The slogan “Add more KBA to your day” was the expected crowd-puller during the 10th KBA roadshow in China, which ran from 20th to 28th October. The roadshow series began back in 2007 and was immediately extremely popular with Chinese print professionals. The high numbers of visitors each year are firm proof of the event's standing. And this year's tour was no exception: Around 700 guests attended the seminars in Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Taipei and Shenzhen. 

As we come to the end of a very successful drupa year, the focus was placed on the latest KBA innovations serving print, finishing, product refinement and technology optimisation. In the wake of the recent easing of economic growth, Chinese print companies are facing increasingly intense competition. Appropriate countermeasures are essential – and that means new approaches, new business models and new visions. With its uniquely broad product range, KBA is in this respect already acknowledged as a strong partner on the Chinese market. 

Sascha Fischer, head of product management, and Stefan Schmidt, sales manager at KBA-Sheetfed Solutions, gave updates on the new developments which the company unveiled at drupa, including the new half-format press Rapida 75 PRO, the rotary die-cutter Rapida RDC 106, the digital sheetfed press VariJET 106 Powered by Xerox and KBA's activities in flexo printing. Further key topics were new features added to the Rapida sheetfed offset presses for medium and large formats, which are already well established with Chinese printers, as well as practice-oriented information on the LED-UV technology. New services, data-driven business models and ecological production were similarly subjects of the keen German-Chinese discussions.  

As in previous years, the informative presentations were followed up with practical press demonstrations at local KBA users. At Shanghai Zidan, for example, the guests were able to witness production on the new CI web press EVO XD from KBA-Flexotecnica. The centre of attention at Zhengzhou Shengda, on the other hand, was a large-format Rapida 145. In Taiwan and Shenzhen, it was print production on Rapida medium-format presses which drew the spotlight.

Over the past ten years, more than 10,000 visitors have sought information on innovative print solutions from KBA at 50 roadshow venues in more than 30 cities.