Product category:
Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA | Subject: Rapida 105
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 September 2004
Printing For Pantone Exerts Severe
Colour Demands
Pantone, the authority on colour and provider of colour systems has signed the acceptance certificate for its second KBA Rapida press, which is scheduled for commissioning within the next few weeks.
Pantone, the authority on colour and provider of colour systems has signed the acceptance certificate for its second KBA Rapida press, which is scheduled for commissioning within the next few weeks Pantone installed a Rapida 72 six-colour press plus coater two years ago at its New Jersey (USA) base
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 24 Mar 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The company is now following it up with a Rapida 105 which Pantone's founder, chairman and chief executive officer Lawrence Herbert, his technical staff and press crew have rigorously tested at KBA's plant near Dresden (Germany).
The new press will be used almost exclusively to print the colour charts, which have made Pantone renowned throughout the print industry.
"Extensive research has been done in the development of this specialised press.
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It's been a beneficial relationship in that we've been able to teach KBA and they've been able to teach us," said Ken Niepokoy, vice president of manufacturing and colour technology at Pantone.
Printing a colour chart accurately is very demanding.
Such a highly specialised product cannot be printed on just any old two-colour press.
The Rapida 105 for Pantone is designed to print textual descriptions and colour specifications in the first unit and Pantone colours in the second.
To achieve the necessary accuracy and density, lateral reciprocation is reduced to almost zero.
The ink duct in the second unit features ink separators spaced 3cm apart - the precise width of a single ink key - where each colour is cleanly split from the adjacent ones.
That enables the duct to be filled with up to 34 different colours, each of which creates an image just under three centimetres wide.
The colour must remain stable in the direction of cylinder rotation along the entire length of the sheet.
According to Niepokoy, the Rapida's performance with regard to this key criterion is outstanding.
One of the Rapida 72's many tasks is to reproduce Pantone's patented six-colour printing process, Hexachrome.
"After careful evaluation of the other printing press manufacturers, we chose KBA for its high-quality machinery and service.
It is imperative that our brochures and publications are printed with the highest quality.
KBA's presses deliver that high quality for us," added Niepokoy.
And Lawrence Herbert commented: "In 1963, Pantone embarked on a course to provide the graphic arts industry with a quality and reliable language of colour communication.
The reproduction of colour to exact standards is of vital importance to designers, printers and clients. Request a free brochure from KBA ...
Our choice of KBA enhances our ability to achieve a new level of excellence and provide the world with the finest products available.".
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