König & Bauer AG - KBA newspaper press technology for Beijing Daily

Beijing Daily Group has switched to Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) for a new press line following a detailed market comparison and a tour of inspection in Germany. Comprising three reelstands, three towers and one folder, the KBA Comet will go live next summer printing a free title launched last year for distribution in the Beijing underground (subway). Provision has already been made for the addition of three more towers for printing further titles.

Leading media group in China
Beijing Daily Group publishes nine daily newspaper and three magazine titles, among them Journalism and New Writing, China Campus and Beijing CPC Party Monthly. The newspaper titles have a combined daily circulation of around two million copies in the Beijing metropolitan area alone. Alongside the Beijing Morning Post, Beijing Suburbs Daily, Beijing Business Today, Beijing Social News, Capital Construction News, Beijing Daily Messenger and The First the group also owns the Beijing Evening News and Beijing Daily, established in 1958 and 1952 respectively. The Beijing Daily’s circulation of 400,000 copies per day makes it the capital’s most popular newspaper. In addition to maintaining its own foreign correspondents the Beijing Daily co-operates with the China Press and International Daily News in North America, The Australian Chinese Times, China Today in Canada and the Europe Times and also distributes news items under the name Beijing Today.

KBA Comet wins on quality and productivity
Single-width Comet presses from KBA’s Würzburg production plant are in operation the world over. According to Beijing Daily Group, what tipped the balance in favour of a Comet was its outstanding quality and productivity. The press line for Beijing will be capable of handling web widths from 635 to 880mm (25 - 34.64in), have a cylinder circumference of 1092mm (43in) and a maximum rated output in straight production of 78,000cph. It will also feature fan-out compensation, automatic ink pumping and blanket washing. The highly automated KF 3 jaw folder will be fed via two stacked formers. The press line will be controlled from three KBA consoles with ink-key presetting software, a RIP interface and a diagnostics PC for remote maintenance.

The Koenig & Bauer Group is one of the largest press manufacturers worldwide and has the broadest press range in the industry. The parent company is Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) with facilities in Würzburg, Radebeul, Frankenthal and Trennfeld (all in Germany).

The other core members of the Group are Maschinenfabrik KBA-Mödling AG in Mödling, near Vienna (Austria), KBA-Grafitec s.r.o. in Dobruška (Czech Republic), KBA-Metronic AG in Veitshöchheim, near Würzburg (Germany), KBA-MetalPrint GmbH in Stuttgart (also Germany) and KBA-GIORI S.A. in Lausanne (Switzerland). KBA North America Inc. in Dallas, Texas (USA), is our sales and service subsidiary for the US and Canada. In addition we have sales and service outlets in the UK, France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, Russia, Poland, Australia, China, Malaysia and Singapore, plus a global network of dealers. The core companies in the Group employ some 7,500 people.