KBA North America, a global press manufacturer based in Dallas, Texas, successfully concluded its press demonstrations and show presence at PRINT 09 in Chicago by exceeding its sales expectations, breaking its own world makeready record, and attracting new qualified customers to its full range of presses from its 20-inch model to its largest 81-inch press. Print 09 is the largest global graphic communications show in North America this year that was held from September 11 to 17 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
 
"Each day during the six-day show we gained more and more booth attendance and worked with a small, yet highly qualified group of printers who were keenly interested in our new technology and avidly watched our ground-breaking press demonstrations," says John Raithel, senior vice president of sheetfed presses. "We are proud to announce that we sold $25 million in press equipment, which includes 13 presses, and we have a commitment for six more press sales. Our entire team worked tirelessly to make this show one of our most successful where we exceeded our sales expectations."
 
In addition to its sweeping sales, KBA broke its own world makeready record on its Rapida 106 41-inch press with a unique press demonstration held at its booth over the course of the show. Last year at Drupa 2008 in Germany, the new Rapida 106 took the title of world makeready champion due to its fast running speed and the highest automation in the market. At PRINT 09, the press crew furthered the record by reducing the time to produce multiple jobs on the press. The new world makeready record set at PRINT 09 is 17 unique four over four color jobs each being completed with 500 saleable sheets with a total of 136 plate changes all in one hour on a Rapida 106 41-inch eight-color four-over-four perfector press. Crowds of 200 to 300 show attendees watched in rapt attention as the KBA crew performed what has never been seen at any trade show in the world.
 
The press demonstration allowed visitors to see first-hand the unique automation that KBA designs. The Rapida 106 on the show floor at PRINT 09 featured such automation and productivity as the KBA DriveTronic shaftless feeder, SIS side-lay free side guide, SPC Simultaneous Plate Mounting, and Qualitronic Pro color control system.
 
Alongside the Rapida 106, KBA unveiled for the first time in North America its new Rapida 75 23 x 29-inch six-up five-color plus coater half-size press. This new superstar model attracted a raft of attention and order activity as it positioned itself for printers who have high print quality expectations as well as specific space requirements. The Rapida 75 is also well-positioned as an environmentally-friendly "green" press since it uses much less energy than any other press in this format size thereby reducing the total cost of ownership.
 
Sitting front and center of the KBA booth was the Genius 52 UV, which was producing jobs on a variety of substrates with a focus on plastic for attendees to samples with them. The Genius 52 UV, the winner of the prestigious PIA InterTech award, has been able to make profit leaders of many print shops due to its ability to print on many diverse substrate ranges in all market segments. Since PRINT 05 KBA has installed just under 50 Genius presses in the U.S. in commercial, packaging, and plastic-producing markets. It is now available with a dedicated coating unit. Customers were intrigued with the combination that the Genius offers: a waterless press, with quick UV drying, ultra-fast makeready and almost no waste.
 
KBA also promoted its web offset models with Ulrich Wicke, vice president of web offset, who was on hand to discuss the KBA Commander CT press and platform with attendees. Visitors received a one-on-one explanation as to how the Commander CT press allows newspapers to take advantage of producing commercial work as well as print their daily broadsheets.
 
PRINT 09 was also the venue where KBA unveiled its new Service Select program, a complete line of customized service products designed to maximize the productivity and profitability of a customer's KBA press. An array of programs are available for KBA's entire line of presses–from the small footprint Genius 20-inch to the large-format Rapida 205 81-inch–and are designed to maximize the customer's return-on-investment (ROI) and minimize costly downtime. KBA will customize a program that meets the exact needs and budget of each and every customer–from a one-time press relocation to regularly-scheduled ongoing support.