Newspaper & Mailroom
KBA at IFRA Expo 2008 in Amsterdam
Tuesday 28. October 2008 - Innovative technology an aid in crisis
With economic fragility causing a slide in ad sales, circulations steadily diminishing in many countries and the financial meltdown shaking investor confidence, the newspaper industry and its suppliers are facing some daunting challenges.
At just 700m, global demand for newspaper presses this year is barely two-thirds its average volume. This was the figure quoted by Christoph Müller, KBAs executive vice-president for web press sales, marketing and service, at an IfraExpo 2008 press conference in Amsterdam. While the USA has seen the biggest slump in investment, printers in western Europe, China and the Far East have also rigorously scaled back their activities over the past twelve months. In India, too, spiralling paper prices have resulted in a moratorium on new purchases in recent months. Major projects are few and far between. But investment in new press kit has been hit by other factors too: conversion to full colour has largely been completed, publishers are shifting funds to online services, the market for frees is approaching saturation in many regions, production plants are being amalgamated or closed down, and the enormous productivity of modern web presses means that fewer are needed for the same volume of work. German press manufacturers, the global leaders, have felt the accumulated impact in their order books.
Even so, the online environment is not the only scene of vibrant activity: newspapers have squared up to the challenge not only by expanding colour, but by transforming layout and format, offering new advertising options, greater localisation and more sections, creating a print-coordinated online presence and engaging readers in issues relating to image, presentation and design. The changes wrought by the internet in the media marketplace have also influenced the choice of technology. In mature print markets, the focus of interest is on production tools for enhancing immediacy, quality, productivity and flexibility while cutting costs. As a result production processes have become more standardised and highly automated.
Shift towards compact designs
Back at Drupa 2000 KBA triggered a fresh wave of newspaper automation with its compact Cortina, the first newspaper press to successfully incorporate the automatic plate changing that was already routine in sheetfed and commercial presses. KBA soon followed this up with the first six-wide version, which shipped to Switzerland. Superwide presses have since become popular in Europe and are making inroads in North America, mostly as four-high towers. In 2006 the waterless Cortina was joined by a conventional counterpart, the Commander CT, and KBA has booked orders for six-wide versions of both types (Nordsee-Zeitung in Bremerhaven, New York Daily News). Having abandoned their initial scepticism, other manufacturers entered the fray and now also offer compact presses with automated plate changing. KBAs technological pioneering and courageous early adopters have thus driven rapid advances in automating and standardising newspaper production within a relatively short space of time.
Tower or satellite?
The purchase of a new web press is an investment for the next fifteen to twenty years. With fewer young people entering the labour market and the pensionable age steadily rising, growth lies in enhancing the appeal of web presses as a place of employment. According to KBA marketing director Klaus Schmidt, flexibility and ergonomics drove the groups adoption of splittable StepIn towers when developing the new compact platform of four-high presses with blanket-to-blanket printing and just one main operating level.
Although the KBA Cortina and Commander CT are only just a little over 4m (13ft) high, they afford much easier access to the blanket cylinder and washing systems than compact satellite presses, which are nearer 6m (19ft 7in) high. Fan-out is similar to that on a nine-cylinder satellite. Other benefits of the compact tower configuration are the symmetrical arrangement of all the components; direct vertical web paths with no guide rollers; less white waste, cleaning and maintenance; the ability to handle improved newsprint with no ink set-off; and their heatset and UV compatibility (with satellites, only UV is possible). On top of this, with KBAs practice-proven PlateTronic system, automatic plate changing takes just two minutes. This is twice as fast as robotic systems that must still pass their baptism by fire. During a night shift entailing twenty plate changes, PlateTronic can deliver a time saving of around sixty minutes. Schmidt is confident that KBAs innovative compact platform will steadily gain acceptance among users of satellite presses. “This is the feedback were getting from technical staff at the Main-Post in Würzburg, where a Commander CT tower press that has operated alongside a satellite press for the past two years has just been extended to an eight-high configuration. Management are delighted with the print quality and flexibility of the press, and its ability to handle new ad forms.”
Cortina ideal for hybrid production
In some markets (North America, Scandinavia, Benelux, southern Europe, the Middle East, China), buyers and users of KBAs conventional newspaper presses, the Commander, Colora, Comet and Continent, have expressed an interest in a semi-commercial capability. At Greek printer Kathimerini in Athens, a Colora pumps out hybrid coldset/heatset copies of an outstanding quality. Some of the five Commander presses (27 towers) scheduled to ship next year to Turkish printing and publishing group Ciner Matbaacilik (Ciner Printing) will incorporate thermal air dryers for semi-commercial and hybrid production.
The waterless offset Cortina is ideal for hybrid production because there is no fount solution to impair quality on coldset newsprint and heatset LWC. As a result both labour input and production waste are much lower. A feature unique to the Cortina is its ability to print coldset and heatset copies with the same inks. Conversion between the two modes is therefore extremely fast – as has been demonstrated by the big Cortina press line at De Persgroeps Eco Print Center in Belgium and a smaller one at ELBO Avistryk in Denmark. The quality of the hybrid copies produced is impressive. Print tests conducted on the two press lines prompted the Gulf News, a progressive newspaper publishing house in Dubai, to sign up in the summer for a 4/1 Cortina press line with fourteen reelstands and towers, four hot-air dryers and three folders. It will be the first Cortina outside Europe.
Heatset or UV?
KBA occasionally receives requests from North America, Europe and elsewhere for UV dryers from the three major suppliers to the newspaper industry (Eltex, IST, Prime). Space permitting, KBA and other press manufacturers are happy to configure a new tower or satellite press with such a dryer, or to retrofit an existing press line. In most cases, a UV capability is added to an existing single-width newspaper press to enhance its flexibility within the available space. But in a wet offset press, conversion between UV and coldset can take up to three hours, so for regular use a dedicated tower is more cost-effective. While UV dryers are no cheaper than heatset dryers, they are easier to retrofit in existing buildings, radiate less heat on the substrate and generate less start-up waste. They are a viable alternative to heatset for short runs but heatset has the edge for long runs because ink costs are lower. Print tests have shown that the quality delivered by satellite presses with UV dryers is inferior (higher dot gain, less colour contrast) to that of four-high tower presses. Also, the de-inking issues associated with UV newsprint have yet to be resolved, recalling similar issues with water-based flexo inks.
Up front in conventional technology too
Implementing new ideas in the conservatively minded newspaper industry demands plenty of patience, a quality KBA has demonstrated repeatedly in the 191 years since its founders invented the worlds first mechanical printing press. The launch of its compact press platform is but a recent example, and its efforts have been rewarded with sales of twenty press lines (15 Cortina, 5 Commander CT) totalling 103 towers (74 Cortina, 29 Commander CT) and 824 couples in 4/1, 4/2 and 6/2 configurations. For newspaper printers who do not require such an advanced level of automation KBA offers a well- established range of high-tech machines from the Continent to the Comet, Prisma, Colora and Commander 4/1, 4/2 and 6/2. Recent orders include major press lines for India and Turkey. Blending proven technology and new advances is KBAs ongoing contribution to addressing the needs of the newspaper industry in a shifting environment.