KBA North America, a global press manufacturer based in Dallas, Texas, announces that a 100,000 initial print run of a new book about Michael Jackson, entitled Michael Jackson Legend Hero Icon, has been produced in record-setting time by British printer Butler, Tanner & Dennis. The new book, written by James Aldis, was produced in less than a week by the printer’s Frome operation on its eight-color large format KBA Rapida 162a 64-inch sheetfed press in six days rather than two to three weeks.
 
The heavily-inked 192 page biography of the self-proclaimed King of Pop, whose death on June 25 shocked the world, was printed four-over-four on the KBA Rapida 162a 64-inch sheetfed press that has a production speed of 9,000 sph in perfecting mode.  The lavishly-illustrated book offers an insightful tribute to the man behind Thriller, the world's best selling album of all time. The book Includes sections on Jackson's early life and the Jackson 5, the making of Off the Wall and Thriller, and the troubled years leading right up to his announcement of a comeback tour.
 
Darran O’Connor, Butler, Tanner & Dennis clients services director, said, “For this sort of run we would normally expect the job to take two to three weeks. To condense it down to less than a week is unusual and being able to perfect on the KBA helped to achieve this.”
 
A spokesperson for Harper Collins said the choice of Butler, Tanner & Dennis was based on the need to meet very tight turnaround times.
 
The move underlines the progress made by the company less than a year on from its acquisition by publishing entrepreneur Felix Dennis. O’Connor added, “It is fantastic to have such a massive vote of confidence from a major UK publisher like Harper Collins and we look forward to that continuing. As well as the ability to meet shorter turnaround times, printing high quality books for the UK market here at Butler, Tanner & Dennis also reduces the amount of carbon emissions involved, as we operate the latest systems and, of course, less transportation is involved, helping to produce a more environmentally conscious product.”
 
For many years KBA has been the only supplier of large-format perfector presses to the global marketplace. KBA perfector presses are used for book printing, packaging, magazines and, since Drupa 2008, more and more are also being used for commercial jobs. Today about 15% of all Rapida large-format presses have a perfecting device. Around 30 large Rapida eight-color perfectors have been shipped so far.
 
KBA North America is a member of the KBA Group, a leading global supplier of sheetfed, webfed, and digital offset presses located in Dallas, Texas. KBA is dedicated to excellence in printing technology. The company’s greatest satisfaction comes from helping its customers succeed by building presses that enable their businesses to prosper. From engineering through production, KBA’s focus is on people, providing flexible technology, customized printing solutions, and personal service to help its partners differentiate themselves and be successful today and in the future.