Some 80 print professionals from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia met at KBA Maghreb in Rades near Tunis on 12th and 13th March to discuss new technology solutions for the print and media industry, and in particular to pick up the latest information on developments in sheetfed offset. In a hall of the company's own engineering centre, which is also used increasingly often for product demonstrations, a Rapida 74 was shown printing a variety of different packaging jobs. Similarly avid interest was attracted by the Genius 52UV press. Die-cutting equipment and a folder-gluer were on hand for conversion of the products.

Even though North African users have tended to focus mainly on second-hand equipment in recent years, there has been a distinct increase in the numbers of orders for new presses, especially in the small and medium format classes. The favourite in the region is the Rapida 105, which is purchased in the most varied configurations. Two of the biggest Rapida users in Morocco are the companies Fleximat and Litho Typo (both in Casablanca). Fleximat operates three six-colour Rapida 105 presses with inline coating and board handling options, one of them even with double-coating facilities and a perfecting unit after the first printing tower. The company produces a wide range of packaging, with the double-coater press serving above all a specialisation on cigarette packaging. Fellow packaging printers Litho Typo run a five-colour Performa 74 and a six-colour Rapida 105 – both with coater and extended delivery.

In Tunisia, too, there are numerous companies which count several Rapida presses their own. Tunis-based printers Finzi, for example, work with two Rapida 74 presses, while Al Khoutaf in Sfax has taken not only five-colour and six-colour versions of the Rapida 105 into service, but also a Rapida 142 with six printing units and UV facilities – all three in configurations for inline coating. Such large-format installations, however, are still quite rare in North Africa. By far the largest KBA user in Algeria, and probably the largest printing company in the whole of North Africa, is Tonic Emballage. A total of 11 Rapida presses already contribute to production at the company print centre 40 km before the gates of Algiers, among them a 15-unit Rapida 105 which is almost 30 metres long. This press is configured with six printing units, a coater and two intermediate dryer towers, followed by a perfecting unit, five further printing units, a second coater and an extended delivery. Coating before and after the perfecting unit is thus by no means a current innovation, as has recently been implied in reports elsewhere. Another five-colour Rapida 105 with inline coating, extended delivery and board handling equipment is just on its way to Rabah Press in Misurata, Libya. It is the first Rapida offset press to be installed in Libya.

The open house at KBA Maghreb confirmed the interest of the North African print industry in the latest press technologies – and with a team of more than ten well-trained technicians, the committed service department at KBA Maghreb is playing no small role in promoting the success of the Rapida presses in the region.