Camis Ambalaj Sanayii is one of the biggest packaging printers in Turkey, with an annual output of 25,000 tonnes of processed board. Following the installation of two five-colour large-format coater presses from another German manufacturer, last year Camis placed an order for a Rapida 142 six-colour coater press with double extended delivery plus board and UV printing capabilities. Since the press mainly prints 230gsm (115lb Bristol) board and microflute it is mounted on a 630mm (24.75in) plinth.

Camis' main product line is packaging for the glass manufacturing industry, with the printed sheets laminated onto corrugated. The volume of jobs entailing UV work is steadily rising, and within just a few months the new press was running at almost twice the speed of the other presses.

"What appealed to us most was the Rapida's high level of automation," said printshop manager Mehmet Akinci at the press inauguration in October 2008. "At today's prices we simply cannot allow a press to stand idle for any length of time between jobs. Job changes on the new Rapida 142 are so simple that our staff are constantly vying to reduce down times even further," added production manager Ibrahim Özyildirim.

The advanced level of automation means that the coater can be converted from aqueous to UV coating in a minimum of time, while the printing units' hybrid capability also makes for rapid conversion from conventional to UV or hybrid inks.

Turkey – a growth market for KBA press technology

Camis is not the only Turkish printer with a big Rapida. Others include Akgül Ambalaj, Duran-Dogan and Resim Ofset. In recent years there has been a surge of interest in both medium and large formats. Turkey is a growth market for KBA, which at present is installing a number of newspaper presses there. Once the global financial crisis has passed KBA anticipates a string of further sales, most noticeably of packaging and commercial sheetfed presses.