Hybrid for Sweden will be 18th KBA Cortina

By: E&P Staff MittMedia Print, a subsidiary of Sweden's MittMedia F?rvaltnings, in G?vle, has ordered a waterless KBA Cortina press with both coldest and heatset capabilities for printing newspapers, supplements and magazines. With no fan-out in waterless offset, high-quality copies containing both heatset and coldset sections are possible.

MittMedia Print will be the 18th Cortina to leave KBA's factory and the first installed in Sweden. The package includes new finishing equipment and an extension to the plant in Sundsvall, where the Cortina is scheduled to begin printing next spring.

The investment in the Sundsvalls Tidning and Dagbladet meets "a brisk demand for tabloid products on coated stock," MittMedia Print Managing Director Jan Andersson said in a statement. "We want to gain a foothold in the heatset and hybrid market with all possible speed. So the Cortina, with its outstanding image quality, fast makeready and unique, rapid conversion between coldset and heatset with no change of ink, is the perfect press for this purpose."

The doublewide line with 22-inch cut-off and maximum output of 75,000cph will comprise two KBA Pastomat reelstands, two compact four-high towers and a KF3 folder, with provision for additions. It will be capable of printing 64-page full-color tabloids. (The upgraded finishing department can create tabloids of as many as 128 pages, according to Andersson.) KBA PlateTronic automatic plate changers and automatic conversion from the maximum web width of 62.5-inch to a smaller width for other products support high-speed job changes. KBA NipTronic bearing technology affords optimum impression pressure and can be adjusted quickly for different stocks. KBA ribbon-splitting device cuts conversion times for different tabloid formats. Webs run unturned through two formers, after which the slit ribbons are assigned to stitchers, facilitating production of tabloid sections with different page counts.

The customized superstructure has four turner bars, two bay-window rollers and two formers above the folder to support a choice of products. Copies can be delivered glued, stitched, perforated and/or with a quarterfold. Control is from a KBA ErgoTronic console with presetting software. Automatic color and cut-off register controls, KBA CleanTronic blanket washing and other features promote image and fold quality withy minimum waste.

MittMedia already operates a KBA Journal in G?vle and a KBA Continent in ?stersund. The parent company owns 17 regional titles in central and northern Sweden with daily combined circulations of 280,000 copies. In addition to newspaper publishing and digital media, businesses include distribution, radio and commercial printing.

KBA noted that the choice of Cortina reflects environmental concerns that characterize Scandinavian printers, where newspaper already are produced by waterless Cortinas in Denmark and, soon, in Finland.