April 22, 2004 -- KBA’s theme at this year’s Drupa, “People & Print: Driving Advances – Together,” will reinforce KBA’s driving force to develop new benchmarks in pioneering print technology.  Resonating throughout the show will be KBA’s advancements in sheetfed and web press engineering, workflow integration, production networking and process technology.  KBA’s undiminished optimism in the future of print will be reflected in its 37,700ft booth in hall 16, divided into areas dedicated to pre-press, sheetfed, gravure, newspaper and commercial web offset. Since Drupa 2000 KBA has established a reputation among industry players as a pioneer in melding the benefits of keyless and waterless offset, with the aim of standardizing print production to make it more cost-effective. Four years ago the spotlight was on KBA’s digitally integrated 20x29” offset press, the 74 Karat, and revolutionary mini newspaper press, the Cortina. At Drupa 2004 the group will focus on short-run production in 18-inch to 29-inch presses, where the low volume of waste generated by waterless and keyless offset systems can deliver substantial economic benefits. Waterless print production in a “short-run factory” The KBA stand in hall 16 will feature a “short-runfactory” featuring a 46 Karat 18” waterless press with conventional inking and two waterless, keyless presses: a 20½” Genius 52 five color, and a 29” 74 Karat with integrated coater, both with their associated peripherals (Creo’s Lotem 200K platesetter and Veris proofing system for the Genius, a Brisque/O.R.I.S workflow for the Karat). New applications for the 74 Karat, developed in collaboration with HumanEyes Technologies, include 3-D photographic printing on plastic and foil using oxidative inks. Genius 52 in halls 3 and 11 too A UV version of the Genius 52 can be seen at the Metronic booth in hall 11 printing smart cards on 24pt PVC film and other plastic products. A new addition to the KBA group, Metronic handles the development and sales of the Genius 52 for plastic printing applications and will also be showcasing its universal ID system, UniverSYS, in which inkjet can be custom-integrated with other processes such as hot stamping to support personalization. Keyless Rapida 74 G makes world debut at Toray and Marks-3zet Two other pioneers of waterless offset, Japanese plate manufacturer Toray and its German distributor Ernst Marksin Mühlheim (Marks-3zet), will run demos on KBA presses in a waterless area on the Marks-3zet stand in hall 3. The Genius 52 UV press will not be the only newcomer on the Marks-3zet stand: the show will also see the world premiere of the Rapida 74 G (G = GravuflowTM), a half-size waterless offset press featuring the same keyless inking system as the 74 Karat and thus the same superior print quality and low level of start-up waste (10 sheets or less). In all other respects – its Technotrans temperature control system, automatic plate changing, remote format and register control, JDF workflow integration etc – the 15,000 sph G version resembles its conventional counterpart, the Rapida 74. The press in Düsseldorf will be a four color with coater and delivery extension. Being a unit-type press, the Rapida 74 G can be configured with up to eight printing units plus perfectors, coaters and other inline finishing options. The first presses to roll off the production line have already been sold to a short-run packaging printer in Sweden. The innovative design of the Rapida 74 G primarily targets print shops specializing in short-run productionin more than four colors on costly substrates (aluminium-coated paper, non-standard stock, film etc) or already operating CTP and unwilling to add a computer-to-press system such as the 74 Karat. High-speed make-ready on Cortina in Offenburg The Cortina waterless newspaper press, which has been selling well since it was put on the market a few months ago, will not be displayed in Düsseldorf due to lack of space. However, the beta press in Offenburg, which now features automatic plate changing and minigaps on the blanket cylinders, can be seen in action by prior arrangement with KBA. Automating plate change has cut changeover times to just two minutes, a figure that computer-to-press systems for web offset cannot hope to match in the foreseeable future. According to KBA it is also much more cost-effective than computer to press for newspaper production. New Rapidas set benchmarks The visual appearance of the new Rapidas, which have a sleeker, more elegant profile reminiscent of new models launched at car shows highlight the role KBA has assumed – acknowledged by an increasing number of print professionals – as an arbiter of design and innovation in sheetfed offset engineering. At Drupa KBA will be exhibiting a five-color coater version of its revamped Rapida 74 with delivery extension. Next to this will be a new-generation 41½” Rapida 105 six color with coater and plinth for printing packaging. Representing KBA’s large-format presses, a six-color version of the size 64” Rapida 162, also with coater and delivery extension, will be printing on a variety of substrates. First 14-unit Rapida 105 parallel to drupa Leading the way for the current generation of 41” KBA presses, the first of which came on the market in 1998, will be a six-color coater press with a hybrid inking/coating capability. During Drupa KBA is also arranging for prospective buyers to see a production run on the world’s first14-unit Rapida 105 press line for five-color perfecting and coating at MeinkeDruck in Neuss, near Düsseldorf. JDF with Creo, Hiflex and Rogler All the presses on the stand will be highly automated (including plate changing and press preset) and integrated in a JDF workflow with Creo CTP (Lotem 800V, Brisque) via Hiflex and Rogler software. The presses will feed to a Bäuerle folding machine and Perfecta guillotine. VLF at teNeues Although KBA is only displaying a single printing unit of its new 81” Rapida 205, which is the biggest sheetfed offset press on the market, trade visitors to drupa can attend a production run on a four-unit version with perforator and automatic plate changers at teNeues in Kempen, 38miles from Düsseldorf. The Rapida 205 and its smaller sister, the 73” Rapida 185 have a maximum output of 9,000 and 11,000 sheets respectively and a standard of automation comparable to that of the most advanced medium-format presses – capabilities that open up new options for printers of posters, point-of-sale displays, packaging and books. The proven remains... Features that have proven their value in the course of time have been retained, and these include the ability to handle a broad range of substrates from lightweight paper to heavy cardboard, plastic film and corrugated; the basic Rapida press concept of double-size impression and transfer cylinders; a rigid, cast-iron substructure; continuous gear trains with no vibration-prone main shaft, multi-row bearings in place of fault-prone friction bearings; and universally compatible grippers for paper, board and plastic. Plus, of course, the same variety of configurations as for their predecessors, i.e.multiple printing units, inline perfectors, coaters, dryers, perforators and numbering units etc, plastic and board printing packages, hybrid inking and coating capabilities, ”eco” package and dual coating options. ...a lot of new features are added A standard feature on all KBA’s new medium- and large-format Rapidas is a shaftless feeder, which apart from ensuring a smoother pile movement makes handling much easier in a number of ways, i.e. by retrieving the sheet from the suction-belt table after a press stop and returning it to the feed pile. No other feeder on the market offers such capabilities. The upgraded Ergotronic control console for the new Rapida 105 and Rapida 205 is based on Windows, which is rapidly becoming the norm for both technical and administrative applications. Because it is so widespread, updates should be available for some years yet. All unit-type Rapidas can be embedded in a universal JDFworkflow featuring pre-press and post-press via Logotronic Professional production management system and dedicated software. Optional equipment includes a Densitronic S desk for closed-loop color control, Densitronic Basic electronic color-control system built into the Colortronic desk and Qualitronic 2 inline sheet-scanning system. Just about everything that can be adjusted electromechanically or pneumatically can be preset or adjusted from the Ergotronic console. Rapida 74: higher net output The maximum output of the new Rapida 74 has been increased to 18,000sph for straight printing and 15,000sph for perfecting. Optional extras include an automatic plate changer (semi-automatic is already standard) and an automatic washing system for the impression cylinders. All the press configurations offered for the previous model (ten-unit perfector, dual coater for hybrid/UV, perforator, numbering unit, Corona static eliminator) are available with the new one. Rapida 105: 18,000sph in 41-inch KBA’s new Rapida 105 can be instantly recognized by its high-line delivery extension which, coupled with a new cylinder geometry, supports an even flatter sheet run and an unparalleled output of 18,000 sph in straight printing or 15,000sph in perfecting. The press incorporates a number of new features that farsighted print operators have been asking to have. These include electrically operated front lay adjustment at the infeed, with optional side lay-free infeed – a world first. The printing units now boast two-phase roller throw-on/off, faster automatic plate changing (standard), contact-free airborne sheet travel for stock weighing up to 205lb Bristol, a multiple washing system for the blanket and impression cylinders, a differential dampening unit drive that can be engaged on demand to clean the plate, three-point ink train separation with profile retention during production stoppages, and the ability to disconnecti nk ducts that are surplus to run requirements. The coater has been fitted with lightweight aluminum screen rollers and an automatic plate changing system,while the delivery incorporates a nonstop roller with automatic height adjustment as a standard feature, a pile lift with a much smoother action, a powder sprayer actuated from the console and suction rollers that adjust automatically to sheet size. The high-line delivery extension affords easy access to the dryers. KBA believes that the Rapida 105 will be the most advanced, the most powerful, the most flexible and the user-friendliest 41-inch press at the show. LF limbers up Since KBA launched its large-format Rapidas at Drupa 1995 it has shipped a grand total of 600 presses with more than 3,000 printing units, some configured as multi-unit press lines with one or more types of coater, UV capabilities and perfecting facilities for up to four over four. At Drupa 2004 it will defend its position as the leader in large format with even bigger, more powerful presses. It has raised the speed of its 56” Rapida 142 to 15,000 sheets per hour, the same as the 51” Rapida 130, and that of its 64” Rapida 162 to14,000sph. The new Rapida 162a now runs at 13,000sph, making it more productive than any other press of this size. Optional extras, such as a package for printing on lightweight stock, simultaneous blanket and roller washing, an ICS pre-delivery sheet slitter etc, expand the range of applications and ease operator workload. New 16pp Compacta 217 Heatset printers at Drupa will have the chance to see KBA’s new 70,000 cph 16pp press, the Compacta 217, which features a high level of automation (plate changing, press preset) to minimize make-ready and start-up waste. The press exhibited, which will also be embedded in the JDF workflow, will be configured with a Pastostar reel stand, KBA infeed unit, five double printing units (one of them functioning as an imprinter for face and back imprinting), Vits Rotoline heatset dryer and KBA’s new P5 pin folder. The Compacta 217 will print a 20pp flyer on two different types of stock and in different language versions, for finishing on the Müller Martini stand. New products for newspapers, rotogravure and corrugated Although KBA’s other new products – its compact,waterless Cortina and huge 6/2 Commander newspaper presses, TR12B rotogravurepress for a web width of 4.32m (170”) and Corrugraph sheetfed flexo press for packaging – will not be exhibited at Drupa, there will be video shows, a TRconsole and plenty of information available. In addition to the Cortina tour KBA is organizing trips to see the new 4/2 Commander press line with integratedreel logistics at Pressehaus in Stuttgart, the world’s first 6/2 Commander at Tamedia in Zurich and the new 4/1 Prisma in the assembly hall in Würzburg. Please find a downloadable version of PR including photos at: www.kbaprint.com/vt/headlines/sheetfed/ 2004-03-23-00/text5.html