KBA RUS is delighted with the results

At this year's PolygrafInter exhibition in Moscow in October, KBA treated each day's visitors to three print demonstrations on its Rapida 105 universal press, which was set up on the stand of Russian subsidiary KBA RUS in a six-colour coater configuration with extended delivery. Specially equipped for labels production, and with an enlarged special format of 740 x 1050 mm, the press could be seen in action at speeds of 16,000 sheets per hour. It has in the meantime been taken into service at a local Moscow print company.

Alongside the many print industry professionals interested in sheetfed technologies, the exhibition stand also attracted many visitors from the commercial web and newspaper sectors, and a number of new projects have since materialised. A printing unit of the Compacta 215 16-page commercial web press, which was to be seen at the exhibition alongside the medium-format sheetfed Rapida, was subsequently transferred to the KBA lab at the Moscow State University of Printing Arts (MGUP), where it will be used for training purposes.

Commercial success
PolygrafInter was also commercially a full success, with numerous contracts being concluded for press deliveries to Russia and other CIS states. Business Media from Almaty in Kazakhstan, for example, ordered a five-colour Rapida 105 universal, which will already be arriving before the end of the year. In February 2008, a further five-colour Rapida 105 universal, in this case with additional coating facilities, will be headed for 21. Ofsetnaya Tipografia in Moscow. And another press of the same series has been earmarked for a printer in Baku (Azerbaijan). Discussions conducted during the exhibition showed clearly that increasing investment activities are to be expected in Russia in the next few years.

Cooperation with Moscow University
At a fringe event held at the MGUP during the exhibition, Dr. Roland Reichenberger and Ulf Funke from KBA gave presentations on new technologies for sheetfed offset printing and the trends in modern newspaper production. The meeting was also taken as a fitting occasion to introduce a new reference book for the students of the Moscow university entitled "Sheetfed Offset Printing Presses from KBA". The book was written by a team of authors from the MGUP, with appropriate support from KBA and KBA RUS. Representatives from both KBA and the MGUP described the installation of the Compacta printing unit and the publication of the new reference book as important steps towards further intensification of the longstanding cooperation. A second joint reference book addressing web offset issues and a series of special seminars on KBA products are already planned.