Feb. 12 2008 - KBA North America, a global press manufacturer based in Williston, Vermont, announces that 4D Printing Inc., a general commercial printer located in Conyers, Georgia, installed a KBA Rapida 105 41-inch six-color one-over-five perfector press with aqueous coating capability in September 2007, replacing a six-color press from a different manufacturer.

"Speed, versatility, and quality were the three reasons we chose to purchase a KBA press," says Doug Silsbee, vice president of 4D. "Our existing straight six-color 40-inch sheetfed press couldn't produce the work quickly enough. Our new KBA Rapida 105 perfector allows us to print straight or perfecting on heavier board, such as 24 pt for posters. It gives us the versatility and the quality in one press. Plus, the makeready on this press is 25% faster than on our existing press thanks to its amazing automation. I can makeready the Rapida 105 in 15 minutes—it takes one hour on our existing press. We're now putting more jobs through the KBA Rapida 105 than any of our other presses."

The new-generation Rapida 105 41-inch six-color sheetfed perfector press is equipped with full automation packages, including auto plate loaders, auto washup, and a scanning spectrophotometer. The new KBA Rapida 105 is equipped with aqueous coating towers as well as the popular KBA Densitronic S closed-loop scanning spectrodensitometer system that provides density and color measuring for quality control both during and after printing. The perfector press provides the flexibility to print straight six-color jobs at 18,000 sph or one-over-five perfector jobs at 15,000 sph.
 
Efficiency and high quality satisfy customers
 
"We have one job that calls for one color over five," says Silsbee. "It used to take us 21 hours to produce it on the other press; with the KBA Rapida it takes only 8 hours! We just need to run it through once on the KBA press, which gives us both efficiency and high quality. The customer is thrilled!"

Since the installation in the fall of 2007, 4D has kept the press busy with existing and new work. "We haven't done any type of marketing about the new press at all," says Silsbee, "yet we have no press time to offer anyone. The KBA Rapida 105 is completely booked and we have it running three shifts a day, five days a week."

Established in 1985 in a suburb outside Atlanta, 4D Printing is a quality-oriented, full-service printing facility with sheetfed and web presses from two to six colors and a complete in-house bindery. The firm also provides the most up-to-date prepress technology support, both Mac and PC platforms, high-resolution scanning, and direct-to-plate capabilities.