Issue 40 of Koenig & Bauer's corporate magazine, KBA Report, focuses on the Drupa 2012 trade fair, with several pages dedicated to the raft of new sheetfed offset, digital, industrial ID, packaging and newspaper presses KBA is exhibiting there and the user benefits they offer.

200 years after the invention of the mechanical printing press by the company's founders, Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Bauer, KBA is expanding into high-volume digital inkjet printing with the KBA RotaJET 76 manufactured at the group's main plant in Würzburg. In the editorial KBA president and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann writes: “Because we are press manufacturers and not dealers, we obviously preferred to develop our own product. It was the only way we could offer our customers the system best suited to their production needs from an impartial perspective. For many applications an offset press may still be the best solution, while for ultra-short runs or personalised prints it may be our new RotaJET digital press or, in some cases, a hybrid offset/inkjet system such as the offset Rapida 105 we are showcasing at Drupa with an additional inkjet unit.” In an article on the front page with the title “Seeing change as an opportunity”, KBA head of corporate communications Klaus Schmidt notes that the initial confrontation between digital and conventional media and digital and conventional printing processes is evolving into a stimulating co-existence engendering new, merged forms.

Some of the new Drupa exhibits that KBA has announced in recent weeks have already proven their mettle as disguised prototypes in customer press rooms. One of them is a 17,000sph Rapida 145 at Leopold Verpackungen in Marbach, on which there is a detailed article. Other reports from Germany and abroad include KBA's new medium-format Rapida 105 and also its high-tech Rapida 106, which will be shown at Drupa as a long perfector with perfect coating capability. The Rapida 106's maximum rated output will soon be raised to 20,000sph straight and 18,000sph in perfecting mode. Another record-breaker featured in KBA Report is a world atlas printed on a KBA Rapida 205 at Litorama in Italy. Called Earth Platinum, it measures 1.8 x 1.4m (70.86 x 55.1in) and weighs 150kg (over 330lbs). Other articles discuss new products, orders, production processes and customer verdicts on web offset, plastic printing and metal decorating presses.

Available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, KBA Report can be obtained free of charge from KBA dealers or the KBA marketing department (tel: +49 931 909-4336; fax: +49 931 909-6015; e-mail: [email protected]), or downloaded as a PDF file from KBA's website (http://www.kba.com).