West Ferry has installed four Krause LS Jet Multiformat 350 platesetters and four Krause Bluefin processors at its Luton site, in addition to Nela plate-handling and sortation systems.
The pre-press investment is in tandem with the installation of four KBA Commander CT press lines at the new home of Express Newspapers' print subsidiary, which was announced in May 2010. In August, Ferag announced that it would supply the bindery equipment for the £60m site.
Fujifilm delivered the equipment in August and, in common with most modern newspaper plants, installed it in the press sound haven for added production efficiency. In addition to the pre-press hardware, West Ferry has invested in a Krause JetNet workflow.
Production is due to begin in earnest in November, as part of phase one of the Express's move from London's Docklands to the Luton site. Transfer of all production for the publisher's titles, including the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday, to Luton is due to be completed by March 2012.
David Broadhurst, chief executive of West Ferry Printers, said: "We are moving to a new state-of-the-art site and we wanted to revitalise our production portfolio as part of the move - it didn’t seem to make any sense to move old equipment and an old solution to such a top-of-the-range facility.
"The build quality, robustness and longevity of the Krause and Nela equipment in conjunction with the performance and quality of Fujifilm’s plate technology are very impressive and we look forward to a successful working relationship long into the future."
Mick Crawley, operations and project manager, added: "A high volume newspaper printing environment such as ours requires consistent, accurate and repeatable plate imaging on a daily basis.
"The Krause engine with its linear drive flatbed imaging technology, when used with the Fujifilm plates, proved to provide the best solution for our long term requirements particularly when compared to other technologies in the market place. In short, we're very confident that we've chosen the right solution to accompany our business into our brand new facility."
Keith Dalton, director of Fujifilm Graphic Systems UK, said: "We're delighted to be directly involved in such an exciting development for the newspaper industry. West Ferry's Luton site will be a fantastic showcase of newspaper production and sends out a great, positive message to the industry."
