By: Jim Rosenberg With the newspaper industry in poor financial health and prospects for print uncertain at best, the New York Daily News put in whopper of a press order: a 15-tower triplewide version of the compact Commander CT press from KBA, giving the market-leading tabloid 100% color production capability.
"We first explored the idea of six-wide presses with the Daily News exactly 40 years ago, but only recent technologies and advances have led this unique concept to reality," KBA deputy president Claus Bolza-Schuenemann said in a statement. (Back then, a six-wide sought by the Daily News couldn't adequately support heavy letterpress plates and lockups on two-around cylinders. But in 1974, KBA succeeded with a six-wide letterpress for a Belgian publisher by using a sturdier four-around plate cylinder.)
KBA installed the first compact version of its top-of-the-line Commander at Main-Post (E&P Online, Oct. 18, 2006), in its hometown of Wuerzburg, Germany. Another soon will go into Heraldo de Aragon, Zaragoza, Spain. The Daily News order is the first for a triplewide version of the Commander's CT model.
The press is slated to go into production late next year in the Daily News' Liberty View production and packaging plant, across New York Harbor in Jersey City, N.J. The value of the contract was not disclosed, but the budgeted capital expenditure includes improvements to the production plant, which according to Communications Vice President Jennifer Mauer. The plant now houses Goss Newsliner presses and Printing Press Services International color towers. Of their fate, Mauer says only that "we're reviewing all the possible options."
The Commander CT triplewide press line will have three sections, each with five Pastomat reelstands, five towers and one KF 7 jaw folder. Its Patras A automated reel-logistics system will feature storage and retrieval vehicles, splice preparation and on-demand reel loading.
"When the KBA printing presses are fully operational, the print quality of the Daily News will be head and shoulders above the competition and equal to any newspaper in the world," Daily News Chairman and Publisher Mort Zuckerman said in announcing the press order.
"In one leap, we are strategically positioning our printed product to meet the ever-changing demands of today's and tomorrow's advertisers and readers," Daily News CEO Marc Z. Kramer said in the same announcement. "Our new KBA presses will allow us to work even more closely with our advertisers to meet their ever-changing demands. In addition, these new presses will enable us to offer creative and innovative ways for advertisers' messages to reach our millions of loyal readers."
Commander CT towers rise less than 13 feet, facilitating installation in standard industrial buildings. In a high-ceilinged press hall, however, two of the compact four-highs can be stacked to create an eight-high tower. A four-high tower can run a 4/4 full-color web or two 2/2 webs.
Commander CT printing couples incorporate improved conventional roller-type undershot inking with ink keys and three form rollers, along with triple-roller spray dampening.
Automation will include blanket washing, color register control, KBA PlateTronic plate changers (for ultrashort edition changes), KBA RollerTronic roller locks (for optimum printing conditions without manual adjustment), and KBA NipTronic cylinder bearings for remotely adjusting pressure between the plate and blanket cylinders (an advantage when printing on different weights of stock). The press also will be equipped with cut-off controls and ribbon stitchers, and will be controlled from six consoles incorporating a job scheduling and press presetting system with materials management software.
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