Last week’s launch of the KBA Commander CL at Times Union in Albany, New York wasn’t just the model’s US debut… it’s rare enough for a publisher in the country to be commissioning new plant of this scale at all.
And the all-colour press represents a huge leap in quality and capacity for the albeit conservative daily, previously printed on a letterpress rotary installed 43 years ago when many publishers were equipping with offset.
The ‘on schedule’ switchover (on March 19) is KBA’s third CL, following Bavarian installs in Penzberg (end January) and Rosenheim (February). The German maker has now sold seven lines of the ‘flexibly automatable’ press.
The press is part of a major makeover for the Hearst Corporation newspaper, which serves New York state’s capital district.
Chief executive Frank A. Bennack, Jr. likened the investment to that in apps, websites and new digital businesses, but he didn’t say why it had taken so long: “We must evolve our core print product in order to give readers and advertisers the highest quality experience across all platforms,” he said.
“We have been in the media business for over 150 years, and this is for us a major investment in the future of newspapers, which we believe will continue to serve the American public as far into the future as the eye can see.”
The paper’s fourth-generation publisher and chief executive, George R. Hearst III – great-grandson of William Randolph Hearst – was clearly delighted by the move: “At a time of great change in the media industry, when other newspapers are reducing production days or closing entirely, we are proud to be able to provide readers and advertisers with one of the best quality newspapers in the country,” he said.
“The redesigned Times Union sports improved print quality and enhanced photo and advertising reproduction, and content enhancements, such as our expanded weather report, TV listings and seven-day-a-week comics, can now be offered in convincing full colour.
“At the same time, we enjoy much greater freedom with regard to page layout.”
The installation at the newspaper's upgraded Colonie print centre near Albany comprises two 32-page compact press lines with a total of four reelstands, four four-high towers and two folders.
It has a short, 533.4 mm cut-off and has been engineered for a maximum web width of 1219.2 mm, although one of the two folders can be set to handle variable web widths.
The press will print 80,000 32-page or 40,000 64-page copies of the broadsheet in full colour. Equipment includes automatic roller locks, pumped ink, washing systems and colour register control, plus plough fold and skip slitter.
Pictured: Finger on the button: Frank A. Bennack, Jr. at the start-up