QI is to install its colour register system at the Columbus Dispatch, the US newspaper which has pioneered the triple-cutoff technology for sectionalised tabloid production.

The order for a system based on installation of 124 of QI’s mRC-3D register is the latest stage in a transformation which has seen its double-width TKS presses converted to three cutoffs per cylinder circumference.

The conversion in January this year means the Columbus Dispatch has switched to a folded tabloid page two-thirds the height of its previous format, and with 50 per cent more sections.

Managing director of QI Press Controls North America Ronald Reedijk says the order is part of a large quality and efficiency improvement programme at the plant. “We are very proud of this level of trust in our quality automation systems, as shown by this great and very important order.”

Four TKS presses have been adapted to the compact 3V format, with new jaw folders which cut and fold three times the newspaper length from the total cylinder circumference replacing the existing 3:2 rotary folders. The closed-loop QI system will control colour, unit-to-unit, ribbon and cutoff register using 124 register cameras with automated ink mist shields, and will be installed with the support of agent Print2Finish without disrupting production.

One cylinder rotation now delivers 24 pages instead of 16 previously, with a complete ‘rethinking’ of what a newspaper could be resulting in a redesigned editorial and advertising content model.