KBA Secures Major Scottish Newspaper Press Order

The biggest investment in Scottish printing for a generation has been announced by Trinity Mirror Printing for its 12-acre newspaper manufacturing site at Cardonald Park, Glasgow.

The biggest investment in Scottish printing for a generation has been announced by Trinity Mirror Printing for its 12-acre newspaper manufacturing site at Cardonald Park, Glasgow.

The centre piece of the development, which will see the transformation of the entire pressroom with the installation of KBA technology, will be two new KBA Commander press lines comprising five reelstands, five printing towers and a high-speed jaw folder each.

Simultaneously, two of the four existing KBA Commander presses, which were installed in 1995, will be refurbished and upgraded with shaftless nine-cylinder satellites in place of mono printing units.

Trinity Mirror said that its aim is to provide 100 per cent colour on all newspaper, magazine and insert products, based on lower unit costs, improved speed and efficiency, editorial and advertising 'windows' and environmental advantages, including the use of 100 per cent recycled paper.

The titles involved include the Scottish Daily Record, Scottish Sunday Mail, Scottish Mirror, Scottish Sunday Mirror, Scottish Racing Post, Metro and a range of regional titles, magazines, inserts and contract titles.

The flagship Scottish Daily Record will often demand the printing of 600,000 copies of gathered 160 pages.

On completion the Commander lines will have a variable web width capability and additional features including inline spine stitching.

Trinity Mirror Glasgow director and general manager, Duncan Gilchrist said: "This is a fundamental investment, which is a vote for ink on paper.

It is a vote for printed paper products, a vote for Trinity Mirror and a vote for Scotland.

And of KBA, Gilchrist continued: "I cannot fault the KBA technology and its professionalism and I am very happy that KBA is continuing as our press supplier.

KBA said it won the order against stiff competition from all three other international newspaper press suppliers and acknowledged that the contract provides them with a very complex, time-critical programme, which will begin this summer.

A calculated plan will see full production sustained at Cardonald Park, resulting in increased colour availability and operational flexibility.

On the technical specification, KBA's vice president of sales, Jochen Schwab, said: "One of the existing shaft-driven presses will be extended with two new shaftless nine-cylinder satellites, the second existing press with two satellites from the presses being replaced.

The two new Commander presses, with a maximum output of 85,000 copies per hour, will have a total of 10 KBA Pastomat RC reelstands with auto-loading, 10 towers, two KF5 jaw folders, colour and cut-off control, KBA/QI for all print presetting systems.

All press lines will be modified to accommodate a variable web width setting.

Christian Knapp, managing director of KBA UK, commented: "It is a great pleasure for KBA to be part of such a major investment in Scottish printing.

I am sure the KBA Commander lines will continue meeting the needs of Trinity Mirror Glasgow long in to the future.

Trinity Mirror Printing in Glasgow employs 200 staff, works a shift pattern over 24 hours, seven days-a-week, utilises 250 tonnes of paper a day and processes over 2,000 printing plates.

Alongside the investment in printing presses, the company is beefing up its plate room and mailroom operations, whilst also installing automatic palletisation.

The company is also well down the road towards ISO 14001 accreditation.

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