KBA North America, a global press manufacturer based in Dallas, Texas, announces that CardPak, Inc., a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer brand companies across the globe, has placed an order for a new KBA Rapida 106 41-inch ten-color perfecting press with coating tower and twelve-foot extended delivery. The new KBA press is currently being built and will be installed at CardPak's headquarters in Solon, Ohio in mid-November of this year.

"In the past three and a half years, we have completely transformed our company," says Tony Petrelli, president of CardPak. "We've established a strategic plan that has improved our operations so that we can practice lean manufacturing and produce environmentally sustainable packaging products.  This plan has taken us to our full manufacturing capabilities and the installation of our new KBA Rapida 106 41-inch ten-color press will open up 20% to 25% more capacity in our facility."

The new Rapida 106 41-inch ten-color perfecting press being installed at CardPak, which made its debut at DRUPA 08, features a high press speed of 15,000 sph output, ultrafast makeready times, and expanded automation and productivity. The press provides a wide choice of automation options, including the KBA DriveTronic dedicated drives, as well as the DriveTronic feeder, with its presetting capabilities. The press also features the GATF InterTech award–winning sidelay-free infeed, DriveTronic SIS. Its KBA Logotronic system allows for presetting of ink fountains.  New technology on press also includes the KBA Densitronic Professional closed-loop color management scanning spectrophotometric system and Qualitronic In-Line Color Control. The substrate range runs from lightweight papers to heavy board, from plastic films to corrugated-all without adjusting any grippers. At DRUPA and PRINT 09, the Rapida 106 continued to execute the fastest make-ready times for multiple jobs in front of the show crowds.

Before CardPak chose to purchase its new KBA press, the firm performed diligent review of all of the press models on the market. As part of this year-long evaluation process, Greg Tisone, CardPak's vice president and general manager, and Mike McDonald, CardPak's printing department manager, spent countless hours researching all the press manufacturers. They made multiple trips to demo centers watching their jobs run on presses; checking make ready times, run speeds and perfecting tolerances. "All of the manufacturers had very good products. This made the decision even harder to make," states Tisone. "We took our pressman to see the KBA press in action. We talked to field operators and observed actual manufacturing environments.  We could see and discuss the KBA Densitronic and Qualtronic inline quality control system at work.  All of the KBA customers that we visited gave high marks to KBA, their presses, the technology, and their service packages. It made us feel very comfortable purchasing the KBA Rapida 106."

CardPak, Inc., a pioneer in developing sustainable packaging solutions, is a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer marketing companies across the globe. The company is committed to creating new innovative products and practicing lean, environmentally-friendly manufacturing. CardPak's world headquarters are located in Solon, Ohio.

KBA North America is a member of the KBA Group, a leading global supplier of sheetfed, webfed, and digital offset presses located in Dallas, Texas. KBA is dedicated to excellence in printing technology. The company's greatest satisfaction comes from helping its customers succeed by building presses that enable their businesses to prosper. From engineering through production, KBA's focus is on people, providing flexible technology, customized printing solutions, and personal service to help its partners differentiate themselves and be successful today and in the future.