Koenig & Bauer AG - First triple-width KBA Commander CT for Europe

With an investment package totalling €25 million, the newspaper and media house “Der neue Tag” in Weiden, Northern Bavaria, is setting off along the road to an even more successful future. Following the example of the New York Daily News and the Canadian print group Transcontinental, Der neue Tag has opted for the triple-width version of the highly automated compact press KBA Commander CT to boost its production and publishing activities. This order already raises KBA's sales of the most modern conventional offset technology currently available to the newspaper market to 72 towers – 33 in the triple-width version and 39 for double-width lines. Negotiations on further projects are approaching conclusion.

The 48-page installation with two 6/2 towers is to be set up in a new print centre on the Weiden-West commercial estate, and after commissioning in summer 2011 will gradually take over production from an existing KBA Express dating from 1995. In addition to the press hall, the 16,000 m2 site is to accommodate also warehouse space, a new mailroom and dispatch hall, and the integrated pre-press department for the new print centre.

“Voice of the region”
The company was founded by Anton Döhler and Victor von Gostomski on 31st May 1946, and is now opening a new chapter in the long-standing partnership with Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) with its order for the Commander CT. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the breaking of the ground for the new print centre, publisher and board member German Vogelsang explained how the largest investment in the company's history to date was aimed at strengthening the newspapers as the “voice of the region” in a fast-changing media landscape, and would thereby help to secure the long-term future of the media house: “The decision was preceded by many months of critical evaluation, analysis and research. Such an ambitious project is seen as a gesture of confidence in the region, and naturally also in our core business. This high-tech press from Koenig & Bauer will enable us to print our newspapers, advertisers, supplements and magazines even more flexibly, efficiently and economically, with even more up-to-date content and in excellent full-colour quality.”

The media house is today owned by the families Döhler, Shanahan, Vogelsang and Panzer, and with a staff of more than 400 publishes the largest daily newspaper in the region, Der neue Tag, together with the regional titles Sulzbach-Rosenberger Zeitung and Amberger Zeitung and five further local editions. The daily circulation lies at around 84,000 copies. This output is augmented by a variety of weekly advertisers which are published by the company itself and like the newspaper products serve more than two-thirds of the Oberpfalz region. Further capacities are occupied by contract printing for advertising titles and other newspaper-like products.

Compact future-oriented press technology
The KBA Commander CT 6/2 press has been ordered in a substructure configuration for a cylinder circumference of 910mm (35.8in) and a maximum web width of 1,890mm (74.4in). It is engineered to print up to 90,000 full-colour newspapers per hour in straight production. The two compact triple-width towers are equipped with fully automatic KBA PlateTronic plate changers, automatic KBA RollerTronic roller locks, KBA NipTronic cylinder bearings, KBA FanoTronic fan-out compensation, automatic colour register control, KBA CleanTronic blanket washing and central ink supplies. The two KBA Pastomat CL reelstands are loaded automatically via the KBA Patras A reel-handling system with integrated stripping station and daily store.

Further important features include two double turner decks, a folder superstructure with three formers, a KBA KF 5 jaw folder, a section stitcher, a skip slitter and a variable perforation unit for tear-out ads (“Zip’n’Buy”). Half-covers and flying pages are additional production options. The very low start-up waste is achieved with a combination of reel alignment facilities, cut-off register control and web guidance systems. The KBA Commander CT 6/2 is operated from two ErgoTronic consoles incorporating KBA's production scheduling and press presetting functions, with the modules KBA EasyStart and EasyStop for automatic press start-up and run-down.

Publishing house manager Reinhold Pöll: “Our visits to the Commander CT installations in Würzburg and New York convinced us of the benefits offered by the various automation modules with regard to makeready times, waste reduction, print quality and the ease of handling and maintenance. The compact overall design, the push-button opening of the towers and the lifts on both sides relieve the press crew of an enormous amount of legwork and are characteristic for the high level of operator convenience.”

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.