Belgian Media Group's Total Waterless Switch

Early this year Belgian media group De Persgroep in Asse near Brussels placed an order for a 48-page KBA Cortina scheduled for installation in autumn 2005 at a new printing plant in Lokeren.

Early this year Belgian media group De Persgroep in Asse near Brussels placed an order for a 48-page KBA Cortina scheduled for installation in autumn 2005 at a new printing plant in Lokeren.

Since then Persgroep has decided to upgrade its entire press fleet and switch to the more compact Berliner format.

To replace its four existing conventional offset presses it recently signed on the dotted line for three more Cortinas that will be delivered in spring and summer 2007.

They will progressively take over production of in-house daily and weekly titles (which include 'Het Laatste Nieuws' with a circulation of around 350,000 copies and 'DeMorgen' with around 75,000) plus numerous tabloid-format advertisement inserts.

Said Jan Moens, deputy technical director: "The Cortina really knocked us out - it prints colour newspapers and semi-commercials in a fantastic quality and is enormously productive because automatic plate changing cuts make-ready for edition changes to an absolute minimum.

Having decided to replace our entire press line, going completely waterless with Cortinas seemed the obvious solution.

Thanks to the time and quality gains they deliver we can bring outsourced semi-commercials back in-house and even take on contract work on top of that.

But best of all, the reduction in waste and manning requirements will dramatically lower our production costs." The double-width Cortina press line will comprise 12 four-high towers and Pastomat RC reelstands for a wider maximum reel width of 1,500mm (59.5"), 12 turner bars, four folder superstructures with two formers apiece and four KBA KF 5 jaw folders with section stitchers.

Reel loading, plate changing, ink pumping and blanket washing will all be automatic.

The contract includes provision for an extension by two 48pp sections and extras such as an insertion deck, skip slitter, balloon former, ribbon stitcher, length and cross perforator.

The presses will have a 470mm (185") cut-off, a maximum web width of 1,260mm (29.5") and a production output of 80,000 copies per hour (cph).

They will be erected on a concrete table and controlled by consoles with diagnostics PCs.

For KBA, this major order from a premier Belgian publisher represents a big vote of confidence in waterless offset and is what it considers to be a milestone in the campaign to win hearts and minds with the quality and efficiency gains this technology can deliver.

De Persgroep's many activities include newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and the internet.

In the 2003 business year it posted an operating profit of 47.4m Euros on sales of 334.3m Euros, with print accounting for two-thirds of both.

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