The joint appearance at the Pac Print event in Melbourne, Australia of the German specialist printing press manufacturer KBA-Metronic AG and its Australian based partner Jet Technologies was a huge success. The Southern Hemisphere's largest communications trade exhibition of print and graphics industry ran from 26 to 30 May 2009 at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Melbourne and was very well attended. Several live demonstrations of the unique waterless and keyless Genius 52UV B3 printing machine made its Australian debut under the catchy slogan "Think like a digital printer, print like an offset printer" at the Jet Technologies' booth and was arguably the star of the show.

This was made possible by several years of steady cooperation between the manufacturer KBA-Metronic AG and the Australian specialists in the import and distribution of print products, Jet Technologies, based in Sydney, NSW, Australia. Sales Manager Jim Everitt of Jet Technologies stated: "Genius 52UV drew large crowds each time it was demonstrated. We have had a great deal of interest in the Genius 52UV press, with expressions of intent to purchase the machine from two very interested parties". After many successful installations all over the world, the Genius 52UV has now found its way to the continent of Australia.

The Genius 52UV installed in an area of just 12 m², and which can print formats of up to 36 x 52 cm at a speed of up to 8,000 sheets per hour, fascinated many interested visitors. Günter Meyer, Sales director printing at KBA-Metronic, said after the first day of the event: "The Genius 52UV has become the crowd-puller here. Everyone wants to see it and learn about its advantages. Although many visitors here are professionals and understand a lot of printing technology, they can hardly believe that the Genius 52UV can manage job changes in less than seven minutes, and that it produces perfect, saleable sheets after only 10 start-up sheets."

There is no ghosting with the Genius 52UV, and it prints register-true in one gripper closure. Its rapid job change and set-up times with just a few start-up sheets make it a cost-saving specialist. Problems of conventional offset printing, such as poor ink drying, are unknown, because the UV inks harden instantly and the sheet can be turned over immediately and printed on the reverse. This way, the immediate processing and dispatch of printed materials is possible. It can also print on many plastic substrates such as PVC, PET, PC, PP, PS ABS, as well as lenticular and 3-D films. This enables a printer to make its mark in the face of the competition and print in high profit margin applications, where none of its competitors can print. The Genius 52UV will broaden the horizons of any printer who is used to conventional printing.

"Printing without water obviously is not known by everybody. However, professionals lose their scepticism very fast when they see that it works" says Günter Meyer, Sales director printing at KBA-Metronic. "Without water, printing is much easier and the individual processes are more secure. There are no key-operated switches as on a conventional offset printing machine. An Anilox screen roller ensures that the ink feed to the waterless printing plates is kept constant. The plates, exposed digitally or in an analog manner with a conventional plate setter, always take up 100% of the ink at the printing areas of the print subjects, after each rotation of the cylinder. So, simultaneously, we are achieving a standard that can be repeated at any time" Meyer continued. This rules out over or under-inking! There is no water to "dilute" the ink, and to cause variations in color. And where no water is needed, isopropyl alcohol is also unnecessary, so that the Genius 52UV can truly claim to print in a highly environmentally friendly way.

The classical principle of indirect offset printing still applies, even with the Genius 52UV: Delivering the ink onto the blanket and then transferring it onto the printing substrate. A central impression cylinder in a gripper bite ensures quiet, exact sheet travel and absolute register accuracy. The satellite configuration also allows for a considerable maximum printing material thickness of up to 800µ, exactly the thickness of an ISO standard card, the pieces of plastic that everybody carries around with them in their wallets and purses nowadays. This is also a high-volume area of application for the Genius 52UV.

But there are many other interesting and high-margin applications that can be printed with the Genius 52UV. For example, the lenticular or "3D" images highly popular among children, which are printed on special lenticular films. Advertisements may, for instance, also be printed on adhesive or magnetic films, which can then be transferred to a great variety of substrates without using any additional materials. With the Genius 52UV, mouse pads, displays, envelopes, stickers, sales wobblers, and signs, as well as hangtags and much more can be printed on a large variety of plastics. This all means that advertising departments and printing service providers now have completely novel ways to stand out and win new business with great future potential.

The Genius 52UV can also be equipped with an optional coating unit, so the four or five-color printed sheet can be directly fed into the integrated varnishing unit after intermediate drying. Layout segments of different lengths increase the gloss levels of high-gloss varnishes. In certain applications, varnish can be used as a substitute for lamination, so reducing production costs.