Web offset

With effect from 1 July 2010, the sales team of the newspaper division at Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) has been able to welcome Alexander Huttenlocher (42) as new KBA sales director for Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and parts of Eastern Europe.

Alexander Huttenlocher is successor to the long-serving sales director Rudolf Kühner, who took his well-earned retirement in December 2009 after 46 years with the company.

In Alexander Huttenlocher, KBA has secured the services of a recognised print technology expert with an outstanding reputation not only in the German newspaper branch, but also in many other countries throughout Europe. After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, he completed a postgraduate course in business economics and gained first experience in technical sales for the print industry. From 2000 to 2010, Alexander Huttenlocher then assumed management responsibilities at Wifag GmbH in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, the German sales subsidiary of Swiss press manufacturer Wifag Maschinenfabrik AG, which tottered in 2009 in the wake of market developments. ...

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. ...

Provence is famous for the outstanding beauty of its countryside and the excellence of its red wine. Only a few industry insiders are aware that in the heart of this popular tourist spot, in Rognac, a number of commercial web presses and one sheetfed offset press from Koenig & Bauer (KBA) print high-volume runs of value-added products at Imprimerie Rockson. Now Rockson is expanding its fleet with an 80pp KBA Compacta 818 and has taken an option on a second, identical press. Rockson’s longstanding business relations with KBA, and the strong position it has established with its KBA fleet in the fiercely competitive French publications market, were major factors influencing the choice of press. Following a recent big order from Saudi-Arabia for two KBA Compacta 217 commercial presses this is a further boost for a sector still reeling from the economic crisis.

Successful and profitable
Imprimerie Rockson was founded in 1970 and now employs over 100 people. Special-interest magazines and periodicals on fashion, sport and cultural activities account for a large proportion of its output, along w ...

This year 162 newspaper titles from 43 countries worldwide competed for membership of WAN-IFRA’s exclusive International Newspaper Color Quality Club 2010-2012. Alongside coldset titles the jury assessed for the first time heatset products printed on standard newsprint and improved stock. Once a month, from January to April, applicants had to submit print samples featuring a prespecified test element. Two copies of each title from actual production runs were also scrutinised for quality by a panel of experts. At this, the ninth selection trials since the Club was founded, 109 titles fulfilled the rigorous criteria for outstanding quality in colour newspaper production and were granted much coveted membership for two years. The awards ceremony is scheduled for October at the IFRA Expo newspaper trade fair in Hamburg. Users of compact KBA presses highly placed 36 titles – one third of the winners – were printed on web presses from Koenig & Bauer (KBA) in Europe, the USA, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Users of KBA’s compact Commander CT (New York Daily News) and KBA Cortina (Freiburger Druck und Rheinpfalz) were among the topmost rankings. ...

printnet brings the softproofing technology into the commercial printing pressroom. The new PressProof TC (True Color) version focuses first on user-friendly operation as well as providing the best possible color viewing of large format proofs. The system enhances quality as well as production security and at the same time reduces costs.

Together with its partner for monitor proofing software and color management, ICS Inc. (Integrated Color Solutions), manroland is launching PressProof TC technology, already successfully working in newspaper printing, to address the special conditions of commercial printing. The system is suitable for very large formats, can be retrofitted easily, and is available in different product configurations according to the technical requirements. The new PressProof TC will be presented for the first time at IPEX in Birmingham from 18 until 25 May 2010.

Color-proof, intuitive, holistic
The prerequisites for color-consistent softproofing are state of the art calibration and profiling software, color viewing technology, and adequate control of standard light illumination. PressProof TC features automatic and software-aided control ...

Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an has awarded KBA one of the biggest-ever commercial web press contracts in the Middle East. Scheduled to come on stream in Medina in the autumn, the installation will comprise two 16pp KBA Compacta 217 press lines with a total of four reelstands, twelve double printing units, four dryers and two folders. The deal was finalised during a visit by the Saudi delegation to Ipex.

Professor Mohammad Salim Al-Oufi, general secretary of the King Fahd Complex, is looking forward to a huge capacity boost: “The performance of Compacta 217 press lines at Kunst- und Werbedruck in Bad Oeynhausen and Vogel Druck und Medienservice in Höchberg confirmed our initial impression of premium quality press engineering and print production. The 217 came out top in every one of the challenging print tests we conducted. The dedication and competence of the KBA project team and Graphic Supplies, KBA’s Saudi agency, also played a major role. The two high-automation Compacta press lines will enable us to optimise the quality and cost efficiency of our print product ...

Pressgrannar AB of Norrköping in the South-East Swedish province Östergötland opted in favor of a REGIOMAN that will produce in Linköping by the end of 2011.

Pressgrannar AB is part of NTM (Norrköpings Tidningars Media AB), a fast-growing media company with several local newspapers as well as radio and TV stations all over Sweden. “NTM invests over 200 million Swedish Krona (about 21 million Euro) in a new printing plant. Our goal is to offer our advertising customers a full range of media, newspaper, television, internet, mobile, radio and more, a mix that has already proved very successful. Our operations are the natural media choice for advertisers in our market area,“ says Lennart Foss, CEO of NTM. “We believe strongly in the future of the printed newspaper and will continue to offer efficient solutions for our customers,” adds the Managing Director of Pressgrannar, Olof Z. Haeggström.

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One Touch is the name of the manroland vision: printing at the press of a button, with only one operator, at only one control console. Implemented in the newspaper printing systems of the COLORMAN autoprint series. With the first installation of APL logistics, the integrated workflow for printing plate logistics, manroland has come another step closer to making this vision a reality.

Together with the practice-proven APL automatic plate changing system and inline control systems, APL logistics is a groundbreaking step towards full automation and thus the highest level of efficiency in newspaper production. The four APL logistics modules form the workflow from job planning right through to plate changing. APL transport uses a rail network to bring the plates to the printing unit where the APL robots mount the plates on the cylinder. Prior to this, APL supply transfers the exposed plates to the wagons on the rail network. APL sequence organizes plate exposure, and APL control is the central computer, which controls the workflow.

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Körner Rotationsdruck belongs among the pioneers of modern commercial web offset printing. Now they have added another chapter to their pioneering achievements by ordering a 64-page LITHOMAN, the first commercial web printing system of the autoprint series that will be introduced at IPEX 2010. Körner Rotationsdruck in Sindelfingen, Germany, has opted for a LITHOMAN, the high-volume commercial web press. This full-service printer with 200 employees specializes in catalogs, magazines and brochures. Körner offers customers an exceptional price/performance ratio in terms of top quality, service and deadline dependability, which demands a high level of flexibility and productivity. The company already has three ROTOMAN presses and one POLYMAN. The 64-page LITHOMAN autoprint will fit in here nicely and replace one ROTOMAN. The new press is scheduled to start production early in 2011. The autoprint series already feature fully-automated job changeover and system start-up which ensures flexibility, efficient planning and fewer waste sheets. manroland’s vision is fully-automated production with the printer taking on the role of a process monitor. ...

The Jordan Press Foundation (JPF) in Amman is planning to boost production capacity and flexibility with a double-width KBA Commander heatset press for printing newspapers, semi-commercials and hybrid products. The Commander will be installed at a new production complex near Amman airport that will include a new mailroom and central store. The €25m ($33m) project is scheduled for completion by the end of next year.

Market leader in newspaper publishing
The Jordan Press Foundation publishes a national Arabic daily newspaper, Al Rai, which has the biggest circulation and advertising section in the country. Other titles include the Jordan Times, an English publication launched in 1975, and Hatem, a monthly magazine for children and youngsters.

The project is the biggest investment to date by a Jordanian media company in newspaper technology. According to JPF chairman Fahed Fanek it will enable the company to consolidate its pole position in the market and sustain profitable growth in the future: “With the high-powered KBA Commander we can offer our readers, advertisers and print ...