After installing India’s first three TKS Color Top presses around its Kerala base, Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing has come back for a fourth press, this time of six towers.

The first 5000UDI 4x1 press went into production at a new factory in Trivandrum in September 2011 following the order signing the previous June, with two others following.

The new shaftless six-tower plus folder press to be installed in Calicut, where Mathrubhumi has its head office, will print up to 48 pages in full colour at 75,000 cph. It has a cut-off of 546 mm and a web width of 1400 mm, and includes one 2:3:3 double jaw folder.

One-around blanket and plate cylinders make for a compact, lightweight press with short web leads and lower power consumption claimed.

Established in 1923, the newspaper is published in 15 editions – ten in Kerala plus New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Dubai – with a claimed circulation of more than 1.5 million.

Celebrations for the opening of the Trivandrum factory in 2011 included a Pooja ceremony to offer best wishes for the newspaper, with an evening event attended by guests including the governor and the minister of Kerala.

• TKS has also announced a further order from Akatsuki Printing in Japan, which is adding a Color Top 6200UDH to two existing TKS presses. One four-colour tower and two mono units and an extra folder with three reelstands are being added to one of the existing lines, with which it can be linked.

The press will include TKS’s newspaper production control system and fully automatic web leading system, and is due to be commissioned at the publisher’s AS Building printing plant by November next year. New Delhi-based Superfine Print & Pack represents TKS in India as exclusive distributor.

Founded in 1947, Akatsuki Printing is a longstanding user of TKS equipment.

On our home page: Mathrubhumi chairman MP Veerendra Kumar starts the first TKS press

Right: The Color Top 5000UDI press