KBA North America, a global press manufacturer based in Dallas, Texas, believes that one of its core mandates is to continually focus on innovating print technology for its commercial and packaging customers. That belief was validated by being named to the top of two prestigious lists this year: the U.S. Patent Board's Patent Scorecard and the German Patent and Trademark Office. KBA's innovations extend from sheetfed offset, packaging and newspaper press technology to security printing, metal decorating and UV printing on electronic data storage devices.
 
In the Wall Street Journal's September 2009 update of The Patent Board's Patent Scorecard for manufacturers of heavy industrial equipment, KBA ranked 13th among the top 50, well ahead of its rival press manufacturers. The high ranking reflects the group's consistent focus on innovation as a pioneer of press engineering for the past 192 years. KBA also had the highest ranking of the three major German press manufacturers in a list published in spring this year by the German Patent and Trademark Office, which ranked KBA 25 among the top 50 patent applicants, with 191 published patents.
 
"Providing our customers with the newest print technology to give them the most efficient and economical means to produce their high quality jobs is one of our core beliefs," says Mark Hischar, president and CEO of KBA North America. "Being named by both of these prestigious groups as a top innovator and patent leader directly correlates with our goals and validates our mission."
 
The focus of the KBA patents filed and granted in the fields of web and special presses in 2008 addressed new user-focused technology for reel logistics, plate changing and the folder deliveries on newspaper presses. An additional slip-in delivery fan module provides scope for significant further enhancement of product diversity and folding quality. The new slip-in module allows high-pagination copies to be printed collect. The newspapers are transported almost horizontally to the folding table and subsequently directly into the delivery fan, minimizing the risks of smearing even on thicker copies.

In the sheetfed sector, a host of patent applications for cutting-edge developments such as automation modules QualiTronic Mark and QualiTronic Mark-Plus for tagging imperfect sheets or even individual images directly in the press, and Plate-Ident for automated pre-registration and verification of the correct assignment of plates to printing units, underscore KBA's image as a market and technology bellwether. Besides improvements in energy efficiency and a further reduction in makeready times, numerous current innovations are geared to boosting overall productivity, for example via sheet travel.
 
For years, KBA has been designated as an innovative print manufacturer. The prestigious PIA InterTech Award committee validated KBA when it captured the group's InterTech Technology Award for three years straight. In 2007, KBA garnered the award for its Rapida 105's unique Sensoric Infeed System (SIS), a sidelay-free infeed feature found on its new generation 41-inch sheetfed presses. During the past two years, KBA has won InterTech Awards for its Rapida 205 81-inch sheetfed press in 2005 and for its Genius 52 UV offset press in 2006.