Offset Printing

Commissioning of five Commander press lines at Ciner Printing in full swing

Turgay, near the teeming metropolis of Istanbul, is the location of the biggest of Ciner Printing’s four new newspaper printing plants, where a total of five KBA Commander press lines, some with a heatset capability for hybrid production, will come on stream next year

Tuesday 16. December 2008 - 27 KBA towers for four new printing plants in Turkey

In recent weeks five high-automation KBA Commander presses totalling 27 towers have been offloaded, placed and installed at the Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Adana operations of prominent Turkish printing and publishing group Ciner Matbaacilik (Ciner Printing Inc.). The company is part of the Ciner Group, whose interests encompass mining, energy, tourism, hotels, trade and industry.
Simultaneous activities at four locations
For KBA’s installation contractor, Scholpp Montage in Stuttgart, placing and erecting five web presses almost simultaneously at four locations within just three months was not only its biggest press-related contract in 2008 but also a technical and scheduling tour de force. With installation work in Ankara, Izmir and Adana commencing just two weeks later than in Istanbul, the logistics involved in organising the delivery of the pertinent press components by fleets of special transporters demanded ultra-precise planning and perfect co-ordination with KBA’s specialist crews. Some deliveries were delayed in customs or en route, resulting in additional shifts having to be worked.

At the Istanbul plant, for example, two days in mid-November were spent offloading two 34-tonne high-performance Vits dryers and placing them with millimetre precision on their steel support frames. The biggest of the four new newspaper printing plants was built in a matter of months in Tuzla, southeast of Istanbul, directly adjacent to the Istanbul Park industrial estate and the Formula One racetrack that opened in 2005.

Fastest newspaper presses in Turkey

With a maximum rated output of 90,000 copies per hour the five KBA Commander press lines will be the fastest newspaper presses in Turkey. Press features include KBA RollerTronic automatic roller locks plus automatic plate changing, blanket washing and colour and cut-off register controls to maximise productivity and print quality. In line with current trends in the international newspaper market, some of the presses will incorporate dryers to support hybrid coldset/heatset production.

This major Turkish project underscores once again KBA’s pole position in newspaper, semi-commercial and hybrid technology. The press lines will launch into action at the four locations little more than one year after the contract was placed January 2008. They will print in-house daily and weekly titles along with semi-commercials and external products.
“50 thousand 50” growth strategy
The total investment package, which is worth many tens of millions of euros, is typical of the growth strategy pursued by the Ciner Group headed by president Turgay Ciner. Under the banner “50 thousand 50” the group is aiming to expand its payroll to 50,000 and set up 50 educational establishments nationwide as part of its strong social agenda.