German printing and publishing house Miller has ordered a 32pp double-wide KBA Colora newspaper press which is slated to come on stream in spring 2010. Says publisher Thomas Miller: “Our family-run media business, which is now in the sixth generation, has always sought the most advanced kit on the market and has often pioneered new technologies, for example when we switched from hot-metal composition to filmsetting in the 1970s.  

Now the time has come for our Albert 500 web offset press from KBA Frankenthal, which has given us many years of excellent service, to be replaced by a new generation. Our aim is to further enhance colour and immediacy while honing the competitiveness of our newspaper titles on a sustained basis by taking on board new production and advertising capabilities. After checking out the options we chose the Colora because it is the perfect fit for our specific needs in terms of productivity, flexibility and print quality. Its performance has been well proven at newspaper production plants throughout the world and KBA is customising the press line to suit our production structure and plant architecture.”
 
Newspaper publishing house with long tradition
In 2005 Miller celebrated a double jubilee, having started out as a printer and stationer in 1835 and launched its first newspaper, the Traunsteiner Wochenblatt, on 1 July 1855. The name was changed to Traunsteiner Tagblatt in 2000. Following decades of amicable collaboration, in 2008 Miller acquired the Berchtesgadener Anzeiger, which celebrated its 125th anniversary the year before. Alongside these two local titles, which have a total circulation of around 22,600 copies on weekdays and 30,200 copies on Saturdays, the new KBA Colora will print a weekly supplement to the Traunsteiner Tagblatt, the Chiemgau-Blätter with a total circulation of 23,000 copies, and the Traunsteiner Anzeigen-Kurier, a title launched in November 2004 and published on Thursdays with a circulation of some 60,000 copies. Miller, which has preserved its independent to this day, has an in-house editorial department who also delivers the political, business and other sections to the Reichenhaller Tagblatt and the Freilassinger Anzeiger.  
 
Customised press line

The 75,000cph KBA Colora will have a cylinder circumference of 940mm (37in) and a maximum web width of 1,260mm (49.5in). Specs for the floor-mounted press include two KBA Pastomat C reelstands with KBA Patras M reel handling, two towers of H-type units for 4/4, a superstructure with two formers and a KF 3 jaw folder. The two turner bars will be engineered to accommodate 7/8 and 3/8 web leads for the production of half-covers and flying pages. The press will also boast a raft of automation modules, eg ink pumping, two EAE control desks and colour register control, to enhance productivity and print quality.