Just a few weeks after the impressive production start-up of a VLF Rapida 185 at Linocraft Printers in Malaysia, KBA Asia-Pacific booked an order from Singapore-based Tien Wah Press (TWP) for a high-automation Rapida 142 five-colour coater press which will be commissioned soon at TWP's production plant in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Tien Wah Press is part of Japan's Dai Nippon Printing Group and is a new customer for KBA. The plant in Johor Bahru, which is around 20 years old and employs more than 1,000 people, specialises in printing children's books and trade books, which account for 90 per cent of its output. The remaining ten per cent is generated with packaging and other print products for the local market.
 
TWP - a globally active book printer for the past 75 years
TWP in Singapore has been printing finely crafted books for prominent publishers worldwide for the past 75 years, and exports 95 per cent of its output. As well as Singapore and Malaysia it has sales outlets in New York, San Francisco, London, Paris and Sydney.

TWP managing director Yoichi Sanada sees a great future for KBA in his company's production plants. He says: "The Rapidas are genuinely high-tech presses with an advanced level of automation and impressive performance data. KBA has a lot of experience in this sector and a whole string of reference plants worldwide. During the project-planning phase, which began over a year ago, we sent a team to Germany to study the market and the latest technological advances. KBA's factory in Radebeul and Rapida installations elsewhere were among the plants we visited and assessed. After that there was no doubt that KBA was the right choice."
 
TWP's pre-press/press and engineering managers in Malaysia, Ong See Kok and Wesley Ho, were also engaged in the project, and are confident that they made the right choice. Mr Ho says: "We had previously had no experience of KBA presses, but what the team saw in Germany and we saw at Linocraft Printers nearer to home was both compelling and confidence-inspiring. We expect the after-sales service provided by KBA Asia-Pacific in Malaysia to be as outstanding as KBA's technology, so the chances of developing a close association in the future are looking good."
 
Array of quality- and performance-boosting features
In addition to full commissioning and training, the press contract with KBA includes a complete service package extending for several years, which will help TWP's press operators to handle the Rapida with professional skill.
 
The five-colour KBA Rapida 142 for TWP will be mounted on a 420mm (16.5in) plinth and configured with one coater, automatic plate changers, VariDry IR/hot-air dryers and a double delivery extension. Other features will include a board-handling package, automated pile logistics, ErgoTronic ACR autoregistration, KBA LogoTronic data management, DensiTronic Professional and QualiTronic Professional inline quality monitoring and control.