Known as a 15^th century cradle of illustrated printing, Bamberg in Germany was at the forefront of the technology again this week.

This time it's a highly-automated manroland newspaper press making news.

A new Colorman e:line at Mediengruppe Oberfranken went into production - faster and far more automated than the two double-width presses it replaces - producing 115,000 copies a night. And of course, with sleek illuminated side covers, it looks the part.

Printshop head Jörg Schild-Müller says great expectations were fully met: "The cooperation between our staff and the Augsburg team and the project implementation were excellent. The punctual launch of the e:line is the result of this highly professional cooperation."

Although the company has a number of manroland heatset webs, this was the first newspaper press from the maker.

The press was ordered last year, when Walter Schweinsberg, managing director of the holding company, said they expect the Bamberg investment to fulfill newspaper quality requirements for the next 15 years. It will also become a centre as printing is consolidated to fewer locations, and more publishers outsource.

The Druckzentrum Oberfranken site in Bamberg was restructured at a cost of around 17 million Euros, delivering a modern printshop with state-of-the-art newspaper printing and mailroom systems, complemented by an unattended on-demand printing plate feeding system.

The 32-page press consists of two eight-couple towers, a folder and two splicers, and operates at 50,000 cylinder revolutions per hour. In Bamberg, nine newspaper editions are printed every night, resulting in a large number of job changeovers. During parallel make-ready processes, for example, plates can be changed at the same time that a new web is being fed in.

High-level automation means production needs only two press operators or three when there are very frequent job changeovers. Relevant information is displayed on the new ControlCenter console and the press controlled via touch screen. MobilPad provides an extra fully equipped mobile control console, allowing the press to be controlled from any location in the pressroom.

The press is also the first to be equipped with manroland's IDCµ inline density control with micro marking, for which Mediengruppe Oberfranken is a pilot partner.

• Bamberg's place in history was ensured when it is believed, Albert Pfister printed the first illustrated book was produced in 1460, just five years after Gutenberg's bible.