Newspaper & Mailroom
Classy publications in waterless coldset with inline coating
Wednesday 26. February 2014 - Rheinisch Bergische Druckerei expands its KBA Cortina with a coater
Rheinisch Bergische Druckerei (RBD) in Düsseldorf has already been using a KBA Cortina to print the regional daily Rheinische Post in a waterless offset process for the past four years. Further products are advertising freesheets, diverse special publications and supplements on the most varied papers – all in exceptionally high print quality.
To expand the range of magazines, news brochures and other commercial-like products which can be handled on the compact Cortina, the press has now been equipped with an inline coater. The new facility has been in successful production since the beginning of February 2014. RBD managing director Matthias Tietz, a committed and longstanding advocate of ecologically aware newspaper and semi-commercial printing in waterless offset, is delighted with the new level of quality achieved since incorporation of the coater into the KBA Cortina: “The products finished inline with dispersion coating on the Cortina look very impressive, and that without any need for an energy-intensive hot-air dryer. The coater has added significantly to our already very broad product portfolio. We can now offer classy publications which satisfy even those customers who are endlessly meticulous when it comes to print and processing quality, and that will help us to further improve capacity utilisation on our Cortina line.”
Inline coating brings many benefits
Compared to a typical commercial heatset process, inline finishing with dispersion coating in a coldset press saves not only energy, but also expensive floor space. The inline coating option, which is currently only feasible in waterless offset, is economically a very attractive proposition for short to medium runs, an increasingly important market segment as target group orientation becomes ever more prevalent. Coated print products stand out with bold colour, greater depth and a pleasant feel. The coating provides effective protection against the often unavoidable smearing and set-off when producing coldset products with high ink coverage and images run over the fold. The quality benefits of waterless offset in respect of gamut, register and finer screens are further enhanced in conjunction with coating. With a higher ink coverage, for example, it is possible to achieve significantly greater contrast. Productivity is also boosted at the downstream post-press stages, as the elimination of smearing risks permits immediate further processing without loss of speed. It is furthermore possible to merge coated and non-coated webs, or to combine normal and improved newsprint in a single product.
Convenient console operation
The coater unit, which was developed by KBA in cooperation with Harris & Bruno, is incorporated at the top of a compact four-high tower and applies coating to both sides of the web over the desired width. It comprises two anilox rollers with chamber blades and two rubber rollers. The water-based dispersion coating from Sun Chemical permits fast drying even at the high production speeds of a web press. The drying process is influenced by the web path, the web speed and the type of paper. To be able to process as wide a spectrum of papers as possible, a compact infrared/hot-air dryer module from Eltosch is integrated into the superstructure after the coater. It is thus possible to apply coating to almost all normal and improved coldset papers. The coater and the auxiliary dryer module are controlled conveniently from the KBA press console; retrofitting to an existing Cortina installation is possible at any time.