Lehighton, PA group of newspapers upgrades its control system on its KBA Comet press

KBA North America announces that it has been awarded the contract for its expert web offset service department to upgrade the control system on a KBA Comet web offset press at the Times News in Lehighton, PA this summer. This unique web service retrofit/rebuild upgrade program, which is only offered by KBA, offers preventative change-over installation on existing web offset presses and replaces it with new enhanced technology for more efficient throughput.

"We had a choice between KBA and a different manufacturer to upgrade our control system on our KBA Comet web offset press," says Fred Masenheimer, publisher of the Times News in Lehighton. "After a careful evaluation of the pros and cons of the two quotes we secured to do the upgrade, we awarded the project to KBA. While the original press came with a non-KBA control system from the other manufacturer, we decided to eliminate the interdependency of two companies to solve future press problems and put that responsibility in the hands of a single vendor and that was KBA. We feel that KBA had the knowledge, resources, and skilled technicians to update our press and its systems."

The contract calls for KBA to replace and improve upon the press' computers and software as well as make other enhancements to the press. Masenheimer says that these new additions will allow for increased capabilities, advanced improvements, and permit the company to handle new projects with even greater efficiency.

"We run a 24/ 7 printing operation to handle our own daily newspaper, our eight weekly newspapers and a full schedule of commercial printing which includes another daily newspaper," he says. "KBA gave us the most confidence they would be able to do the upgrade with the least amount of interruption to our busy printing schedule and because of the extensive knowledge of their factory-trained personnel."

"The expansion of our service portfolio has gained in importance as the demand for service has increased," says Stefan Prohaska, director of customer service at KBA North America. "Service sales with retrofits, repairs, upgrades, relocations, consulting, and training are rising continually. Long-term service and maintenance contracts are on the rise. Our KBA team is skilled at being able to audit, analyze, and recommend programs to our customers and even non-customers to increase output and quality. Newspaper publishers depend upon asset condition and reliability for newspaper production and on time product delivery. The web offset retrofit service's goal is to provide newspapers with reliable manufacturing and successful production on their web offset presses and to keep the technology running smoothly."

The Times News newspaper can trace its history back over 120 years to the Mauch Chunk Daily Times established in 1883. The Mauch Chunk Times News, which later became the Jim Thorpe Times News from 1951 until 1967, was purchased by Pencor Services, Inc., (Pennsylvania ENtertainment, COmmunications and Recreation). In 1968 Pencor purchased the Lansford Record and in 1971 acquired the circulation of the Evening Courier published in Tamaqua. The combined newspapers published under the banner of the Times News Record and Courier until 1971 when the name was changed to the Times News. In September 1987 the Times News entered the weekly newspaper business when it purchased the East Penn Free Press published in Emmaus. Through the next two decades more weekly newspapers were started serving school districts in the Allentown and Bethlehem areas. These newspapers as well as the Times News are printed at the TN Printing complex located on Blakeslee Boulevard, four miles West of Lehighton.

KBA North America is located in Dallas, Texas and a member of the KBA Group. Established almost 200 years ago in Wuerzburg, Germany, Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) is the oldest and second largest press manufacturer worldwide. KBA's banner, 'People & Print', reflects its dual focus as a leading innovator for print entrepreneurs. The group's product range is the broadest in the industry; its portfolio includes sheetfed offset presses in all format classes, commercial and newspaper web presses, inkjet systems and presses, flexographic presses, special presses for banknotes, securities, metal-decorating, smart cards, glass and plastic decorating. For more information visit the company's web site at www.kba.com.