Entering the digital book printing market 

Kösel in Altusried Krugzell, Germany, is known in certain industry circles for its entrepreneurial innovative spirit and its high-quality books. Founded in 1593, the firm produces some 13m copies per year and its 190 employees generate annual sales of around €22m. Kösel has won numerous awards including book printer of the year at the Druck & Medien Awards, the DID award 2014 for book finishing, the IF Design Award in the category Print Media and many more for the outstanding print and finishing quality of the books it produces as well as promoting the next generation of printing experts.

Market-related addition to sheetfed offset

Until now Kösel printed and finished its high-quality books on cutting-edge sheetfed offset presses and an offset web press. Additionally, this prominent firm took into account the trends in the book printing segment towards smaller runs with shrinking cycles to print-on-demand and recently ordered a KBA RotaJET 76 inkjet press from Koenig & Bauer connected to inline finishing kit from GEP Germany (Global - EHRET Processing Technology). The new press is expected to replace the existing offset web press. 

The right digital press for thin paper

Ultimately, what tipped the balance in favour of the KBA RotaJET was its robust engineering which combined with an intelligent web guidance system over two large cylinders without turner bars result in optimum web tension and a high print and register quality even on thin paper. The KBA RotaJET gives rise to fewer register issues than other printing machines when perfecting in one or full-colour. The RotaJET in Altusried, Germany, will predominantly print substrates under 40g/m2 (25lbs). 

The KBA RotaJET 76 is expected to be delivered to Altusried in July 2015 and will be put into operation in August. It will mainly be used to print literary and scientific works, legal literature as well as textbooks and schoolbooks in black on both sides of the paper.

KBA RotaJET: precision engineering “Made by KBA”

With a maximum web speed of 150mpm (500fpm) and a maximum web width of 780mm (30.7in) (equalling approx. 3,000 DIN A4 pages a minute or approx. 85m DIN A4/month) the RotaJET prints using KBA RotaColor water-based pigment inks. Its Piezo inkjet heads are designed for high loads and are reliable and low-maintenance. They do not need to be changed frequently as is the case with other systems. The inkjet heads are cleaned automatically. Furthermore, the heads are aligned automatically (stitching) and every head can be controlled individually. Print resolution stands at 600dpi native and variable droplet sizes deliver an additional boost to quality.

The two arrays of 56 inkjet heads form an arch over two large central impression cylinders and can be moved aside for maintenance purposes. This arrangement facilitates an outstanding register accuracy on challenging substrates. The unwinder which was specially developed for the RotaJET and the infeed unit ensure optimum web tension. Tension is controlled automatically. At the end of the day this results in less waste, fast job change, efficient production and more flexibility.

Industry-compliant Adobe APPE workflow 

Press line intercommunication and the integration of third-party systems take place in accordance with JDF standard. The RotaJET 76 workflow is based on APPE (Adobe PDF Print Engine). Moreover, the upstream front-end is configured for high-volume POD production