Product category:
Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA | Subject: KBA Complete consultancy services
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 April 2008
KBA's Consultancy Service Helps Printers
Futures
KBA Complete, the German press manufacturer's consultancy operation, is claimed to offers diverse of services to help printing businesses sustain and strengthen their future prospects for business.
According to KBA, the tasks to be handled by print and media service providers are becoming more complex Greater volumes of print are being produced to shorter deadlines, whilst at the same time, the spectrum of auxiliary services offered is an increasingly significant factor differentiating the individual providers in the market
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 9 Feb 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Cambridge Newspapers Expands With KBA Performance
Cambridge Newspapers is planning to expand its newspaper contract printing with a pressroom investment in back to back colour facilities.
Dutch Printer Extends KBA Production Capacity
Dutch printing house Janssen Pers Rotatiedruk, a longstanding KBA customer based in Gennep, has ordered an extension to the single-width Continent web press it installed in 1999.
For Ralf Sammeck, KBA's director for sheetfed offset sales, one possible solution to such dilemmas is to be found in the optimisation of business processes.
He explained: "At the end of the day, process optimisation can help our customers to distinguish themselves from their competitors and to secure economic success." Sammeck added that even functioning processes can be improved but the greatest is to identify the potential.
He continued: "We can only be successful ourselves, if our customers are, too.
Further reading
Belgian's Take To Waterless For Newspapers
Waterless newspaper offset has now spread to Belgium, where media player De Persgroep in Asse, near Brussels, has just become the third print enterprise to sign up for a KBA Cortina after Rodi Rotatie
Mail and Standard Set Flexo Standards Higher
The world's largest flexo newspaper production installation is growing even bigger.
KBA Readies New SLF Presses For Market
The biggest SLF offset press on the international market entered the final phase of production at the beginning of November 2003 with the successful conclusion of sheet-run trials at KBA's factory.
That is the basic idea behind KBA Complete.
We act as a partner offering our customers independent consulting services and assistance to analyse, optimise and automate their production workflow processes." Roland Kastner, the managing director of newly founded KBA Complete, added: "I am looking forward to the cooperation with KBA and the additional customer benefits we will be able to offer users through KBA Complete.
Hand in hand with the customers and a team of expert technology partners, we can reveal and implement the economic potential of seamless and integrated intra-company networking.
That means not just the technical workflow but also all the necessary instruments for transparent business management." According to Kastner KBA Complete analyses processes, develops proposals for optimisation and supports printing companies during the implementation of new business models.
The benefits of a management information system (MIS) play an important role, as the administrative hub automating all communication and exchanges between the parties involved in its individual processes, from suppliers to customers.
He said that an open JDF-based workflow guarantees the full integration of all elements in to a consistent and transparent overall process.
KBA Complete favours the JDF-based Hiflex MIS as a control centre for an all-encompassing process, as the system, on the basis of process sequences formulated in the CIP4 standard, mirrors the JDF workflow optimally, said the company.
In addition, as further evidence of the capabilities of the Hiflex MIS, suppliers and customers can also be integrated in to the overall process by making use of internet technology.
Nevertheless, KBA Complete is equally in a position to propose systems where an MIS is already in place in a printing company.
Independently of the MIS, the direct link to the printing presses can be established with KBA's Logotronic professional, the production management system for the networking of the company's sheetfed and web presses.
The control tool Logotronic professional guarantees press connectivity to any JDF-capable MIS, via an open interface.
That provides for improvements in productivity and printshop quality control, eliminating sources of error and raising the general ease of operation, said the company.
According to KBA, it is the declared aim of KBA Complete to maximise customer benefit.
All proposals made within the framework of the consultations place the creation of value to the fore.
Profitability and a fast return on investment are the crucial criteria by which to assess the impact of new technologies and, similarly, measures for the sustained yield of such decisions.
The goals to be achieved with optimisation of the work processes are enhanced productivity through automation and the elimination of non-productive activity, lower operating costs through reductions in waste and materials consumption and increased revenues through expansion in to new business fields and market segments believes KBA.
KBA commented that comprehensive process optimisation is becoming increasingly synonymous with process innovation.
Early recognition of the trends establishes competitive advantages, as innovative products and marketing opportunities serve to open up new business fields and tap new customer potential in various printing market.
Roland Kastner explained: "Our process optimisation support and the offered expertise in the fields of Web2Print and e-business services and system, climate-neutral printing and RFID implementation, will enable our customers to stand out prominently from their competitors." One essential aspect of the services provided by KBA Complete, he added, is its bundling of the knowledge of technology and cooperation partners, amongst them Hiflex, Kodak, KBA, MBO, Muller Martini, IPM and Climatepartner in the search for an integrated overall solution achieving optimisation of the customer's company-wide business processes.
Thomas Gocke, KBA Complete's head of marketing, said: "The success of our customers is our goal.
We are convinced that future success for a print and media service provider is dependent on effective professionalisation and optimisation of all the involved processes." He added that the process analyses performed by KBA Complete pinpoint those individual areas in which savings could be made and in which cost-intensive activities are concentrated to form the basis for innovative solutions enabling the customer to emerge from the crowd.
• KBA: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Printingtalk email newsletter
• Printingtalk Home Page
