KBA RUS, KBA’s Russian sales and service subsidiary, celebrated its 10th birthday from 23 to 25 October. The management of KBA RUS invited 70 representatives from printing firms in Russia and central Asia to Dresden in Saxony and to the KBA plant in Radebeul.

The formal celebrations took place at Lingnerschloss Castle in Dresden overlooking the river Elbe. Along with a tour of the beautiful city sights, the guests learned more about KBA’s cutting-edge sheetfed offset technology first hand at the plant during the three-day event.

Ralf Sammeck, executive vice-president for the sheetfed product house, welcomed the visitors to the KBA customer centre. Dirk Winkler, head of print technology, then informed the participants on the current trends in sheetfed offset as well as the latest developments in drying technology. An array of inline finishing options in UV and hybrid operation were shown on a Rapida 75 during various live print demonstrations. Other demos included the record output of 20,000sph on a Rapida 106 and Flying JobChange with DriveTronic SPC on a ten-colour press from this high-tech series.

The same poster was printed on both sides of a sheet on an eight-colour Rapida 105, on one side using a HR UV colour scale and on the other side with an LED UV colour scale, and dried with the corresponding dyers. The visitors from Russia were able to thus compare the printing results produced with this new energy-saving process. Last but not least, KBA presented high-quality finishing with cold foil on a Rapida 106 equipped with two coaters.

Before starting their journey home, the guests saw two extra-large format Rapida 205s in action at Ellerhold and visited the impressive Moritzburg Castle on the outskirts of Dresden.