Five specialist events in five different regions

• Over 700 visiting trade experts
• Print demos at successful users
• High-end configurations with up to 14 printing and finishing units
• Regional events for the graphic arts industry

Lianbiao Wang, head of sales and marketing at Koenig & Bauer Greater China, presents high-speed applications for medium-format sheetfed offset in Huangshi

At the end of October/beginning of November Koenig & Bauer invited Chinese print users to specialist events in various regions of the country. These roadshows have taken place since 2007 without interruption – and now for the eleventh time. This year's motto was "Built for your Needs - High-Level Sheetfed configurations". Each event consists of a seminar section and practical print demonstrations at a Rapida user. Over 700 print users attended this year’s events in Tianjin, Guiyang, Yiwu, Huangshi and Taipei, which covered the regions of north, southwest, east and central China and Taiwan.

The choice of presentation topics was closely linked to the installations at the local print companies, which opened their halls during the event and presented Rapida technology live. The success stories of the respective users as well as business models and equipment aroused great interest among the trade visitors. Each event thus became a local event for the graphic arts industry.

User-focused sheetfed offset installations presented live

In Tianjin the focus was on highly automated printing with inline cold-foil finishing, four-over-four printing with a RS 106 reel-to-sheet device and postpress with the Rapida RDC 106 rotary die cutter. At Tianjin Haishun, a dedicated commercial and packaging printer, visitors saw an eight-colour Rapida 106 with perfecting unit for four-over-four production, an RS 106 and additional coater, a six-colour Rapida 106 with coater and a Rapida 145 with five inking units, coater and pile logistics.

Cold-foil production, rotary die-cutting and highly complex machine configurations were also the focus in Guiyang. Guizhou Yongji, a manufacturer of cigarette packaging, opened its doors to show visitors its Rapida 106 with coater, interdeck dryer, ten printing units, an additional coater, cold-foil module and extended delivery, and an eight-colour Rapida 106 with coater, UV equipment and cold-foil module at production speeds of 18,000 sheets per hour.

Printing on plastic material and film was one of the main topics in Yiwu. Yiwu Zhongyin is a specialist in this market segment and, together with Zhejiang Xibulun, a company specialising in UV printing, showed high-quality print production on non-absorbent substrates. Yiwu Zhongyin uses a Rapida 75 PRO with seven inking units and coater. Zhejiang Xibulun has a Rapida 105 PRO with six inking units and coater.

In Huangshi visitors saw the longest Rapida installation in China, a Rapida 106 with nine inking units, coater, two interdeck dryers, another printing and coating unit and a delivery extension - 14 printing and finishing units. It is in operation at Hubei Jinjia. It produces high-quality packaging for spirits inline with printing speeds of up to 18,000 sheets per hour.

At the events in Taipei experts from Koenig & Bauer in Radebeul and the local sales team explained the printing plant 4.0, inline cold foil production with Vinfoil Optima, the opportunities for UV production and the digital packaging printing of the future with the VariJET 106.

New business models for greater productivity

The Chinese printing industry is facing difficulties due to the economic slowdown, characterised by rising production and labour costs, tougher competition, and partially ineffective business models. The insistence on traditional production methods makes it difficult for companies to survive. This is where Koenig & Bauer's series of events came in: New ways of thinking and new business models based on high-quality, complex technology were presented. These can be used to increase production capacity, significantly improve productivity and thus market position and manufacture new products using more effective processes.