In October KBA took to the road once again visiting key printing industry hubs in China for its eighth road show which this time was in keeping with the motto “Increased cost efficiency through innovation”. The slight slowdown in the country’s economic growth poses new challenges for its printing companies.

Production costs have to be reduced and processes have to be more economically structured. How can printing houses advance in the face of growing competition and produce in a profitable way? How are ecological challenges overcome? The Chinese printing experts expected helpful answers to these questions and more from KBA at its annual road show.

This year the road show stopped in the towns Tainan, Shenyang, Wuzhong, Chongqing, Shanghai and Dongguan. This meant that important printing regions were covered by the route which stretched across the northeast and east, southwest up to southern China and Taiwan. Every event was visited by some 100 to 150 print pundits. This high number of participants demonstrates again just how essential exchanging views between users and the supply industry is and the high expectations placed on the intercontinental transfer of knowledge. Sheetfed offset presentations focused on print quality, productivity, flexibility and effectiveness in connection with cutting-edge automation aimed at cutting makeready times and waste.

The series of events was rounded off with live print demonstrations at KBA users. Shenyang Qianyuan and Ningxia Jin Shiji in Wuzhou opened their pressroom doors treating the visitors to demos of cutting-edge commercial and packaging printing on a six-colour Rapida 105 with coater. Furthermore, a large-format Rapida 145 with five inking units and coating was shown live in action at Shanghai Ruishi.

The next hugely popular KBA road show throughout China is scheduled for October 2015 as innovation in print continues.