KBA Showcases Diverse Printing Applications

WILLISTON, VT—With the prime foliage season as a backdrop, KBA North America held an open house October 12-14 in its demo center here to showcase its wide range of 20˝ to 81˝ sheetfed offset press offerings, including the 20˝ Genius 52 UV, 29˝ Performa 74, 41˝ Rapida 105 and 56˝ Rapida 142 presses.

Holger Garbrecht, newly named president and CEO of KBA North America, welcomed the 150-plus attendees. “We want to show you special applications because this is a segment where you can still make a lot of money,” he noted.

During the three-day presentation, presses produced jobs on a variety of substrates, including canvas, lenticular, plastic, foil, board and, for the first time, biodegradable plastic. Several techniques were shown as well, such as UV, special effects coatings, waterless printing and in-line slitting on a six-color Rapida 142 with coater.

With Eric Frank, KBA vice president of marketing, serving as the host of the event, press demonstrators included Chris Travis, technology director, and vice presidents Walter Chmura and John Raithel.

After the press runs, peer group meetings focused on topics such as packaging, marketing, waterless printing and long press vs. large-format configurations. A special printer roundtable panel included John Giusto, Curtis Packaging; Gilbert Ashdown, UBS Printing Group; and Joe Kulis, The Garvey Group.

Representatives from supplier partners Kodak, Harris & Bruno, Flint, Draabe and Pace Industries were also on hand.