KBA North America announces that its latest corporate Report 40 focuses on the upcoming Drupa 2012 trade fair in May 2012  with several pages dedicated to the raft of new sheetfed offset, digital, industrial ID, packaging and newspaper presses being exhibited by KBA at Drupa and the user benefits they offer. Recent North American customers such as CardPak, Specialty Finishing, and the Albany (NY) Times are also featured in the Report.

“Because we are press manufacturers, we prefer to develop our own product,” writes KBA president and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann in Report 40’s editorial page. “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 personalized 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.”

Other new KBA Drupa exhibits include the 17,000sph Rapida 145, the new medium-format Rapida 105 and its high-tech Rapida 106, which will be shown at 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.

KBA Report 40 also features three of KBA’s many satisfied customers in North America. CardPak, Inc., a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer brand companies across the globe, installed a new KBA Rapida 106 41-inch ten-color perfecting press with coating tower and twelve foot extended delivery at its headquarters in Solon, Ohio.

CardPak’s new Rapida 106 41-inch ten-color perfecting press features a high press speed of 15,000 sph output, ultrafast makeready times, and expanded automation and productivity. The press provides a wide choice of automation options, including the KBA DriveTronic dedicated drives, as well as the DriveTronic feeder, with its presetting capabilities. The press also features the PIA InterTech award–winning sidelay-free infeed, DriveTronic SIS. Its KBA LogoTronic system allows for presetting of ink fountains.  New technology on press also includes the KBA DensiTronic Professional closed-loop color management scanning spectrophotometric system and QualiTronic In-Line Color Control. The substrate range runs from lightweight papers to heavy board, from plastic films to corrugated—all without adjusting any grippers.

Specialty Finishing, an Omaha, Nebraska full service folding carton manufacturer, purchased two large format presses from KBA North America at Chicago’s Graph Expo 2011 in early September. The new presses are a six-color and a seven-color equipped with KBA’s unique automation and inline quality control features and coaters. These are the first KBA presses purchased by Specialty Finishing.

“We chose to purchase two large-format presses from KBA because they could offer the highest level of automation and productivity as well as a custom-configured press for our particular needs,” says Mark Wright, Specialty Finishing president. “These presses will allow our company to continue its rapid growth and offer our customers the highest level of productivity and quality that they expect. We needed the added capacity because we’ve been experiencing 25% growth year-over-year for the past several years.”

The two new KBA Rapida large-format presses will incorporate many inline quality control systems as well as the latest automation to ensure efficiency in large format printing. They will join two additional six-color 40-inch presses from a different press manufacturer. An existing 56-inch sheetfed press will be replaced with the two new KBA models.

The Albany (NY) Times Union ordered a new Commander CL, bucking thetrend in the North American newspaper industry and reaffirming its commitment to print. The H-unit web press with four reelstands, four four-high towers and two folders is destined for the major U.S. media’s upgraded plant in Albany and will print the Times Union, the leading newspaper in New York state’s capital region.

“The Times Union has been the Capital Region’s most trusted source for news and information for more than 150 years,” says Hearst Corporation CEO, Frank A Bennack, Jr. “This announcement continues that mission for readers and advertisers, and greatly enhances the vibrancy of the newspaper. The capital investment affirms our commitment to a printed newspaper while we invest in cutting-edge digital technologies at the same time.”

To read the complete 40th edition of KBA Report, Koenig & Bauer’s corporate magazine featuring trends and print applications from around the world, please download it at: http://www.kba.com/en/news/detail/article/new-kba-report-focuses-on-drupa/back/15/