Foster Printing Installing "World's Largest" KBA Press

SANTA ANA, CA—Large-format to-the-trade specialist Foster Printing will be installing a KBA Rapida 205 81˝ large-format six-color UV press this October. The new press, reportedly the largest in the world, joins two existing KBA large-format 64˝ presses—a five-color conventional and a six-color UV—in the firm’s 46,000-square-foot facility.

“Over the last four years, we have seen tremendous growth in our business,” said Kris Blackburn, vice president of sales at Foster Printing. “Sales over the past year and a half have been especially good to us. Due to this growth, we have been considering the purchase of a third KBA press for over three years, but really started to focus on it over the last 12 months.

“We constantly had customers asking if we could print anything larger than our 64˝ capabilities. Those customers, along with solid research into new potential customers, pushed us to finally decide on making this important purchase,” he added.

Providing the highest-quality service to its client base was one of the main reasons that Foster inked the contract for the new Rapida 205.

“This press installation gives us capabilities that our competitors do not have,” Blackburn noted. “It gives us the ability to print on the largest sheet size offered on any offset press in the world. We will now be able to service all of our customers' offset printing needs."

When the new press arrives in the fall, it will take its place beside both KBA 64˝ large-format presses that now sit side-by-side. The new Rapida 205 81˝ will feature its own color management console, as well as the KBA Densitronic Professional closed-loop color control system. All of the presses will communicate to the KBA Logotronic management system to provide up-to-the-minute data on jobs, workflow, throughput and quality.

Having moved to a new, larger facility last year, the firm has the space to facilitate the new press addition and peripheral equipment. This includes a new automated platesetter for the computer-to-plate department, giving Foster the ability to produce both 64˝ and 81˝ plates and a new automated cutting system. The majority of Foster's work includes color packaging, point-of-purchase displays, signage and posters.