Al-Yaum Media House, one of the largest newspapers in Saudi Arabia, recently signed a contract to extend its KBA Continent at the WAN-IFRA Middle East Conference in Dubai. The KBA hybrid press for coldest/heatset production will be extended by two printing towers, two reelstands, and additional hot-air dryer and will go live by the end of 2013.
Saleh Al Humaidan, Managing Director of Al-Yaum Media House, says “We are expanding our capacity due to the boost in our printing business and the increasing demands of our advertisers for more colours and advertising in heatset sections. We are aiming to become a full integrated media group service provider. Al Yaum Media House boasts a range of strategic business units including Al Mobawabaha classified newspaper, which is distributed in cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, as well as Rawnaa Media with more than 30 printed monthly and quarterly titles in its stable. On the other hand Al Yaum printing complex is equipped with state of the art webfed and sheetfeed printing presses for newspaper and commercial printing.”
He adds, “Working with Koenig & Bauer has been enjoyable and we look forward to continue this partnership. This expansion with KBA technology will allow us to increase our page output and colour capacity while maintaining our quality standards.”
Other than KBA press Al Yaum is using Ferag mailroom and Muller Martini finishing equipment. On the commercial side the publishing giant has opted for Heidelberg. More than 100 people are working in the printing facility and with the expansion well on its way the number of employees is set to grow.
Configured for an output of 50,000cph with a cylinder circumference of 578mm (22.8in) and a maximum web width of 1,000mm (39.4in), the KBA Continent web press at Al-Yaum went live in 2005. As part of this extension two further printing towers will join the existing eight four-high towers and the two printing units, the number of reelstands will go from 12 to 14 and a second hot-air dryer will be installed.
Cross-section web leads, two KF 3 jaw folders and up to 14 webs (two of which 4/4 heatset) support production of up to 100,000 copies with 28 broadsheet pages per hour.