Big packaging printers in Turkey are not the only ones who value the quality, output and flexibility of medium- and large-format KBA Rapidas.

They are equally popular among ambitious smaller printers like coloristakademi in Istanbul, which shortly after firing up a new Rapida 105 with UV capability for printing plastic and film scooped a silver star at the Turkish Packaging Awards 2011.

Creativity determines course

Officially registered as Akademi Matbaacilik Iletisim, coloristakademi was established as a commercial printer cum graphic studio in 1990 by an ex-journalist, Yusuf Uygun. The company started off with secondhand mono and two-colour B1 (40in) presses and served the local market. But creativity already played a major role, and standard commercial work soon took a back seat to more specialised work. Today the focus is on developing quality, inline-coated packaging offering value added for the food-processing, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Coloristakademi is now looking to win over foreign customers with its quality excellence. To support this objective the new Rapida 105 was configured with an array of features.

Company growth accelerated with the installation in 2000 of a secondhand five-colour Rapida 104, which Yusuf Uygun describes as his first great love. And he remains faithful to this day: after eleven years and over 200 million printed sheets he has no immediate plans to replace it with a new medium-format KBA press.

Yusuf Uygun says: “We entered the high-end packaging sector at an early stage. You have to have the courage to achieve more and invest accordingly. We didn’t rush to add the new six-colour Rapida 105 coater press, which has a special 740 x 1050mm format: we first scrutinised KBA’s innovative technology at trade fairs and reference sites. The comprehensive support provided by Dereli Graphic also gave us confidence in KBA technology and service. In the end we invested at precisely the right moment.”

Growth confirms perfect timing

He goes on: “The performance of the new Rapida 105 is very impressive and has really moved us forward. We print an average of 50,000 sheets per job, but can handle run lengths of 300,000 sheets. We can print lightweight stock as immaculately as film, plastic and board weighing 400 to 600 g/m2.”

Sales in 2010 totalled some €6m ($8.3m). With the Rapida 105 in action sales in the first six months of 2011 topped €4m ($5.5m), and there is every indication that this will be another record year. “The press will enable us to develop new products and tap new foreign markets as well,” explains Uygun. “We are looking to raise our export level from the current ten to fifteen per cent to fifty per cent and have every chance of succeeding.”