Dobruška / At the Graphitec 2006 trade fair, which takes place from 15 to 18 March in Paris, KBA will be represented on stand E076, hall 4 by its French subsidiary, KBA-France. While the focus will be on B3 and B2 sheetfed, in the shape of live demos on a Genius 52 and Performa 74, KBA will also be promoting other technologies.

The Performa 74 rounds off KBA’s B2 (29in) product range comprising the Rapida 74; Rapida 74 G (Gravuflow) and 74 Karat. The five-colour version exhibited at Graphitec will print a number of different jobs. One of the Performa 74’s biggest strengths is the KBA- typical sheet conveyance system with double-size cylinders, which promotes a smooth sheet travel that is unusual in this price category. Stable inking and dampening, semi-automatic plate changing, automatic washing, optional anilox coating and advanced control technology with optional integration in a JDF workflow are just some of the many features that make the Performa 74 an attractive proposition for small-scale printshops.

At Graphitec 2006, KBA-France demonstrated B2 cost-efficiency with a five-colour Performa 74

The versatile and compact B3 Genius 52, whose one-man operation, fast job changes and ultra-low waste levels are coupled with the superior quality delivered by waterless offset, is the ideal production tool for short runs, and proved this during the show by printing some challenging images. It was operated in tandem with a Screen PTR 4100 CTP system and KTW 653-S plate developer supplied by Marks-3zet.

KBA’s waterless B3 Genius 52 targets digital printers with premium quality ambitions and conventional printshops where short runs are the norm

In recent years KBA has built up a reputation in the French print media industry as an innovative provider of high-performance presses. In 2005 its French subsidiary, KBA-France in Tremblay-en-France, posted a 10 per cent increase in turnover, predominantly with large-format sheetfed presses and web presses. Contracts included some 150 sheetfed printing units (60 of them for size 6 or bigger) plus a number of Compacta commercial web presses and triple-width Commander 6/2 newspaper presses.