Not one but three new scaled-down, compact presses – from KBA, manroland and Goss – now take a pragmatic approach to the precarious state of the global market for newspaper equipment.

And if the others could be accused of following the lead of KBA’s successful CT designs, the ‘bandwagon’ effect was also evident as that manufacturer began talking of single-button run-up and run-down controls. A key component in what manroland would call it ‘one touch’, in fact.

If you couldn’t quite smell the fear in the room when two of these three took the opportunity of the annual IfraExpo to offer the media their assessments of the state of the industry, it wasn’t for lack of real concern.

Perhaps from the comfort of statistics which show his company having taken 46 per cent of the global market for newspaper presses this year – to manroland’s 34 per cent and a claimed eight per cent for Goss – KBA web sales vice president Christoph Muller was bullish, forecasting a return to near-2007 sales level in the next couple of years.

But there was little disguising the fear in the voice of manroland chairman Gerd Finkbeiner when he looked past a good first half year to coming months which would be “a tough order”. Figures weren’t in, he said, for the quarter just past, but they were clearly enough to suggest that with the exception of a couple of strong markets, “tough” is already the order.

Those exceptions were Germany – where publishers were praised for their ability to seize on a quicker domestic recovery and invest in innovation – and Australia, where performance of the two-year-old local sales subsidiary has been “really outstanding”.

“We’re thinking the initials MRA should now stand for manroland Australia,” hje joked.

But back to the new compact kit: Each vendor had not only a new model, but an inaugural sale (or two) to celebrate. Finkbeiner even brought his new customer – Allgäuer Medienzentrum – to the media event, but sadly moved from English to the German language for an explanation of their rationale.

Yesterday, the new double-width Colorman e:line existed as a few stylish brushstrokes in the PowerPoint presentation (no copy provided to journalists, who cryptically received a CD of press releases and a restriction notice on material use) but it’s what’s underneath the casing that matters, right?

Blanket-to-blanket, and conservatively making use of an H-type cylinder arrangement, it will be modular and retrofittable in terms of automation, quality and speed, the company’s Peter Kuisle says. Access will also be better, eliminating the need to “climb into the tunnel” (between the upper and lower H units) and with a lift to deliver plates but to the upper units (but not the pressman).

And new customer Allgäuer can expect to have its the new press in action in in Kempten, Germany, by this time next year.

Something the e:line shares with KBA’s Commander CL and the new Goss Colorliner CPS, is that its design has been drawn from other models; manroland’s ‘take what you need’ approach delivers what the maker says is a real alternative to the Colorman. Impositions of four or six pages across and one or two plates around will be offered, but buyers will be expected to decide at the time of ordering, what upgrade packages they plan to install later.

It’s not a ‘stripped down’ CT, the maker says, emphasizing that its 30 metres/sec top speed is below that of the other press, 15 per cent more expensive.

KBA will also tailor its “classic” Commander CL to customer needs, with configurations customised to individual requirements. Options on plate automation will allow a lower entry point than possible with the Commander CT, and versions will include variable web-width and dryer options. This time 4/2 with three-forme inking is standard, with a 4/1 version also available.

The company also points to advanced control systems including the new automated EastStart and optional EasyStop routines.

First sales are an 80-page press for Zeitungsverlag Oberbayern and a three-tower 48-page press for Oberbayerisches Volksblatt, both in Germany.

Goss – which as usual passed on the press conference circus – had a new Colorliner CPS press to talk about… and a first sale to Dundee, Scotland publisher D.C. Thomson.

The new stacked press is based on the radical FPS (Flexible Printing System) and the Colorliner, from which the FPS also drew many key elements. It will have a simplified web turning system, and drop the cut-off changeability and slide-apart units of its more expensive cousin.

Thomson already has Colorliners on the site, and Harland Simon will both supply control systems for the new press and replace those on the existing lines, which are to be reconfigured.