Nussbaum Medien St. Leon-Rot has ordered a triple-width Commander CT newspaper web press from Koenig & Bauer (KBA). With this investment the German media enterprise is fundamentally upgrading its printing house and thus strengthening its various print products in the competitive media arena.

At the beginning of 2015 the compact press with one reelstand, a 6/2 tower and a KF3 folder is scheduled to take over the majority of the print jobs currently produced on two Albert 101s and a Clauberg web press as well as those given to third parties.

Group photo after placing an order for the KBA Commander CT 6/2 (sitting l-r): Christoph Müller (KBA executive vice-president for the web press product house), Klaus Nussbaum (proprietor and managing director of Nussbaum Medien St. Leon-Rot) and Timo Bechtold (commercial managing director of Nussbaum Medien St. Leon-Rot). Standing l-r: Alexander Huttenlocher (sales director, KBA), Ender Kavakli (plant manager, Nussbaum Medien St. Leon-Rot) and Georg Fleder (web press sales, KBA)

Proprietor Klaus Nussbaum: “The highly automated compact press lays the perfect foundations for printing our plethora of gazettes and bulletins with very small circulations extremely efficiently, flexibly and economically. Along with the high level of performance, the press will enable us to improve print quality, cut waste, and enhance ease of operation and reduce maintenance tasks for our press operators, e.g. with automatic roller locks. We have worked with the KBA Group in St. Leon-Rot for approx. 30 years and wish to continue our close partnership well into the future with this decision once again to invest in technology from KBA.”

Cross-media supplier of local information

Nussbaum Medien St. Leon-Rot publishes gazettes and private bulletins in the Rhine-Neckar region, around North Karlsruhe and the municipality Altrip near Ludwigshafen. The firm focuses on serving local towns and communities with up to 20,000 inhabitants, who are often the editors of the gazettes. In the Rhine-Neckar region Nussbaum Medien St. Leon-Rot reaches approx. 60% of all households. In addition, Nussbaum Medien also has facilities in Bad Friedrichshall and owns Druckerei Stein in Bad Rappenau in the north-eastern part of Baden-Württemberg.

Under the management and ownership of Klaus Nussbaum the three media houses publish local newspapers in over 100 cities and communities, informing several hundred thousand readers about local news week after week. Normally all of the printing plates have to be changed for nearly 100 different weekly titles as the news differs significantly depending on region. The editions vary between 700 and 23,500 copies, with anything from 8 to 48 tabloid pages apiece.

Along with its core business in gazettes and private bulletins, in recent years Nussbaum Medien St. Leon-Rot has expanded into new business fields. In 2003 DAS LOKALE signalled the firm’s entry into telephone directory printing. Since the launch of the online portal Lokalmatador.de, Nussbaum Medien now also supplies its readers in the northern Baden region with a wealth of local and regional news via the internet and mobile devices.

Highly automated technology for flexible production

The new triple-width KBA Commander CT will have a cylinder circumference of 900mm (35.4in) and a maximum web width of up to 1,860mm (73.2in). It is configured for a maximum rated output of 40,000 full-colour copies collect per hour, each with up to 48 tabloid pages. Pagination changes for the many different products can be initiated automatically from the console.

The Pastomat reelstand will be embedded in a KBA Patras A automatic reel handling system with stripping station. The Commander CT’s high level of automation and top-quality specs are reflected in its automatic plate changing, roller locks, colour-register controls, ink pumping and washing systems. Other equipment will include a folder superstructure with three formers, a KF3 jaw folder, cut-off register controls and a section stitcher. The KBA ErgoTronic console will be networked with KBAPressNet production scheduling and presetting software and will incorporate waste- and time-saving KBA EasyTronic software.