Offset Printing

Wesso Claris eliminates need for fount solution chemistry

KBA has a long history of collaboration with the BG Druck- und Papierverarbeitung. Both support innovative initiatives. Delighted at the success of the eighteen-month pilot project to test a new dampening additive, Wesso Claris, are Wesso chief executive Stefan Kimmel (far right), Mitteldeutsche Zeitung's Roland Zimmermann and Waldemar Geuthner (3rd and 4th right) and representatives of BG and KBA management

Tuesday 10. June 2008 - Non-hazardous and biodegradable

The prime focus of KBA’s appearance at Drupa 2008 – along with cost efficiency – is environmentally friendly press technology. The list of activities pursued in alliance with ClimatePartner is extensive, and in some aspects unparalleled.

It embraces alcohol-free wet offset; waterless, keyless print production; the reduction of energy and powder consumption; and the minimisation of production waste, noise and CO2 emissions – all with the ultimate objective of reducing the carbon footprint to achieve climate-neutral print production. Here KBA works alongside innovative partners and new players, one of whom is Wesso in Hersbruck, whose representatives can be found in the green printing centre on the KBA stand.
Wesso originated in the hydrotechnology business and expanded into print technology just eighteen months ago with the assistance of the Berufsgenossenschaft Druck- und Papierverarbeitung (Germany’s equivalent of the H&SE in the UK and OSHA in the US). Its Claris dampening additive, which was first used by KBA customer Mitteldeutsche Zeitung in Halle, Germany, and has since been adopted by other printers, is non-hazardous and biodegradable. According to Waldemar Geuthner, technical manager at Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, and Wolfgang Zimmermann, head of maintenance in Halle, it prevents the build-up of germs, algae and lime scale, reducing the contamination in dampening units and closed water circuits within just a few days. The result: less cleaning, fewer disruptions during production, lower costs for waste disposal and repairs, and a healthier, greener working environment. In other words, a successful union of ecology and economy.