Waterless newspaper printing was back on the agenda when more than 100 gathered for the 16^th Cortina Users Workshop.

The gathering at St Gallen in Switzerland delivered a full agenda after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Cortina users and supplier partners from all over the world.

The workshop was also an opportunity to bid farewell to Peter Benz, ‘father’ of the conference series.

Working on ideas from participants about issues and developments, a diverse agenda was prepared for the two-day event, ranging from developments at Koenig & Bauer to new findings from the supplier industry, and challenges posed by the market. Many of the presentations triggered lively discussions, underlining once more the importance of face-to-face conferences such as this.

A number of round table working groups are also be added to future workshops.

Subjects discussed included predictive maintenance, Cortina press innovations, energy-saving measures and the development of a new pneumatic distributor roller, as well as experiences with plate peeling problems, long-term tests of anilox rollers and further advances in printing plate technologies. The agenda also offered insights into developments in the paper industry, the challenges faced by ink manufacturers and quality-enhancing processes in newspaper printing as they relate to energy and material costs.

A central message from the workshop was that the benefits of waterless printing remain as important as ever.

Participants heard about a closed-loop colour control solution at Cortina user Coldset Printing Partners in Paal-Beringen, Belgium, developed with QI Press Controls and commissioned a year after the press was installed in 2018. No other coldset/heatset press series is better suited for closed-loop control, users heard.

For former Cortina project manager Peter Benz (top centre with his successor Georg Zitterbart, left, and service chief Thomas Potzkai) this was his last user workshop. Dubbed ‘Mr Cortina’ by colleagues, he retired at the end of last year after a career devoted to advancing waterless newspaper printing.

“The Cortina series is today a highly developed solution which, in my eyes, continues to deliver the optimum combination of economic efficiency, quality and sustainability,” he said in a conversation during the workshop. Responsibility for the Cortina series now passes to Georg Zitterbart.

Next year’s Cortina User Workshop will be held at Diemen in the Netherlands, with Rodi Media as host and partner.

Pictured above: K&B service head Thomas Potzkai explains the key elements of the ‘exceeding print’ group strategy; (below) users and supplier partners gather for a photograph