KBA North America is calling PRINT 13 one of its most successful shows due to the high volume of quality customer visits throughout the five day event. To add to its success, KBA finalized a contract for a new KBA Rapida 164 64-inch six-color press going to Meredith-Webb Printing Company.  The eagerness of attendees was keenly apparent to learn more about KBA's technological advances--in offset, web, and digital--as well as learn about the state of the printing industry from NAPL Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Andy Paparozzi, who provided two dynamic presentations at the KBA booth.

"This has been an excellent show for KBA," says Mark Hischar, president and CEO of KBA North America. "Our associates were busy introducing and explaining to our customers and prospects why KBA's industry-first technology will help them broaden their customer base, move into new markets, and increase their efficiency and bottom line. We were honored to have our KBA Group president and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann join us to provide an international perspective and meet one-on-one with customers and prospects. And we were extremely pleased to welcome Meredith-Webb executives Kelly and Travers Webb, who signed a contract to install their third KBA press in three years at their facility in Burlington, NC. We expect further announcements in the coming months due to the success derived from this show."

Meredith-Webb Printing Company, a national commercial printing company with services ranging from direct mail to packaging, joined KBA executives on the first day of the show to ink their contract for the purchase of its third KBA press in three years. The new Rapida 164 64-inch six-color ten-unit press with double coaters, UV capabilities, and KBA QualiTronic Professional inline color control, will be delivered to the company's Burlington, NC facility in January 2014. The Rapida 164 will join Meredith-Webb's 64-inch Rapida 162a seven-color with coater and UV capabilities, delivered in 2013, and the Rapida 106 41-inch 10-unit UV press, installed in 2010.  

At the annual KBA press conference, attended by journalists from as far away as Russia, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, and Brazil, the KBA Group president and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann reiterated the healthy financial status of the company. "We have a strong positive balance sheet and a backorder of press sales for the next year," he reported. "We are the only press manufacturer to record these strong positive financial results for the past four years. We are continuing to place a strong emphasis on print as we continue to diversify and expand our portfolio with the latest acquisition of the high-end German direct-to-container decoration press manufacturer Kammann Maschinebau, the world leader in glass container printing. Here in North America, we continue to grow our market share and, in fact, have signed an extraordinary number of new contracts this summer as we continue to add customers to the KBA family."

Attendees were engaged in learning more about KBA's wide range of printing presses, its solutions forcommercial printing, folding carton packaging, newspaper, flexible packaging, plastic cards, security printing, digital printing, signage and POP, metal decorating, and glass and plastic container decorating. Its new entry into the digital market--the KBA RotaJET 76 inkjet web press--proved to be a popular topic with attendees lining up for detailed explanations about the press's high-volume capabilities, especially in book, newspaper production and direct mail.

On the third day of the show, KBA provided the forum for NAPL Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Andy Paparozzi to unveil his State of the Industry report, which was sponsored by KBA. Paparozzi provided a riveting delivery of the report's findings. "This is still a challenging environment," he said. "But printers can succeed by creating opportunities, becoming an expert for their customers, asking the right questions and listening to their customers, and thumping their chests and providing detailed descriptions to differentiate themselves from their competition. This is no time to be mode