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Product category: Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA | Subject: 74 Karat Press
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial Team on 18 March 2004

Serbian Offset Hunger Is Carrot For KBA
Karat

Belgrade pre-press agency Grid Studio has installed a KBA 74 Karat - the second press of this type to be shipped to a state in the former Yugoslavia.

Belgrade pre-press agency Grid Studio has installed a KBA 74 Karat - the second press of this type to be shipped to a state in the former Yugoslavia High-quality offset is in great demand in Serbia, but difficult to find

Although the economic environment in Serbia and Montenegro has yet to recover from the recent conflict, there are signs of a definite upturn in and a great demand for quality offset printing, according to KBA.

This is reflected in a vigorous demand for more sophisticated multi-colour printed products.

Over the past six years, Grid Studio (www.grid.co.yu) has established a name for itself as an agency for graphic design, a provider of pre-press services and a marketing boutique.

Now, after producing proofs and posters on a large-format inkjet printer, managing director Djordje Nikolic and his nine staff have progressed to the world of offset with a 74 Karat IR coater press.

Despite the upturn, making an investment of this magnitude takes a lot of courage.

And the situation is not improved by the fact that in Serbia and Montenegro there are about 3,000 printing plants, so competition for work is ruthless and prices correspondingly low.

However, most of these operations are on a very small scale and poorly equipped, and therefore unable to compete on quality.

That was one of the arguments Nikolic offered his bank when he submitted his business model.

The 74 Karat competes head-on with conventional sheetfed offset, but is superior in a number of ways, said KBA.

Its waterless offset with Gravuflow inking units supports a consistently high and uniform print quality.

The integrated digital workflow - the least of the challenges the new press posed for a specialist operation like Grid Studio - cut out front-end costs and thus streamlined job throughput.

And the company is planning to add finishing equipment and to take on five more staff to enable print jobs to be handled completely in-house, with the coater guaranteeing almost instant turnaround - a rare service in Serbia.

Although a lot of customers have expressed interest, the market for typical Karat products is still relatively immature and needs to be developed.

Nikolic is hoping to boost sales by promoting his company's new products among existing customers in Germany and the USA.

His company's portfolio embraces high-specification advertisement for ad agencies, industrial enterprises, banks and events organisers, plus various types of labels.

Grid Studio has received a lot of assistance from KBA's Austrian subsidiary, KBA-Modling, in implementing its business model, though Serbian customs regulations tend to turn the provision of service and support into something of an obstacle course, added the German press manufacturer. Request a free brochure from KBA ...

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