KBA Comet Goes In At Turkish Newspaper Plant

Another of KBA's popular two-across, two-around Comets will come on stream in mid-year at the Istanbul production plant of Turkish newspaper publishing house Feza Gazetecilik.

Another of KBA's popular two-across, two-around Comets will come on stream in mid-year at the Istanbul production plant of Turkish newspaper publishing house Feza Gazetecilik.

The Comet will have a cylinder circumference of 1,120mm (44") and a standard web width of 760mm (30").

Maximum rated output will be 70,000 copies per hour (cph) in straight production.

Web width can be varied from 635mm to 1,000mm (25"-391/2").

The press package comprises four H-type towers plus two H units, eight Megtec AR70A reel stands linked to a KBA Patras M reel-handling system, a folder superstructure with standard and balloon formers.

There will also be a 2:3.3 KF 3 jaw folder and three EAE consoles with Print PP job scheduling and press preset system, RIP interface and diagnostics PC for remote maintenance.

An insertion deck, length/cross perforation and a quarterfold will support a high level of production flexibility.

Provision has also been made for the addition of a ribbon stitcher at a later date.

Extensive training for the press crew is also included in the deal.

The Comet will feed to new mailroom technology from Ferag.

The press will print editions of Zaman (meaning Time), a national daily with a circulation of 400,000 copies.

The international edition of around 100,000 copies is published in 10 languages in 10 countries including Germany (which has a large Turkish minority).

It is also read in more than 20 countries, predominantly in the Turkic states of the ex-Soviet Union but extending east and west to Australia and the USA.

Zaman has established a reputation both nationally and internationally for balanced, in-depth news coverage.

It was first published as a black-and-white newspaper in November 1986, selling 25,000 copies on the first day.

The company steadily expanded from the original 80 staff, and a year later relocated to Istanbul.

In 1989, with circulation hitting 150,000, it set up its own printing plant in Istanbul.

Other plants, in Izmir, Adana and Erzurum, were to follow.

Zaman was quick to recognise the potential of the Internet and in 1996 became the first Turkish newspaper to set up a website.

Last year it introduced an English online edition.

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