Report 36 d,e,f,s,i.qxd:Report - KBA

Shorts
44 Report 36 | 2010
First KBA Rapida 106 in Belarus
The inauguration of the very first
KBA Rapida 106 in Belarus, at
Minsk-based print combine Polygrafkombinat
J. Kolas on 2 December,
was a high-powered event
attended by the Deputy Prime Minister
of Belarus, Vladimir Nikolaevich
Potupchik, Minister for
Information Vladimir Vasilevich
Rusakevich plus a large number of
directors and senior engineers from
other printing plants throughout
the country. Orders for three Rapida
75 half-format (29in) presses in
various configurations have already
been placed this year by Belarusian
companies.
Polygrafkombinat J. Kolas has
utilised press technology from Radebeul
for many decades now at its
magnificent premises right in the
Beyaert Sioen Printing moves up to superlarge format
When Beyaert Sioen Printing
in Waregem installed a fivecolour
Rapida 205 at the turn of the
year it was the first printer in Belgium
to move up into the 9B (81in)
format. Established in 1882 in one
of Europe’s economic powerhouses
– the area bordered by the Ruhr,
northern France and the southern
Netherlands – Beyaert sees huge
potential in being the region’s sole
VLF print provider. “In a radius of
several hundred kilometres there is
currently not one competitor capable
of delivering this level of quality,
so we are confident that the
superlarge format will open up totally
new markets. Since we are already
well positioned in large
format, the step up to VLF was an
obvious move,” explains company
proprietor Bernard Ramboux.
Beyaert Printing evolved from
three operations which have since
been united under a single roof in
Waregem. Its three five-colour 3B
(41in) presses print packaging,
while two Rapida 162a 7B (64in)
coater presses with extended deliveries
handle commercials as well as
packaging. The most recent model
was installed in summer 2007. In
centre of Minsk. Prior to the new
press installation the company ran
five Planeta Super-Variant mediumformat
presses with four printing
units apiece, plus a two-colour ver-
KBA presses have been in operation at Beyaert for many years
addition the company has a fourcolour
3B press that mainly prints
paper. Most of the presses have
aqueous or aqueous/UV coaters.
Two of Beyaert Printing’s specialities
are bronzing and blister packaging,
but the finishing department
can also die-cut, score, window-glue
and convert folding cartons.
sion of the large-format Varimat.
Most of the presses were installed
back in the 1980s. The combine’s
main products are illustrated books
for Belarusian and Russian publish-
The new Rapida 205, which can
print stock thicknesses of 0.1 to
0.8mm (4 - 32pt), is fitted with
heavy-duty pile boards in the feeder
and delivery, and sheet-travel monitoring
devices between the printing
units. It also has inking unit
temperature control and Densi-
Tronic networking with pre-press.
Belarus Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir
Nikolaevich Potupchik (2nd right) and KBA
sales director Sven Strzelczyk cutting the
ribbon to mark the inauguration of the highperformance
KBA press
ing houses. The Rapida 106, which
features a special lightweight paper
capability, sets a new benchmark in
cost efficiency and print quality,
while its maximum output of
18,000 sheets per hour is twice as
high as that of the older presses. It
also boasts a raft of automation
modules, eg for plate changing, and
a productivity-enhancing CIPLink
interface to pre-press. DensiTronic
colour control software raises quality
monitoring to a whole new level.
Since sheets of this size are so unwieldy,
automatic plate changing is
a standard feature. Extensive preparations
had to be made prior to the
Rapida’s arrival because it was installed
in what used to be the paper
store. Beyaert also added a new
platesetter.