CPI Orders a KBA Rapida 105 UV Press to Epand Its Card Capacity

DALLAS—March 9, 2012—KBA North America announces that CPI Card Group, a global leader in financial, commercial and identification card production and related services, is preparing for a successful 2012 by installing a new 41" KBA Rapida 105 seven-color, UV-equipped sheetfed press. The machine, which features a tower coater, eight-foot extended delivery, and plastics package, is scheduled to be delivered in mid-May to CPI’s facility in Roseville, MN.

“For the past year, management at CPI Card Group has seen a dramatic increase in our order intake and the need to fulfill press orders with additional capacity,” reports Paul Boge, its general manager of U.S. prepaid debit market. “We’re also seeking to bring more capabilities in-house, such as lenticular, to add to our services for our valued customers.

“After careful consideration, we decided that the new KBA Rapida 105 41" seven-color sheetfed press would provide the necessary automation and flexibility to produce high-quality jobs that our customers demand and give us a vital edge in efficiency and quality. Its array of features will boost our capabilities and expand our customer base beyond the 60 eprcent we already have captured of our core business.”

CPI Card Group will be replacing an older, less-productive press from a different manufacturer with a new tailor-made KBA Rapida 105 press purposely built for plastics printing. Plastics printing is a KBA expertise and the technology incorporated in this press will provide CPI Card Group with a competitive edge for many years to come.

This unique press has been developed over many years and provides a technological edge for high-volume plastics printing. A full arsenal of KBA automation modules will be included, such as the LogoTronic CTP prepress interface, fully-automatic plate changing, tower coater including eight-foot delivery extension, DensiTronic Professional closed loop densitometry and spectrophotometry, and AutoRegister via CCD video camera. The new press is also equipped with the KBA VariDry system with four interdeck UV lamps moveable throughout all seven printing units providing maximum flexibility and at the end of the press are three UV lamps and IR thermal air all tailor-made to provide for instantaneous curing of plastics at high speeds.

“One of the driving forces behind our partnership with KBA was the plastics package,” explains Boge “Our new KBA Rapida 105 will be equipped with numerous press components geared to the reliable transport of plastics and multi-layer substrates. These features include antistatic systems for plastics at both the feeder and delivery, sheet travel sensors in each printing unit, board sheet guides, and double sheet detectors. By having these important features, we’ll be able to continue our high quality production of cards and specialty packaging on a variety of substrates including foil, plastics, and 30 mil PVC.”

The CPI Card Group has experienced tremendous growth in its customer base because it has answered the demands set by trends in the industry. For example, its plastic card customers require color consistency run-to-run on all jobs, says Boge.

Another trend is to improve the press check experience. Currently, CPI Card Group customers approve all jobs directly on the plant floor but the company and its customers would benefit by adding remote press checks where there would be no need to visit the firm’s production facilities. Utilizing KBA’s unique automatic press features, CPI Card Group customers would be able to approve jobs remotely by verifying information generated by the finely-tuned press systems.

“In the end, our goal is to ensure a high return-on-investment (ROI) for our customers and our company with our new KBA press,” adds Boge. “We’re confident that we’ll increase efficiency, improve our sheets-per-hour, and generate more high-quality impressions. We’re going to continue to use an older KBA eight-color press as a back-up for the new press. The older KBA already has 150 million impressions on it and runs at a lower speed than the new KBA. But the new press will be the true workhorse.”

As the delivery date draws near, CPI Card Group is busy preparing its facility for the new press. Concrete is being laid where the new press will be installed, software upgrades are being made, and a re-organization of the firm’s workflow is being designed to include the new press. Three highly-trained press crews are in place but a fourth crew might be needed as volume increases on the new Rapida press.

“The Minneapolis/St. Paul region is a heavy print production market,” notes Boge. “Right now, our press operators are the talk of the town because everyone knows we are getting this new amazing KBA press. In fact, one of our employees suggested we place a big red bow on the press as it’s delivered to symbolize the gift we are getting.”

About CPI
CPI, a global leader in financial, commercial and identification card production and related services, offers a single source for cards and other form factors, from financial and gift to EMV chip and mobile, and personalization and fulfillment services. CPI offers the largest secure and commercial production network in North America and is the leading commercial provider in the UK. CPI's production sites include: Denver, Colorado; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Colchester, England; Liverpool, England; and Toronto, Canada. CPIs’ plants in Colorado, Nevada, Indiana, Canada and Liverpool are ISO 9001 certified.

About KBA
KBA North America is located in Dallas, and a member of the KBA Group. Established 195 years ago in Wuerzburg, Germany, Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) is the oldest and second largest press manufacturer worldwide. KBA's banner, 'People & Print', reflects its dual focus as a leading innovator for print entrepreneurs. The group's product range is the broadest in the industry; its portfolio includes commercial and newspaper web presses, sheetfed offset presses in all format classes, special presses for books, inserts, banknotes, securities, metal-decorating, smart cards, discs plus inkjet systems.

Source: KBA.