M80 for training and demos in the KBA Customer Centre

At this year's China Print in Beijing, KBA and MBO announced that they had signed a cooperation agreement on the joint international marketing of MBO folding machines.

To kick off the partnership between the two manufacturers, KBA for the first time presented not only its Rapida 75 press, but also MBO's new 2013-generation folder M80 on its exhibition stand at Pack Print International in Thailand in August. A further joint presentation of KBA press technologies and MBO folding equipment is already planned for the forthcoming Pamex exhibition to be held in New Delhi/India in November.

The cooperation is similarly becoming ever more visible at the KBA sheetfed offset facility in Radebeul. In the meantime, an M80 folder system has been installed in the KBA Customer Centre for training and demonstration purposes. The KBA sales teams have received extensive instruction on the modern folding technologies from MBO, and will in future be able to offer relevant products for downstream finishing in addition to Rapida sheetfed offset presses. In selected countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, the KBA sales organisation will be assuming exclusive sales and service responsibility for the MBO systems, while elsewhere complementing the existing MBO sales network for suitable projects.