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Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA North America | Subject: Rapida 142, 162, 205 presses
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 April 2008
Large Format Presses Increase Growth
Potential
Continued strong growth in the large format and superlarge format sheetfed press markets is being sustained by KBA North America because of its parent company's 80-year record producing such systems.
KBA believes commercial printers are drawn to the large format press size because a large-format sheet can accommodate 32-page, 48-page, or even 64-page production, as opposed to just 16 pages on a 41-inch sheet Packaging printers are also exploiting the efficiency gains that large format can provide, depending on the size of the packaging
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 10 Apr 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Where three blanks would fit on a 41-inch sheet, a Rapida 142 or Rapida 162 press can print as many as eight blanks.
LF printers can also offer customers the added-value benefit of single-source production of commercial print, or packaging, as well as associated posters or displays, added the company.
The first super large-format Rapida 205 81-inch press was installed at German poster printers Ellerhold in 2004.
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In the meantime, presses of the Rapida 205 and the slightly smaller Rapida 185 series, totalling almost 300 printing units have entered production in Europe and North America.
The first superlarge format press in Asia has also just been delivered to Shanghai and there are some users that are already the owners of two or even three XXXL presses.
For example, Edison Litho in North Bergen, New Jersey (USA) is the first printer in the country to own two Rapida 205 81-inch presses.
KBA said that in the markets for the largest sheetfed offset formats, business are thriving.
More poster and display printers are installing the Rapida presses alongside wide-format inkjet installations, or screen printing systems.
Screen printers, in particular, have discovered the productivity and profitability benefits embodied in super-large-format sheetfed offset.
The company commented that despite the recognised strengths of the screen printing process, the technology is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain its market share in the face of shorter delivery deadlines and mounting price pressures.
In KBA's opinion, it is only a question of time before 6.5-foot offset presses achieve a breakthrough in packaging printing.
The only element still missing is the correspondingly modern equipment for finishing and conversion.
In the corrugated board industry, there are already many flexo presses with in-line rotary die cutting for sheet widths of three metres and on that basis, KBA said that there is nothing to prevent two-metre offset presses being used for folding cartons.
Although the first presses were mainly four-colour, or five-colour configured machines, with or without additional perforating, coating or drying towers for poster printing, the demand is shifting increasingly in the direction of six-colour, or even seven-colour presses with full in-line coating and drying facilities for large-format posters and displays, especially in the USA.
KBA explained that even UV and hybrid finishing applications and the use of plastic substrates have become regular considerations for super large format users.
Twelve-colour superlarge format Rapidas with equipment for UV and hybrid printing have been supplied to customers in the USA, Canada, UK, France, Spain and Germany.
One of the principal reasons for those developments has been that more retailers and brand-name manufacturers are demanding high-quality varnish finishing, even for such large displays and posters as they look to maximise their advertising success at the point of sale.
Another reason is that there is no need to wait before further processing in the case of UV products and the super large-format sector, where billboard printers promise a 24-hour service between receipt of an order and the finished posters.
KBA said that the strongest markets for superlarge format sheetfed offset print have so far been the USA and UK, closely followed by Germany, including Ellerhold, which has bought three presses, as well as France, Spain and Switzerland.
The largest press in the world to date - 30 metres long, 3.7 metres high and weighing 272 tons - is a seven-colour version with coating and drying towers, which has been installed at National Posters, the flagship company of the National Print Group, in Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA).
The Rapida 205 is claimed to take up to 20 trucks to transport and deliver and after it has been commissioned its feeder pile alone can weigh three tons.
With a sheet format of 59" x 81", the press is said to include the benefits of the Rapida 162, such as the seven o'clock cylinder arrangement, double-size impression cylinders, a shaftless feeder and fully-automatic plate changing.
With its claimed printing speed of up to 9,000 sheets per hour (sph) the maximum production output can reach 92 square feet of printed area each hour, corresponding to double the output of a high-performance medium-format press of the latest 18,000sph generation.
KBA also added that the relatively short inking train of the Rapida 205, with 16 rollers, provides minimum start-up waste, short washing times and fast reactions, which are decisive factors when the majority of business is in producing extremely short runs.
The press can also handle papers, display board, microflute, plastic film and metallised stocks from 0.1mm to 1.6mm thickness, according to the company.
Holger Garbrecht, the president and chief executive officer of KBA North America, commented: "The superior competence and market leadership of KBA in the large-format sector have been undisputed for decades and since Drupa 2004 we have extended that even further to embrace the breathtaking dimensions of the super-large, or XXL-plus format." He explained: "Our company has been manufacturing large-format presses for over 80 years and has continued to have the substantially largest share of presses sold in this sector.
Over the years, we have introduced the newest technology on those presses to allow any type of printer to easily use this large format size, from 51" up to 81".
Our Rapida 205 81-inch press, the largest in the world, received the prestigious PIA/GATF Intertech award and we are the only press manufacturer to offer a large-format press as a perfector, providing even more flexibility and productivity in this arena." He added that KBA's large-format presses give printers an advantage because they can print on a variety of substrates, from 40lb paper to 48pt board and even higher with special configurations.
In addition, KBA is the only press manufacturer in the USA to have a working large-format press in its demonstration facility where potential customers can try out the Rapida 142 56-inch six-colour plus coater.
In his opinion, whilst other press manufacturers may only be entering the large format press field now, KBA has the knowledge, engineering, awards and the customer base to support its claim as the leader in large-format printing.
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