Dubai: After churning out billions of Gulf News copies for more than ten years, our Chromoman press finally got the night off.
“She deserves a rest tonight,” said printer Mohammad Jilal as he prepped giant rolls of newsprint ready to feed the press for her last night’s work.
Yes, presses are always feminine, giving birth night after night to the next day’s news.
“I call her Rimpa,” said Bilas Mondal, a printer. “She’s like my wife. She’s always talking to me, telling me about her problems.”
Those problems, the printer will tell you, are getting the colour plates just right, making sure the ink is balanced, and that everything is running smoothly, reliably, bringing you, our readers, all the news that fits to print right to your doorstep or newstand.
“I’m going to miss her talking to me every night,” Mondal said.
The old press will be used for commercial projects.
“When Gulf News newspaper production moved into what is now its old print site over ten years ago, it was at the fore front of printing technology that made it a market leader.” explains Michael Condon, Print Production Manager. “As of Thursday night, the technology has been eclipsed.”
Eclipsed isn’t quite the word — more like a quantom leap. The affable Australian hasn’t seen too much of the Safa Park plant site lately — he’s been up to it getting our new state-of-the-art printing plant up and running at Dubai Investment Park.
“It’s one of the most advanced production facilities in the world,” Condon said.
This Gulf News you’re reading now was printed without water — one of the few presses globally to use this advanced, environmentally-friendly technology.
“Gulf News is the only newspaper using a Cortina KBA waterless press outside of Europe,” he said. “Conventional presses use water to wash the ink away from the non-image area.”
No water means better registration between colours, better reproduction, a better newspaper.
Gone is the rattle of the hum on the old and tired Chromoman. Now, the Cortina’s new and quiet press, turning over copies at 80,000 an hour. It’s going to be many years before she ever gets a night off.
