Yesterday at Drupa Beijing Hongbo Haotian snapped up five new-generation Rapida 105 presses for a commercial printing plant it is currently building in Beijing.

The presses will have a total of 23 printing and coating units split into three four-colour and two five-colour versions, one with a coater. All five will be shipped in one consignment this summer.

Beijing Hongbo Haotian already has four factories in China. The packaging division in Luzhou, Sichuan province, operates one eight-colour and two six-colour Rapida 105 coater presses. At the security printing plant in Fuzhou (Fujian province) there is a Rapida 75. The company also has a plant for printing business forms. The new works in Beijing will produce books and other commercial products because most of the publishing houses in China are in the immediate vicinity of the capital.

While You You Yue, president of Beijing Hongbo Haotian, and other members of management signed the contract for the Rapida 105 at Drupa, construction of the factory in Beijing continued apace. Pre-press equipment has already been ordered. By the time the Rapidas are installed the entire plant will have been completed and full-scale production can start. Beijing Hongbo Haotian thus remains virtually an all-KBA operation.