Undeterred by the current economic crisis, which has also placed great challenges on the doorsteps of export-oriented printing press manufacturers, Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) and its local subsidiary KBA-Italia are planning a generous presence at this year's Grafitalia fair in Milan from 24th to 28th March – as an unambiguous expression of their continued strong commitment to the important Italian market and their particularly numerous customers in "Bella Italia". Visitors to KBA's 600 m² exhibition stand in Hall 9 (Stand B30 D31) are to be tempted with two latest-generation sheetfed offset presses and a presentation of integrated workflow solutions.

Space and energy-saving Rapida 75 in B2 format

KBA will be demonstrating the prowess of the new Rapida 75 on a four-colour model printing a series of high-quality posters with images especially popular with the Italian public. The KBA Rapida 75 handles a standard format of 53 x 75 cm, but is also available in a special version with an enlarged format of 60.5 x 75 cm. It stands out from other presses in this class by way of its small footprint and significant energy savings. Production with this new B2 press is thus precisely for smaller print companies and family businesses a very economical choice.

Hybrid Rapida 106 SPC for high-quality inline finishing

In the medium-format arena, the makeready world champion Rapida 106 with plate cylinder direct drive technology will be making its first appearance in Milan. As a six-colour press for production speeds up to 18,000 sph in format 74 x 106 cm, it has been equipped with a coater and extended delivery, a board-handling package and the full scope of automation features for fast job changes and inline quality control. These include, for example, the sidelay-free infeed DriveTronic SIS, DriveTronic SPC and the additional function Plate-Ident for simultaneous plate changing, QualiTronic professional (sheet inspection with inline colour density control) and DensiTronic PDF (text reader). A hybrid technology package, furthermore, lays the foundations for a broad spectrum of finishing effects. Practical demonstrations on this high-tech press are set to spotlight its flexibility, quality and enormous productivity for both long and short runs with fast job changes and confident handling of a wide range of substrates.

Seven presses of the new series have been installed in Italy since the unveiling of the Rapida 106 at drupa last spring, for the most part five and six-colour models with additional coater. One of the almost 60 Rapida 106 presses delivered or ordered with DriveTronic SPC direct drives is also in production in Italy.

MIS solutions with KBA-Complete

The independent consultancy KBA-Complete in cooperation with Italian partner Logica Sistemi will be presenting the possibilities for integrated print company workflows on the basis of MIS branch software, including also digital transactions with both customers and suppliers. At the same time, KBA-Service will be providing information to the many loyal Rapida users in Italy on available upgrades and special service and inspection packages geared to preserving the productivity of their presses.