Autor / Author: 	Henning Düber	Nr. / No.:	17-005-W
Rückfragen / Enquiries:	Klaus Schmidt	Datum / Date:	24.01.2017
Telefon / Phone:	+49 931 909-4290	E-Mail:	klaus.schmidt@kba.com
Sperrvermerk / Release:	-	Zeichen / Ref.:	
Bilder / Photographs:	3	Seiten / Pages:	2

Modern newspaper press technology at Mitteldeutsche Zeitung in Halle

Prime Minister Haseloff starts up the new KBA Commander CL

“Every morning, I fetch the newspaper from the letterbox and lay it on the breakfast table for my wife” – it was with those words that Reiner Haseloff, Prime Minister of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, initiated the official start-up of a new KBA Commander CL newspaper press at Halle-based Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, a member of the DuMont media group. “Long-term studies have shown that people view daily newspapers as the most credible of all media. They are seen as particularly discerning, competent, objective and critical,” he continued.

Branch VIPs gather in Halle
More than 100 prominent guests attended the inauguration ceremony at the MZ print centre, among them Christian DuMont Schütte, chairman of the supervisory board of the DuMont media group in Cologne, his deputy Isabella Neven DuMont, CEO Dr. Christoph Bauer, CFO Stefan Hütwohl and COO Otto Christian Lindemann. In his address, Stefan Hütwohl emphasised that the investment in the new press from Koenig & Bauer was for DuMont not only a commitment to the group's Halle location, but at the same time a demonstration of faith in the future of the printed newspaper.

Longstanding partnership 
It was almost a year ago to the day that contracts were signed for the new Commander CL, continuing a partnership which has thrived for more than 180 years between DuMont and Koenig & Bauer. “I would like to give special mention to the exceptional cooperation with Koenig & Bauer. The past months have shown us that our investment in the Commander CL was very definitely the right decision,” said Bernd Preuße, managing director of the print division DuMont Druck.

Modern newspaper press technology
The new four-high Commander CL is engineered to print up to 45,000 full-colour newspapers per hour, either with 32 pages in Rhine format or 64 pages tabloid. Almost 200,000 copies of the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung and a further 1.3 million copies of the advertisers Wochenspiegel and Super Sonntag will now be produced on the new Commander CL from Koenig & Bauer.

Photo 1:
Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (l) and Bernd Preuße, managing director DuMont Druck, press the start button to bring the new Commander CL on stream

Photo 2:
Official hand-over of the new KBA Commander CL (l to r): Waldemar Geuthner, managing director AROPRINT in Bernburg; project manager Thomas Bergmann, sales director Stefan Segger and sales manager Günter Noll (all KBA Digital & Web); Bernd Preuße, managing director DuMont Druck, and Jürgen Kistner, managing director MZ‑Druckgesellschaft

Photo 3:
The new four-high KBA Commander CL in Halle has replaced two KBA Express satellite presses dating from 1992