KBA North America, a leading press manufacturer based in Williston, Vt., and Colonial Carton Company, a premier pharmaceutical folding carton manufacturer located in Clayton, NC, are reporting incredible results using two KBA Qualitronic II inline sheet inspection quality-control systems on their KBA Rapida 105 41-inch sheetfed presses. The printer is the first in North America to have both of its KBA presses equipped with the Qualitronic II systems. "The scanner on the Qualitronic II inspects every sheet in every press run," explains Joe Elphick, president and CEO of Colonial Carton. "If it spots an error, it reports it to the operator. It is so fast that it can see an incomplete dot of an ëi' on the sheet and can monitor and inspect up to 16 million shades of color at the rate of 18,000 sheets per hour! We're proud to be the first printer in North America to operate a KBA press with Qualitronic II inline sheet inspection systems. The system increases our printing speeds and cuts down on waste." Launched at Drupa 2004, the Qualitronic II inline sheet inspection system cuts waste and flags imperfect sheets. The system utilizes a color camera that is mounted near the delivery area and aimed at the impression cylinder through a narrow slit in the floor plate. During the press run, each printed sheet is inspected at 8,000 lines per second. Within this ultra-high resolution, the system can detect even the slightest color deviation, distinguishing over 16 million colors. In addition to segregating imperfect sheets from the run, the Qualitronic II system reduces waste by warning the operator of deviations in the press run, such as fading colors due to lack of ink. The operator is able to react before large quantities of waste sheets accumulate unnecessary costs. "Our two KBA presses have quality built into the presses," says Elphick. "They allow us to print on both sides of the carton, giving us speed and less waste. The KBA Densitronic system on both presses monitors the ink densities and spectral values and can detect color variations on each sheet and alert the operators." Uniquely-built presses Since KBA presses print 100% of all North American currency and 90% of the world's currency, this system was first developed for banknote and currency printing where quality control is paramount. These systems are especially important in Colonial's industry of pharmaceutical printing because the government has such high standards for the boxes. Accurate reproduction is an absolute necessity in this market. KBA has also played an important partner to Colonial Carton in other ways as well. After a devastating fire on August 15, 2005, KBA helped Colonial Carton re-build its pressroom by supplying them with two new presses in record time. When KBA North America learned after the fire that Colonial's two-year-old unique sheetfed press from KBA was unusable, KBA came to the rescue. KBA's local district sales manager called KBA North America president and CEO, Ralf Sammeck, to see what could be done to put the firm back on its feet. Sammeck put a call into the firm's German headquarters where all presses are built specifically to customer specifications. KBA comes to the rescue "Our core value proposition at KBA is providing the ultimate in customer service under all conditions and when we heard about Colonial's tragic fire we immediately pulled together every resource from sales to manufacturing to service to help them get back up and running as soon as possible," says Ralf Sammeck, KBA's chief executive officer and president. "KBA happened to have several eight-color presses with perfector units being built in Germany," says Elphick. "It usually takes six months to order a press like this. When the president of KBA North America called Germany, he worked out a deal for us where they would take one of those presses, put the perfecting unit on the front, remove one unit, add UV, add hybrid, and make it to the specifications that I had before. The press shipped from the KBA plant in Germany within eight weeks and was up and running and producing our jobs 14 weeks after the fire." By October, the company was once again diecutting and gluing boxes, and the first replacement press from KBA arrived in December, giving Colonial Carton one complete production line just four months after the blaze. The KBA Rapida 105 four-color press was made specifically for Colonial Carton's pharmaceutical printing needs, equipped with a unique KBA Qualitronic II inline sheet inspection system that takes pictures of each sheet for full copy control and produces 18,000 sheets per hour. A KBA Rapida 105 41-inch seven-color press, equipped with Qualitronic II, arrived in April 2006. Rising from the ashes Two-hundred-and-fifty-five days after the $17 million blaze, Colonial Carton Company proudly opened its doors to a completely renovated company, including the addition of two new presses from KBA Germany, new die-cutting and gluing equipment and improved, computerized graphics that have actually increased CCC's capabilities over its previous technology. The company's graphics and die shop were moved from the rear of the building to the front and a new conference room and break room were built. A new automated baling system to handle paper and cardboard scraps was installed. Today, Colonial Carton Company is bigger and stronger than ever before. It is the leader in its field because it offers its customers accuracy, speed, and value. Its advanced technology in printing, die-cutting, and gluing make the company unique. It has several production lines, an enviable client base, full design department, inhouse die shop, online inventory management, and is cGMP ISO 9001-2000STD approved. "I wouldn't buy any other press but a KBA," says Elphick emphatically. "I had an opportunity to rebuild Colonial Carton Company with the best equipment I could find and KBA was my first pick without questions. Why? Because of the service and quality, reliability and confidence I have in them. If they tell me the press will do it, it does!"