July 7, 2003 -- KBA is gaining an even stronger foothold in the North American market. The sale of a two-across Colora to Independent Newspapers and a one-across Comet to The Santa Fe New Mexican follows a succession of Comet, Colora, Commander and Continent installations in the USA. Independent Newspapers Selects Variable Web Width Independent Newspapers, Inc. (INI), headquartered in Dover, Delaware, publishes a wide array of broadsheets, tabloids and semi-commercials. So when the time came to enhance its printing operation, the company’s top priority was finding technology that had proved its mettle in similar pressroom environments. They found it in the two-around punch of KBA’s Colora semi-commercial press, which has a 533.4mm (21”) cut-off and a web width variable in 12.7mm (½”) increments from 508mm (20”) to 1,270mm (50”). INI operates community newspapers and printing plants in Arizona, Delaware, Florida and Maryland. Delmarva, home of the company’s Delaware and Maryland operations, is also home to the company’s original – and biggest – operations. In addition to the Delaware State News, the company’s flagship seven-day daily based in Dover, the Delmarva operations also publish weekly newspapers, a five-day daily, statewide business, legal and government weeklies, several shoppers and monthly niche publications. Sam Wagner, with Web Offset Services in Sarasota, Florida, was INI’s project consultant. He worked with INI and KBA to develop a unique press configuration, resulting in a single footprint press that can produce more pages and colour with fewer people and webs than typical single width presses. Adding the right angle feature builds in even more flexibility and reduces the limitations that most double width newspaper presses have. ”We considered several excellent proposals,” says INI corporate president Tammy Brittingham, ”but in the end we felt that the KBA press best suited our current needs and future objectives.” Similar technology is already thriving in pressrooms that include the Austin-American Statesman in Austin, Texas, Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing Ltd of Toronto, the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio, and the Fayetteville Observer in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The Colora press is configured as one tower of 10 printing couples in H-style frames. It will have two KBA Pastostar RC reelstands plus a KBA KF3 (2:3:3) jaw folder arranged at right angles to the press line. Special design turner bars, two over-size formers, remotely adjustable draw roller assemblies, a skip slitter, section stitcher and cross-folder will allow the press to produce a wide array of products. The Santa Fe New Mexican Purchases 70,000cph KBA Comet The New Mexican’s Comet, which replaces a Goss Urbanite installed around 1970, is a double-circumference web offset tower press for colour newspapers and semi-commercials. The Comet will allow a web width variable between 635mm (25”) and 1,000mm (39½”) and a maximum rated output of 70,000cph straight. It will be configured with five Megtec autoweb reelstands and will feature a quarter-folder. The four printing towers will support full colour on both sides of one web or 2/2 on two webs. Cut-off will be 546mm (21½”). The new press line will be the centrepiece of a 5,100m2 (55,000ft2) construction project that ultimately will embrace a greatly enlarged mailroom. Daily circulation at The Santa Fe New Mexican is 25,268. Sunday circulation is 27,235. According to Ty Ransdell, general manager of The Santa Fe New Mexican, the Comet was one of several presses evaluated by the company’s task force. ”We definitely liked the chemistry with KBA, but also, when it comes to shaftless, two-around, single-width presses, there aren’t a lot of them out there. KBA has more installations of this particular press than the other manufacturers. That made us feel more comfortable about parts, about their experience, and about the quality of their product.”