasingvolume of shorter print runs. The
Premius’ waterless, keyless inkingsystem means that it runs up tosaleable colour in a minimum oftime, so start-up waste is equallylow. The two flatbed screen print-ing units are used to apply whiteprimer to the discs, and also tocoat them.
Ralph Lakämper, Cinram’sapplications engineer for CD andDVD production, is delighted withthe presses’ quality and productivi-ty: “The Premius has an output ofup to 7,200 discs per hour. This,together with high-speed jobchanges, makes it cost-effective forboth short and long print runs. The
great thing about it is that printquality is consistently high fromthe first disc to the last.”
The Premius prints wet on dry,ie each colour is cured in a UVdryer immediately after applica-tion. Since the printed image ismonitored throughout by a high-resolution camera, off-spec discsare detected and ejected withoutdelay. And there are storage maga-zines at the infeed and delivery toallow nonstop operation. Thepress’s logical, straightforwardtechnology means that it can beoperated by just one person. Andsince Cinram handles a high vol-ume of repeat work, the 100%print-to-print and run-to-run repro-ductive accuracy of the Premius’waterless offset technology was acrucial selection criterion.
A whole fleet of Premius press-es is now in operation at Cinram.KBA-Metronic also provided therelevant pre-press systems andknow-how. With demand steadilygrowing, Cinram is keen to boostits output of discs still further, andKBA-Metronic looks forward tocontinuing this mutually fruitfulcollaboration.
Report 34 | 2009 47
ShortsWebsite: www.plasticcardservices.co.uk
Macclesfield-based Plastic CardServices Limited (PCS) has
underlined its commitment toenvironmentally-friendly premiumquality print with the installationof a Genius 52UV.
The market for plastic cardsknows no boundaries and PlasticCard Services Limited does exactlywhat it says on the letterhead –though with products ranging fromsmart cards, photo ID cards andgift cards to key fobs and cashlesscatering cards, in quantities fromone-off to ten million, the serviceis anything but ‘limited’! It is esti-mated that more than 750 millioncards are printed each year in theUK alone. With a production pedi-gree of more than sixteen years itis hardly surprising that PCSappeals to the quality end of themarket.
This is where the Genius’s per-formance pays dividends, as PCSjoint managing director RobNicholls explains: “Printing onplastic substrates presents a series
of challenges. The concentratedimage area and small point sizes oftext – often reversed out of solidcolours – demand high precision,and the nature of the materialsmeans waste at makeready, orwhen you stop to wash blankets, iscostly both financially and ecologi-cally. Because of the volumesinvolved conventional wisdom saysto go for larger sheet sizes – B2 oreven B1 – but with normal lithothis only compounds the problems.The beauty of the Genius is that itwas designed to print on these sub-strates; it has antistatic throughoutand the anilox inking system givesreduced dot gain, a sharper imageand consistent vibrant colouracross the sheet, with very littlerun-up waste. With the smallersheet size you can keep extremelytight register and, because it iswaterless, the printed image is thesame every time. Most important,the card is a brand representativefor the client and that means it hasto be perfect every time.”
Eco-friendly Genius is production ace for card masters
PCS joint managing director Rob Nicholls with his Genius 52UV
PCS supplies, on average,three million cards every monthworking through agencies anddirect with end clients, and it isdiscovering that the environmentalcredentials of the KBA press areproving to be another plus factor intheir decision-making process:“Our clients are becoming increas-ingly concerned with the prove-nance of the products they areresponsible for commissioning,”
explains Mr Nicholls. “They quitenaturally equate that with the recy-clability of the substrate and it ispart of our service to work withthem to find the most earth-friend-ly solution for their application. Asbuyers become more proficient incarbon auditing they are pleasantlysurprised to discover that, with theGenius, high quality, price efficien-cy and environmental friendlinessare not mutually exclusive.”
Sales director David Hinds (from the left), operations director Patrick Moffett, managingdirector Henderson Allan and financial directorTrevor Brennan pictured with the MagazinePrinter of the Year 2008 award
Ireland: W&G Baird wins Magazine Printer of the Year award with Rapida 106
In September 2008 Antrim’sW&G Baird became the latest
high-quality magazine and commer-cial print house to start up a ten-colour Rapida 106 perfector pressincorporating DriveTronic SPC(simultaneous plate changing)technology, as the 24-hour enter-prise gears up for the new chal-lenges of a highly competitive sec-tor.
Managing director HendersonAllan describes the modern mar-ketplace as “complex and demand-ing. There is no doubt that higherproductivity is the main overallobjective because that reducesunit costs, but the challenge is toachieve that while handling shorterruns and maintaining – or evenimproving – quality. To deliverthose shorter runs within therequired cost parameters we need
to be able to reduce the downtimeon the presses as much as possi-ble.”
Open system CIPLink softwareallows a continuous data flow frompre-press via the press to down-stream systems in the finishingdepartment, while the DensiTronicS colour management systempromises peace of mind in theform of quality control and job doc-umentation; a scanner attached tothe measuring arm of the Densi-Tronic Professional system detectseven minimal deviations from theoriginal job PDF and automaticallyrecords them for the customer’sbenefit in a quality log.
W&G Baird was established in1862 and services a customer basethroughout the United Kingdomand Ireland. The new B1 (41in)Rapida ten-colour perfector
pumped out 8.1 million impres-sions in its first ten weeks and pro-duced the titles that won W&GBaird the Magazine Printer of theYear 2008 accolade at the IrishPrint Awards in November.
Report 34 | 200948
Five Commander press lines will soon launch into action at Ciner Printing
In recent months five high-automation KBA Commander
presses totalling 27 towers havebeen offloaded, placed andinstalled at the Istanbul, Ankara,Izmir and Adana operations ofprominent Turkish printing andpublishing group Ciner Matbaacilik(Ciner Printing Inc.). The companyis part of the Ciner Group, whoseinterests encompass mining, ener-gy, tourism, hotels, trade andindustry.
For KBA’s installation contrac-tor, Scholpp Montage in Stuttgart,placing and erecting five webpresses almost simultaneously atfour locations within just threemonths was not only its biggestpress contract in 2008 but also atechnical and scheduling tour deforce. With installation work inAnkara, Izmir and Adana commenc-ing just two weeks later than inIstanbul, the logistics involved inorganising the delivery of the perti-
Placing the 13.6-metre, 34-tonne Vits Dryco thermal dryers in the press hall demanded the utmost precision
A maximum rated output of 90,000 copies per hour makes the five KBA Commander press lines the fastest newspaper presses in Turkey
LTV in Varese fires up Rapida 162a eight-colour perfector
KBA and Italian book printer LaTipografica Varese (LTV) have
enjoyed a close and fruitful associ-ation for the past thirty years. InMay the family business foundedby Pietro Giuseppe Redaelli in1927 pushed the button on a new-generation Rapida 162a eight-colour perfector.
The Rapida 162a is the firstpress in its class to feature the full1,200 x 1,620mm (47.24 x63.77in) perfecting capabilityunveiled at Drupa 2008. But forLTV board member Dr Jacopo delPennino, this was not the soleinvestment criterion: “We useevery opportunity and technologi-cal advance to boost productivity.This extends to print output,automation and, above all, qualitycontrol. The new perfector press
LTV press operators have plenty of experience with big KBA perfectors and quickly mastered the new flagship model
has automated plate changing,online CIPLink, ACR automatic reg-istration and DensiTronic Profes-sional closed-loop colour control.Its bleeding-edge technologyenables us to offer our highly dis-cerning customers a quality guar-antee for the entire productionrun. KBA’s longstanding experi-ence in medium- and large-formatperfecting technology has given usa major competitive advantage.”
The 200 employees at LaTipografica Varese’s two produc-tion plants in Varese generate salesof around €25 million ($34m)printing encyclopaedias, schooltextbooks, illustrated volumes, art,literary and scientific publicationsfor Italian, French, English andGerman publishers.
Shorts
nent press components by fleets ofspecial transporters demandedultra-precise planning and perfectco-ordination with KBA’s specialistcrews. The biggest of the four newnewspaper printing plants wasbuilt in a matter of months inTuzla, southeast of Istanbul.
The five 90,000cph Command-ers will be the fastest newspaperpresses in Turkey. Technical fea-tures include RollerTronic automat-ic roller locks plus automatic plate
changing, blanket washing andcolour and cut-off register con-trols. In line with current trends inthe global newspaper market, someof the presses will have dryers tosupport hybrid coldset/heatset pro-duction.
This major Turkish projectunderscores once again KBA’s poleposition in newspaper, semi-com-mercial and hybrid technology.
Watch this space for furtherdetails.
Report 34 | 2009 49
September saw the official inau-guration at Warsaw-based Im-
pression Polska of Poland’s firstRapida 205 VLF offset litho pressattended by over 200 guests. Im-
pression Polska’s new four-colourRapida with a CX board printingcapability had already passed itsbaptism by fire printing numerousdisplays and billboards. While this
is the first 9B (80in) press inPoland, KBA has sold 40 Rapida205 presses worldwide.
The high level of attendance atthe inauguration reflects wide-
spread interest in Poland’s one andonly VLF installation, whichattracted prospects not only fromPoland but also from Russia,Ukraine and the Baltic States.
In his opening address, Impres-sion Polska sales director TomaszSkrzypkowski outlined the mostimportant features of the press: itsunique print format, the ability toprint substrates up to 1.2mm thick(48pt) at a speed of 9,000 sheetsper hour, its highly advanced Quali-Tronic Professional quality meas-urement and control, ColorTroniccolour control and easy Windows-based operation.
The first “official” sheet print-ed on the new Rapida 205 wassigned by Impression Polska man-aging director Andrzej Grudzinski,who was presented with a scalemodel of the press by KBA salesdirector Sven Strzelczyk and salesmanager Miroslawa Becker.
Premiere in Poland: Rapida 205 at Impression Polska
In the first ten months the Rapida 105 four-colour perfector with reel-to-sheet infeed pumped out over 30 million prints
Drukarnia Narodowa president BartoszBobowski (centre) with press operator Marcin Swiatczynski (l) and KBA-Polska salesmanager Andrzej Wasielak at the Rapida105 that went live at the end of 2007
Impression Polska's management with representatives of KBA and Kodak Polska at the delivery of the new Rapida 205
Drukarnia Narodowa celebrates 40-year association with KBA
On 20 September Polish printerDrukarnia Narodowa in Cracow
celebrated its 150th jubilee, andthe end of December marked a sec-ond jubilee, this time a fortieth:back in 1968 the company tookdelivery of its first Koenig & Bauerpress. Its most recent addition, afour-colour KBA Rapida 105 perfec-tor press, went live in December2007.
Drukarnia Narodowa celebrat-ed its 150th jubilee with an open
day at its new 2,500m2(27,000ft2)printing plant, one of the firststrategic investments made by MKProjekt following its acquisition ofDrukarnia Narodowa in 2005. Wel-coming a host of political and busi-ness luminaries, customers andsuppliers, company president Bar-tosz Bobowski said: “The first KBApress was delivered at the end ofthe 1960s. Since then we haveinstalled more than a dozen differ-ent types of KBA presses from let-
terpress with manual infeed togravure, two- and four-colour off-set and now the Rapida 105.”
The four-colour Rapida 105with convertible perfecting fortwo-over-two is the first in Polandto feature an RS 105 reel-to-sheetfeeder. Management is impressedby the fact that the press pumpedout more than 30 million prints inthe first ten months.
While the new B1 (41in) pressprimarily prints books, which are
the company’s main product line,it is being used increasingly toprint other work as well. “Ourobjective is to diversify our prod-uct portfolio,” explains Bobowski.“That is why, in addition to invest-ing in offset and bookbinding tech-nology, we have added two digitalpresses: one for mono work andone for colour.”
Shorts
Report 34 | 200950
Cambrian Printers’ KBA UK treble first
Cambrian Printers is to be thefirst mainland UK operation to
install the new Rapida 106 in along perfecting 10-unit configura-tion. It will also be Cambrian’s firstKBA press installation and the firstin the UK to feature KBA’s Drive-Tronic SPC simultaneous plate-changing system.
Robert Read, chairman andmanaging director of this Aberyst-wyth-based family business with astrong presence in the journals andmagazine sector, describes thedecision as the “inevitable conclu-sion” following a rigorous testingprocess. “We shortlisted four man-ufacturers and put each of theirpresses through the same series oftests. When we analysed theresults the Rapida was clearlyahead.”
Cambrian Printers operates anintegrated system of processes in
which environmental managementis given equal status to quality con-trol, health and safety. It wasimportant that the new press com-plied with its commitment to theenvironment. “We want to run the106 alcohol-free from day one,”adds Read. “KBA is an organisationwhich shares our values and themanufacturer’s support is vital inmaking these things work on thefactory floor.”
The Rapida 106, which is dueto go live any day now, will bedelivered with the QualiTronic,DensiTronic and LogoTronic sys-tems that – together with the SPC– featured on the same model atDrupa. It was this press thatachieved a dramatic makereadyrecord by printing 15 jobs, each of520 good sheets, in just 59 min-utes and 36 seconds.
Cambrian Printers’ chairman and managingdirector Robert Read at his new Rapida 106ten-unit perfector
Roadshow in China, technology forum in Malaysia
Last autumn KBA took to the roadin China and held a technology
forum in Malaysia to demonstratenew trends in inline finishing alongwih new products unveiled atDrupa. With venues in Tianjin,Zhengzhou, Huzhou and Dongguan(China) and Kuala Lumpur (Mal-aysia), it was the second such
series initiated by KBA’s Chineseand Malaysian subsidiaries. Thehigh level of interest in this type oftechnology transfer was reflectedin attendance figures of 120 to 180print professionals per day.
In and around Tianjin andHuzhou, packaging is a high-growth industry, and some of the
The sophisticated coating effectscreated during the Chinese roadshowwere a focus of keen interest amongprint pros
Stefan Segger, head of KBA’sAsia-Pacific subsidiary, welcomingattendees of the technology forumat the Saujana Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Rapida presses there were includ-ed in the roadshow. Samples print-ed on a Rapida 105 were a focus ofkeen interest.
Jürgen Veil, sheetfed market-ing manager at KBA in Radebeul,gave a briefing on the basic princi-ples of coating and the economicbenefits of inline finishing. Detail-
ing the different coating systemsand processes available, Veil dis-cussed their benefits and draw-backs, the technology required andtypical applications. KBA’s newcoating sample book (see pages 18and 19) served to illustrate theextensive range of different coat-ing effects possible. In Zhenzhouand Dongguan the focus was alsoon DriveTronic components forcutting makeready times, andinline quality monitoring withQualiTronic.
As the inventor of the mechan-ical printing press and the world’soldest press manufacturer, KBA iscommitted to the dissemination oftechnology in emerging markets. Inthe words of KBA president andCEO Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann:“Technological progress is crucialfor the long-term survival of ourindustry. We must actively imple-ment new ideas and improve costefficiency. Greening up printingprocesses and enhancing the tac-tile and optical properties of print-ed products are just two approach-es. We must demonstrate thepotential power of print and provethat modern society cannot existwithout it.”
Shorts
Report 34 | 2009 51
Genius 52UV at Druck + Form in Sinsheim
At the Druck + Form regionaltrade fair in Sinsheim, Ger-
many, KBA-Metronic exhibited aGenius 52UV for the second yearrunning, but this time a coater ver-sion. The press printed a widerange of plastics such as lenticularand 3-D film along with specialmetal-coated paper.
The numerous demonstrationsgave the Genius a golden opportu-nity to display its flexibility, evenprinting substrates up to 0.8mm(0.03in) thick. Because UV inkscure instantly in the dryer, thesheets can be finished immediatelyafter impression. For Genius usersthis opens up whole new applica-tions. What is more, the absence ofink keys and fount solutions allowsthe entire printing process to bestandardised, thus guaranteeingprint-to-print and run-to-runrepeatability. But perhaps thepress’s most appealing asset is itsability to run up to saleable colourin just ten sheets or less, and todeliver images in photographicquality.
After the stress of Drupa, the atmosphere atDruck + Form was calmer and more intimate
Ramzi Kteily honoured for 30 years alliance with KBA
At a small ceremony that tookplace during the Ifra Expo 2008
newspaper trade fair in Amster-dam, KBA executive vice-presidentfor web press sales ChristophMüller presented Ramzi N Kteily,proprietor of KBA sales agency Gif-fin Graphics in Abu Dhabi, with acertificate of appreciation for 30years of close and successful col-laboration on a succession of proj-ects in the United Arab Emiratesand Jordan.
When Ramzi Kteily was justsixteen he lost his father, the direc-tor of a shipping company in Pales-tine. Nonetheless he went on totake a degree in business adminis-tration at the American Universityin Beirut. He first came into con-tact with the graphic arts industrywhile working in the sales depart-ment of the National Cash RegisterCompany. In 1978, at the age of37, Ramzi Kteily set up his own
company, Giffin Graphics, andsoon afterwards became an autho-rised dealer for presses from whatwas then Albert-Frankenthal. Hewas later awarded the regional
Ramzi N Kteily (l) pictured with Dar Al Sharq general manager Abdul Latif A Al-Mahmoud (on his left) and KBA executive vice-president for web press sales Christoph Müller (3rd right) as they shake hands on a contract for a big Continent press line for Doha
dealership for all KBA sheetfed andweb presses.
Even today, at the age of 67,Mr Kteily is as active as ever. Per-haps this is the secret of his com-
pany’s success: since being estab-lished it has expanded from twelveemployees to more than 130. Gif-fin Graphics represents an array ofprominent firms in the print mediaand other industries.
“Together we have achievedsome impressive sales,” saysChristoph Müller, and cites thedelivery of multi-unit newspaperpress lines to Abu Dhabi, Doha andDubai. In recent years there havealso been brisk sales of Compactacommercial web offset and Rapidasheetfed presses, and the objectnow is to strengthen KBA’s out-standing market position still fur-ther. Christoph Müller wishedRamzi Kteily all the best both as aprivate individual and as a busi-nessman, and continuing healthand happiness. He also expressedthe hope of many more years ofcollaboration with “his man in theMiddle East”.
Shorts
Report 34 | 200952
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Cortina 6/2 ready to roll at DuMont Schauberg
During its longstanding associa-tion with KBA, German plant
haulier Scholpp Montage has trans-ported any number of our presses.But offloading and placing a newtriple-wide, waterless Cortina from20 October to 26 November 2008at Cologne publishing house M.DuMont Schauberg – a KBA cus-tomer for the past 175 years(!) –was no ordinary occurrence.
While a maximum web widthof 1,890mm (74.4in) makes thetriple-wide Cortina for Cologne agiant among presses, its footprintis so compact that for Scholpp’sexperienced fitters it was a relativelightweight. Because the towerscan be split down the centre, no
single transported unit weighedmore than 30 tonnes (33 US tons)or so.
The printing plant besideDuMont’s new premises in Ams-terdamer Strasse was easily acces-sible with a low-loader and thepress hall’s exemplary equipmentincluded a 35-tonne overheadcrane. So there was no need forthe complex ramps, transport scaf-folding or gantry cranes with cablewinches required at some loca-tions. All that had to be organisedfor offloading the four Pastomat RCreelstands, four Cortina towers andtwo folders was the punctual deliv-ery of the relevant mobile cranes.Once the various items had been
brought into the press hall on amachine trolley the printing towerswere manoeuvred into positionwith a forklift truck and the aggre-gates placed with millimetre preci-sion in the correct configurationon their steel substructure. A KBAteam was on hand to carry out theactual installation.
The Cortina 6/2 will print theKölner Stadt-Anzeiger, the Express,the Kölnische Rundschau and othertitles at a maximum speed of80,000 full-colour copies per hour.It can deliver 48pp copies in theBerliner format or 96pp copies insemi-tabloid near-A4 format. Pressinauguration is scheduled forMarch 2009.
The Cortina 6/2 components were conveyed to their final positions on a trolley
The first KBA Newspaper PressUser Meeting in the UK took
place in Chester last Septemberattended by fourteen delegatesfrom some of the UK’s leading webhouses. A visit to North WalesNewspapers Media’s (NWNM)new printing facility in Deeside(Flintshire), which was opened byHRH, The Prince of Wales in springlast year, formed the centrepiece.
The programme began with atour of the printing plant, wherefour Commander tower pressesrun in two shifts printing daily,weekly and months titles at a rateof some half-a-million copies perweek. Mark Wall, press operationmanager of North Wales News, andhis team gave a detailed briefing onthe production process. What hadmost impressed them in the
First KBA UK Newspaper Press User Meeting
The Newspaper Press User Group at one of the massive papermaking lines at the UPM-Kymmene Shotton newsprint manufacturingfacility
months since the new press cameon stream were the outstandingquality of the prints delivered, theexceptionally low volume of wasteand the press’s clean operation.
There followed a tour of UPM-Kymmene Shotton’s Ellesmere Portsite and an overview of thenewsprint manufacturing processfor 100% recycled paper from thearrival of waste paper through to
the newly-manufactured reelspacked ready for shipmentthroughout the UK and Europe.The 400-employer facility hasthree recycling lines and two mas-sive papermaking machines whichproduce rolls of newsprint around8 metres (26ft 4in) wide. The fac-tory, which is in operation twenty-four hours a day, consumes some520,000 tonnes (572,000 US tons)of paper per year and as muchpower as the city of Manchester.
The second day was devoted totheory, with the emphasis onvalue-added printing and a risingdemand for semi-commercial capa-bilities and the production ofstitched tabloids. Other topicsincluded KBA’s innovative compactpress platform, comprising theCortina and Commander CT, andour comprehensive after-sales serv-ice portfolio.
The meeting was described as“a very encouraging first step” byKBA UK managing director Chris-tian Knapp, who was eager tostress that the intention was to cre-ate an open-minded forum ratherthan an owners’ club. It was unan-imously agreed that a further meet-ing should take place this year.
Report 34 | 2009 53
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Big Rapida UV press at Camis Ambalaj Sanayii in Istanbul
Camis Ambalaj Sanayii is one ofthe biggest packaging printers in
Turkey, with an annual output of25,000 tonnes (27,500 US tons) ofprocessed board. Following the
installation of two five-colour large-format coater presses from anotherGerman manufacturer, last yearCamis Ambalaj Sanayii placed anorder for a Rapida 142 six-colour
Dereli Graphic chairman Ahmet Dereli and technical manager Recep Yaman (from left) pictured with Camis Ambalaj Sanayii production manager Ibrahim Özyildirim and printshop manager Mehmet Akinci at the Rapida 142
coater press with double extendeddelivery plus board and UV print-ing capabilities. Since the pressmainly prints 230gsm (115lb Bris-tol) board and microflute it is
mounted on a 630mm (24.75in)plinth.
Camis Ambalaj Sanayii’s mainproduct line is packaging for theglass manufacturing industry, withthe printed sheets laminated ontocorrugated. The volume of jobsentailing UV work is steadily rising,and within a few months the newpress was running at almost twicethe speed of the other presses.
“What appealed to us most wasthe Rapida’s high level of automa-tion,” said printshop managerMehmet Akinci at the press inau-guration in October 2008. “Attoday’s prices we simply cannotallow a press to stand idle for anylength of time between jobs. Jobchanges on the new Rapida 142 areso simple that our staff are con-stantly vying to reduce down timeseven further,” added productionmanager Ibrahim Özyildirim.
The advanced level of automa-tion means that the coater can beconverted from aqueous to UVcoating in a minimum of time,while the printing units’ hybridcapability also makes for rapid con-version from conventional to UV orhybrid inks.
Small-format presses now available from KBA RUS
With effect from 1 January thisyear, Russian sales of all the
small-format and half-size pressesbuilt by KBA’s Czech subsidiaryKBA-Grafitec in Dobruska are han-dled by KBA RUS, which is thusresponsible for KBA’s entire rangeof sheetfed and web presses. Cus-tomers in Russia will benefit fromhaving a single contact for all KBAproducts and services, and fromthe fact that KBA RUS deals direct-ly with KBA’s German and Czechproduction plants. The contractwith St Petersburg-based Ipris, thecurrent agent for Performa presses,was terminated by mutual agree-ment.
KBA RUS has already sold astring of Rapida 74 B2 (29in) press-es in the Russian Federation. Nowit is aiming to match this with theslightly larger Rapida 75 for a sheetsize of 530 or 605 x 750mm(20.86 or 23.8 x 29.53in). Theaddition of the Performa 66, an
SRA2 (26in) press, expands itsrange to encompass small-, medi-um-, large- and superlarge-formatsheetfed commercial and packag-ing presses, including the massive9B (81in) Rapida 205.
Earlier this year a four-colourRapida 75 was installed at theMoscow State University for Print-ing Technology. It is used not onlyfor training and research purposesbut also as a demonstration press,allowing prospects from through-out the CIS to experience KBAtechnology at first hand.
Along with German-built Rapida presses, KBA’s Russian agency KBA RUS will handle sales of all the Rapida 75 and Performa 66 presses built by Czech subsidiary KBA-Grafitec
In Kürze
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Report 34 | 200954
Shorts
Second Metalstar 2 for Baodeco in China
Baodeco, a subsidiary of Chinesesteel manufacturer Baosteel,
has invested in a second high-per-formance Metalstar 2 from KBA-MetalPrint. The new six-colourpress line, the contract for whichwas signed at the Kempinski Hotelin Beijing, is currently being erect-ed at Baodeco’s collaborative part-ner O.R.G. based in Huairou nearMutianyu, where a restored sec-tion of China’s Great Wall is one ofthe region’s biggest tourist attrac-tions.
Management at Baosteel madethe decision to expand its productrange beyond tin plate in 2004,and subsequently installed a Metal-star 2 at a new dedicated sub-sidiary, Baodeco in Shanghai, toenable it to offer a one-stop servicein metal decorating and coating.Baodeco was quick to recognisethe potential of this high-techmetal-decorating press, with itscontinuous gripper system and UVdrying modules. It thereforeleapfrogged the use of traditionalmetal-decorating presses with con-
ventional drying systems. As aresult the company was immediate-ly able to pass on to its customersthe benefits of one-pass productionon a high-speed press in the formof a superb print quality, fastthroughput, short makeready timesand energy savings of up to 80%compared to traditional metal dec-orators in China. Baodeco placedan order for a second six-colour
Metalstar 2 UV press when mount-ing demand meant that the capaci-ty of the first press was no longeradequate.
“The older generation ofmetal-decorating presses had prob-lems with registration. The Metal-star 2’s newer sheet-guidance sys-tem, with continuous grip, elimi-nates this problem and ensuresuniformly precise registration even
at high production speeds,”explains Baodeco’s managing direc-tor Zhuang Jianjun.
Baosteel is constantly expand-ing its output of tin plate in Chinawhich, with an annual volumeworth around $5.6 billion, is theworld’s fastest growing market fortin cans. Baosteel has set its sightson becoming the no. 1 in China,and is gearing up accordingly.
Lining up for the cameraafter signing the contractat the Kempinski Hotel in
Beijing (l - r): KBA-Metal-Print regional sales managerGerhard Grossmann, KBAChina managing directorWalter Zehner, O.R.G. direc-tor Zhao Yuhui, Baodecomanaging director ZhuangJianjun, KBA-MetalPrintmanaging director Uwe Rustand KBA-MetalPrint projectmanager Martin Lengyel
Topp+möller in Detmold opts for Genius 52UV
Topp+möller, a German printingfirm established in 1906 by
Robert Topp, a master book printer,and Heinz Möller, a merchant,recently pushed the button on aGenius 52UV from KBA-Metronic.The Detmold-based company hasthus expanded its productioncapacity from fourteen to nineteenprinting units. With the Genius52UV it is planning to expand itsportfolio to embrace film printingas well. “This press enables us tooffer our customers value-addedproducts printed on unusual sub-strates,” says a delighted managingdirector, Thomas Schurzfeld. “Nowthere are virtually no bounds todesigners’ creativity. Substratesthat were previously the preserveof silk screen printers can now beprinted easily with UV-curing inkson the Genius.”
The new press will be embed-ded seamlessly in the existing pro-duction chain. Alongside paper and
board it will primarily print a widerange of non-absorbent syntheticsubstrates with highly sensitivesurfaces. Configured with a coaterand a delivery extension, the abili-ty of the Genius 52UV at topp+möller to deliver high-gloss printsoffers some interesting options forproduct finishing.
The Genius 52UV is config-ured with five keyless inking units
Thomas Schurzfeld, managing director of topp+möller, shaking hands with Bernd Deppisch of KBA-Metronic at the Genius 52UV following press acceptance
for UV inks. The fifth unit can beused to apply special colours,opaque white, silver and gold. Fortopp+möller, what tipped thescales in favour of this KBA-Metronic press was its exceptional-ly fast makeready. The integratedUV dryer cures the inks instantly,allowing the sheets to be finishedimmediately after being printed.UV technology also allows the
press to print materials such asPVC, ABS, PC, PS, magnetic andadhesive films and metal-coatedpaper up to a maximum thicknessof 0.8mm (0.03in). It can handleFM screens and resolutions as fineas 120lpc (300lpi).
Topp+möller addresses themarket for high-grade commercialsin formats up to B1 (29 x 41in), forexample catalogues, magazines,brochures, books, files, posters andpackaging. The company also spe-cialises in producing folded orscented products for the directmailing sector. On top of this itsextensive range of services encom-passes digital and large-formatprinting plus the creative design ofboth printed products and corpo-rate websites. In other words,topp+möller offers its customers acomplete, all-in service from layoutdesign to print production, finish-ing and distribution.
Report 34 | 2009 55
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Shorts
KBA users put on a fine performance at Druck & Medien Awards 2008
At the 2008 awards organisedby German trade publication
Druck & Medien, users of KBAsheetfed and web presses onceagain carried off a number of tro-phies. Mohn media Mohndruckin Gütersloh won the KBA-spon-sored award for the “GreenestEnterprise of the Year”. And forthe second time in successionFreiburger Druck, a pioneeringuser of our environmentally friend-ly, high-quality waterless offsettechnology, was voted “NewspaperPrinter of the Year”.
As in the previous year, theUPM Award for “Magazine Printerof the Year (Web)” went to Kunst-und Werbedruck. Based in BadOeynhausen, Kunst und Werbe-druck is a full-service printprovider which specialises in pre-mium-quality magazines and cata-logues and runs a 16-page Com-pacta 217 commercial web press.
The Burgo Award for “Com-mercial Printer of the Year (Sheet-fed)” was presented to universityprinting company H. Schmidt inMainz, where a Rapida 105 withdedicated plate-cylinder drives is inoperation. And the coveted trophyfor “Contract Printer of the Year”was borne off by C. H. Beck, aNördlingen-based printer thatdates back to 1763 and alsodeploys high-performance Rapidasheetfed presses.
Our congratulations to all thewinners on this outstandingachievement.
Reportis the corporate magazine issued bythe Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA):
Editor-in-chief:Klaus Schmidt, KBA director of communications,Würzburg
Layout:Pia Vogel, Mannhof Media
Translation:Christina Degens-Kupp, KBA
Printed in the Federal Republic of Germany
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Axel Hentrei (centre) of Mohn media Mohndruck holding up the KBA-sponsored award for “Greenest Enterprise of the Year”, which was presented to him and Andreas Henrichs (r) of arvato by KBA executive vice-president for web press sales, Christoph Müller
The UPM Award for “Magazine Printer of the Year (Web)” being proudly displayed by Kunst- und Werbedruck’s Jennifer Röske, pictured here with colleagues Sven Godehardt (on her left) and Stefan Belte (r)
Freiburger Druck won the Siegwerk Award for“Newspaper Printer of the Year” for the secondtime in succession. Plant manager PatrickZürcher (2nd left) accepted the trophy fromUlrich Michaelis (3rd left) watched by the restof his team and compere Ruth Moschner
