(Originally published at WhatTheyThink.com for Premium Access Members on June 19, 2006) -- Advances in offset press technology are evaluated by how they open up new business opportunities for commercial printers beleaguered by cost, price and competitive pressures—not to mention inroads by digital and web offset print technologies into their traditional markets.

Koenig & Bauer (KBA) plainly has no stomach for the defensive, and in 2004 introduced to the U.S. market its Rapida line of large-format printing presses. The applause has yet to subside.

In 2005, PIA/GATF judges were liberal with their praise when bestowing an InterTech Technology Award on KBA’s Rapida 205 super-large format press: “The Rapida 205’s high print quality and low makeready times take sheetfed press technology to an acme of productivity in a sheet size that has never been printed before,” they remarked. “Printers can replace two to four older presses with just one high-tech Rapida 205. The technology, an engineering benchmark, is packaging friendly, but it gives offset printers a way to go after the large-format market.”