More than 250 newspaper professionals from Europe and the Far East witnessed what KBA claims is the start of a new chapter in high-quality colour newspaper production on June 7-8 at an open house held by Dutch printer Rodi Rotatiedruk in Broek op Langedijk, located 50km north of Amsterdam. According to KBA print demos on a 48-page Cortina at this pioneering printing house proved just how good a quality can be achieved with waterless, keyless offset. The products printed - a full-colour 96-page tabloid magazine, KBA Process, and two 32-page broadsheet newspapers, Het hele Westland and De Koggenlander - illustrated the benefits that this new process can offer newspaper publishers: a superior image quality in a 60lpc (150lpi) screen (as an optional standard); problem-free support of FM screening for an even better quality; an exceptionally low waste rate during edition changes in four-colour production (even with high-pagination titles); fast job changes with automatic plate change; a uniform and reliably reproducible print-to-print image, even during long runs; reduced emissions (no fount solution or oil in the printing units); less paper consumption; virtually chemistry-free platemaking; and less stress for the operator in meeting tight deadlines, because there are fewer parameters to control.
The live demonstration in Rodi’s new presshall was followed by an info session at the Zuiderduin Hotel at which those engaged in the project revealed the motivating forces behind KBA and its alliance partners’ intense commitment to waterless coldset, Rodi Media proprietor Dick Ranzijn’s reasons for choosing the Cortina, the current state of the technology and the verdict on four months’ shopfloor production on the first of seven Cortina press lines ordered to date.
