US packaging printer Everett Graphics in Oakland, California, has signed up at the show for a new-generation Rapida 106 launched at Drupa. The press will have ten printing and coating units and will ship as early as the end of July. Other features will include an optional package for printing on corrugated, a DriveTronic SIS no-sidelay infeed, a UV capability, QualiTronic inline colour control and ErgoTronic ACR register control.

Everett Graphics is a leading developer and manufacturer of top-quality packaging for the food-processing, beverages, pharmaceuticals and technology industries and for health and beauty products. President Whit Everett was looking for a press that could handle extra-heavy, rigid substrates as well as corrugated. The project was initiated three years ago, and KBA proved to be the only manufacturer with the superior know-how required to offer the type of press that Whit Everett had in mind: capable of printing coasters and even sheet metal. For him, the medium-format Rapida 106 is the “best packaging printing press on the market today.”

Everett Graphics was founded 30 years ago and is still a family enterprise. The company is considered one of the leading folding-carton manufacturers in California and has received a string of awards for the quality of its printed and finished products. Protecting the environment is a major corporate objective. The Rapida's advanced level of automation, inline quality monitoring and array of waste-reducing features will help Everett Graphics to burnish its green credentials still further.