Axel Springer Division Orders KBA Newspaper Press

Ostsee-Zeitung in Rostock, a holding company of the Berlin-based Axel Springer group, has ordered a KBA six-wide Commander 6/2 newspaper press.

Ostsee-Zeitung in Rostock, a holding company of the Berlin-based Axel Springer group, has ordered a KBA six-wide Commander 6/2 newspaper press.

When it comes on stream at the end of 2006, the Commander's principal task will be production of the regional newspaper Ostee-Zeitung in 10 local editions.

The circulation reaches over 180,000 copies from Monday to Friday, and exceeds 200,000 copies on Saturdays.

During the daytime, the press will be kept busy with the weekly circulation of 400,000 copies of the Ostsee-Anzeiger and Ruganer Anzeiger advertisers, alongside further weekly and monthly titles, such as the tourism special Urlaubs-Lotse and the theatre journal Souffleurkasten.

Dr Kurt Sabathil, the managing director of Ostsee-Zeitung, said: "The competitiveness of a newspaper is today increasingly dependent on the economic efficiency of the technology used to print it.

It was the economic benefits which encouraged us to consider a six-across press.

A single tower is able to produce 24 full-colour broadsheet pages, and that with significantly reduced space requirements, investment outlay, energy and labour costs compared to a conventional 4/2 press.

The decision in favour of KBA, which came at the end of a lengthy selection process, was clinched by the innovative press design, both in its technological features and its ease of operation, make-ready and maintenance, not to mention its convincing performance.

The KBA Commander 6/2 has two nine-cylinder satellite towers, two KBA Pastomat RC reelstands and a KF 5 double jaw folder, and is rated for an hourly output of up to 45,000 full-colour 48-page newspapers or 90,000 full-colour 24-page newspapers in straight production, said KBA.

The press has been designed with a cylinder circumference of 1,020mm (40") for a maximum web width of 2,100 mm (82.5").

The automatic KBA Patras A reel handling system and stripping station, web aligners, automatic blanket and impression cylinder wash-ups, cut-off register controls, ink pumping and modern console technology, with EAE's Print job scheduling and pre-setting system, a RIP interface and a diagnosis PC.

There are also double turner bars with a flying-page function for the title ribbon, a skip slitter and a section stitcher.

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