Keyless offset withers on vine as options bloom -
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Published on: 1/19/2004
Last Visited: 1/19/2004
"We have seen no interest at this time (for keyless offset)," said Scott Smith, president of KBA North America Inc.
KBA, which sold three keyless offset presses to U.S. papers, the last commissioned at the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News in 1999, hasn't sold a single keyless offset machine since.
"[Press operators] still like to have ink keys," Smith said."What was driving keyless for a long time was the hope that a single fluid" would be developed that produced a uniform ink film and simultaneously eliminate the need for dampening.
But challenges suppliers and users have faced in concocting such a mixture is one reason widespread adoption has been thwarted, Smith said.
Instead, KBA has turned its attention to waterless press technology, investing millions of dollars in the creation of the Cortina press now being used in sites in Europe.