Big Press Takes Printer In To POS And POP Markets

"An ambitious company moving forward still with an appetite for bigger horizons", is how the two partners of UK billboard poster printers, Odessa Offset, describe their company.

"An ambitious company moving forward still with an appetite for bigger horizons", is how the two partners of UK billboard poster printers, Odessa Offset, describe their company.

For Mike Charles and Laurence Matthews that ambition is currently reflected in the order, just announced, which will see Odessa installing a giant KBA Rapida 205 supersize sheet fed offset press this summer.

The four-colour jumbo Rapida 205 will not only substantially increase Odessas outdoor poster capacity but with increased substrate flexibility, it will take the firm in to new point of sale and point of purchase markets, for which senior POP sales people are now actively being sought by the company.

"The big KBA will not only allow Odessa Offset to produce work to a far higher quality than at present but will also allow the required diversification for growth," said joint managing director Mike Charles.

The Rapida 205, involving a capital investment of over £3 million, will see a change of press manufacturer for a company that has largely been a MAN Roland house since its foundation in Odessa Street in London's Surrey Docks in 1983.

Beginning as a trade house the firm graduated into a full blown commercial print in 1991.

Today, Odessa Offset, is a £5.75 million, 32-employee company serving the capital's advertising agencies and print management companies for billboard posters.

Over the years Odessa has been involved in many campaigns including posters for BMW, Coca Cola, Nike, Cointreau, McDonalds and Eurostar.

The Rapida 205 is to be housed in a new 3,000 square foot press hall, for which building plans are approved and which will be completed and ready by the spring.

The press will print UV or conventional inks, come with a coater, a package for plastics and film, Densitronic colour management, a Ciplink work station and an on-press slitting facility.

Out will go two MAN Roland presses and a long service Harris.

The KBA machine will be backed by a five-colour Roland and the Odessa short-run digital wing comprising the latest in Vutek wide format technology and a Scitex Pressjet 11 System.

The Odessa team said it is supremely confident in its choice of press and plans for the future.

They said: "Customers who place their important campaigns with us can relax and sleep at nights." KBA UK managing director, Christian Knapp added: "The KBA 205 is now the must have press in the supersize market.

Anything smaller just will not do as the market moves up.

Naturally we are delighted that the 205 is now established as the benchmark in this sector." The Rapida 205 has a maximum sheet size of 1,510mm x 2,050mm, operates at 9,000 sheets per hour and with its board equipment handle substrates up to 1.2mm thickness.

Odessa Offset is the third London printer to specify the 205 for installation this year.

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