New Press's High Outputs And Fast Change-Overs

Niederosterreichisches Pressehaus (NP) has started production with its new five-colour Rapida 105 press with coating tower and extended delivery.

Niederosterreichisches Pressehaus (NP) has started production with its new five-colour Rapida 105 press with coating tower and extended delivery.

The press has now been demonstrating its prowess at speeds up to 18,000 sheets per hour (sph) since September at NP, which is in St Polten (Austria).

Following successful installation of the Rapida 105, further investments are now planned for 2006.

The new year will see a 48-page commercial web press go in to action and it is NP's declared aim to grow with its customers.

The core business of the print operations at NP is commercial web and coldset newspaper printing.

A recently expanded KBA Journal press, which was originally installed in 1992, stands alongside various 16-page, 32-page and 48-page commercial presses.

A separate sheetfed department handles the covers and special sections for magazines, as well as book production.

A 74 Karat digital offset press has been in operation since 2002, whilst an older 3B press was replaced by the new Rapida 105 in the autumn of 2005, at the end of a demanding selection process, said KBA.

The decision-makers at NP said that they were convinced by the high print outputs and fast job change-overs witnessed at the reference installations they visited.

Even though it will hardly ever be involved in packaging printing, the new five-colour press has been raised by 450mm to increase the maximum pile height.

When printing covers for high-circulation magazines, high piles and efficient non-stop facilities are able to cut throughput times.

The incorporation of a sidelay-free infeed (Sensoric Infeed System) shows that NP also keeps an eye on the latest available technologies when defining press features.

"It is the same situation as three years ago with the 74 Karat - we see ourselves as pioneers in the application of new technologies and are glad to be the ones to put such innovations to the test," said Gerhard Schmidrathner, the technical manager in the print department at NP.

He added that he was delighted with the way installation and commissioning was organised, including the subsequent acceptance testing to FOGRA standards.

Print outputs of 18,000 sheets per hour hour were attained from the very beginning when using coated papers, though the full potential is yet to be realised with uncoated stocks, said KBA.

And Schmidrathner commented that he is satisfied in every respect with the make-ready times.

Whereas the web press lines have been printing without alcohol for a number of years, the Rapida is the first medium-format press at the company to be purposely configured for alcohol-free production.

Already after just a short period of operation, it has become natural for the printers to resort to a minimal IPA addition in the dampening solution only for spot colours and in technologically extreme situations, added KBA.

The company added that the Densitronic colour-measuring system offers a new range of opportunities for quality control and documentation.

And through the implementation of printshop networking with Logotronic, CIP3 data from pre-press can be used directly for pre-setting the press.

Even though the switch from the previous press to the new Rapida 105 has heralded in new technology, the operators had no reservations concerning their highly automated machine, commented KBA.

The five-colour press with coating tower and extended delivery is raised on a plinth to cater for the high net outputs demanded when printing covers and special sections for NP's high-circulation magazines.

NP also works three shifts in its sheetfed offset and finishing departments.

The majority of the production runs over one of the two gatherer-stitchers and two addressing lines.

Founded in 1874, the media house NP is active in the three market segments newspaper publishing, printing and book publishing, employing a total of 500 people.

The newspaper division, the longest-standing section within the company, produces both standard newspaper titles (Niederosterreichische Nachrichten, Niederosterreichisch Rundschau, BVZ) and a variety of frees.

The book department publishes above all children's books, popular literature, books on art, culture and health, and titles of regional interest.

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