The deal includes two 4m-wide gravure presses that will be installed at the as yet unnamed location, in January and February 2005.

When Polestar announced its plans for a greenfield gravure site at the end of last year, it was debating whether or not to opt for superwide 4.3m presses. This technology is not yet proven in the field, and the first KBA press installation of this size is set to go live at Maul-Belser in Germany in the summer.

Polestar Group operations director Mike Bartlett said that the company opted for Cerutti because it was the most flexible option.

With this width of press we have the ability to produce 144 A4 pages in a single pass as well as tabloid capability, which provides the best fit with our own and our customers needs, said Bartlett.

The order for six seven-station Unidrum 3-420s is Ferags largest single order for drum stitchers. The Unidrum 3-420s, which comprise saddle stitching, inserting, wrapping, glue-card insertion, can handle A4 and tabloid-sized products at 30,000 copies an hour.

The bindery systems will be installed at the greenfield gravure plant as well as at the groups existing magazine plants, with the first going in this spring.

by John Davies