An eight-tower KBA Continent press at Al-Yaum in Dammam, Saudi Arabia is being extended to meet demand for more pages and extra colour.

Two towers and a second dryer are being added to Al-Yaum Media House’s hybrid pressline in Saudi Arabia’s third-largest city by the end of this year.

Founded about 50 years ago, Al-Yaum the leading newspaper in the eastern region and a regular award winner. It was the first in the Gulf region and the second in the world to be Ifra ISO certified, the first in the region an Asia Media Awards prize for best in print, and to join WAN-Ifra’s Star Club and International Color Quality Club.

Managing director Saleh Al Humaidan says the expansion is the result of a boost in printing business and the increasing demands of advertisers for more colours and advertising in heatset sections. “This expansion with KBA technology will allow us to increase our page output and colour capacity while at the same time maintaining our well-known, award-winning quality standards.” he says.

The original eight-tower 50,000cph press went live in 2005. The extended press will have ten towers and two printing units, 14 reelstands and two hot-air dryers. Cross-section web leads, two KF 3 jaw folders and up to 14 webs – two of them 4/4 heatset – support production of up to 100,000 copies with 28 broadsheet pages per hour.

Pictured:The extended pressline

On the homepage: Saleh Al Humaidan (right) and KBA sales manager Klaus Weber sign the contract