On 20 February the first printing unit was delivered to Trier, Germany’s oldest town with over 2,000 years of history and Roman monuments. Since 12 May a KBA Cortina with two coaters has produced the daily newspaper Trierischer Volksfreund, supplements, magazines and many other print products in a high quality.

The possibility of inline finishing with water-based coating with the waterless coldset Cortina paves the way for the production of print products which are especially challenging in terms of quality as well as environmentally friendly, something not every newspaper house has. Volksfreund-Druckerei Nikolaus Koch aims to use this potential to creatively expand its product portfolio and reach new reader groups and ad clients. Along with the printing house’s daily newspaper, which even without coating is produced in an excellent quality, special publications with coating have already been produced to Volksfreund’s complete satisfaction.

More possibilities for print

Thomas Marx, managing director of Trierischer Volksfreund media house: “Besides the high-quality printing of our daily newspaper, the Cortina offers us the possibility to print additional own products, as well as external orders, in various formats, such as A4, and substrates. The two integrated coaters, a feature which so far has only been implemented by some of the few KBA Cortina users, will be used specifically to expand our service range.” Coating is primarily suitable for high-quality brochures, special products and supplements in full colour and high ink coverage, or centre spread ads which run over the fold. A layer of coating effectively prevents ink smearing or set-off which is often unavoidable when printing such images in conventional newspaper production. Our first coated print runs have proven this. In addition, the KBA Cortina’s high format flexibility is advantageous for special publications. Its economic benefits are delivered by extremely low start-up waste, even with unusual print jobs, in the waterless offset printing process.”

New print era in Trier

Named after its founder Nikolas Koch the company, which has existed for over 135 years, today belongs to the Saarbrücker Zeitung media group. The Parent supported the medium of print with considerable investments at its site in Trier from the beginning. When placing the order in June 2013 Saarbrücker Zeitungsgruppe CEO Dr Joachim Meinhold said: “The decision in favour of the KBA Cortina puts Trierischer Volksfreund technologically and economically in a pole position”.

The Trierischer Volksfreund has a daily circulation of about 100,000 copies with twelve regional editions. Along with the town of Trier, it is distributed in Eifel, Mosel and the Hunsrück region. The regional business journal MACHER, Menschen + Märkte, the lifestyle magazine glanzvoll, the entertainment magazine for patients Pieks, the Familienmagazin for families, the children’s magazine Lucky and the football magazine Anstoß all add to the company’s media offerings. The publishing house also publishes the cross-border newspaper supplement DeLux together with Luxemburger Tageblatt. The Trierischer Volksfreund is available as a printed edition, an e-paper and an app for mobile devices. The media house is the region’s internet market leader with its website volksfreund.de.

Technology for the 21st century

The double-width KBA Cortina is engineered for the Rhine format with an output of 85,000 copies per hour and has the ability to print and coat up to 32 broadsheet and 64 tabloid pages in full colour.

Its two Pastomat reelstands are fed automatically with paper reels. Since it is configured as a floor-mounted press this extremely compact and extensively automated Cortina is low in height which makes it user friendly and minimises the number of operators needed. Automatic web width adjustment and automatic plate changing with KBA PlateTronicensure fast job changes. Both coaters, which simply need an IR/TA drying aid and not a high energy heatset dryer, are integrated above both printing towers saving space. Water-based coating can be printed on both sides of the web in varying widths. Furthermore, the possible combination of a coated and non-coated web and the use of various paper grades enhance product flexibility. The superstructure has two double turner bars, three conical formers and a skip slitter. Additional features allow printed products to be glued, stitched or perforated. Other capabilities support the production of ad specials, such as four-page centre spreads or half covers.

The Cortina is controlled from a cutting-edge ErgoTronic console incorporating KBA PressNet, a production scheduling and press presetting system. Automatic colour and cut-off register controls, cylinder washing systems and further features support a high printing and folding quality with minimal waste.