Dobruška / On May 27, 2005 President and CEO of Koenig und Bauer AG Mr. Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann together with Dr. Peter Jargstorf, Sales Director of KBA and Mr. Wladimir Melnitchenko of KBA RUS paid a visit to ZAO „International Printing Systems“ IPRIS Head Office in St. Petersburg where they had the meeting with Mr. Alexey Kuchinsky, Managing Director, Mr. Yuri Ibragimov, Sales and Marketing Director and Mrs. Elena Fadina, Head of Equipment Sales Department, in order to coordinate both companies marketing and sales efforts in Russia.

It was jointly planned still before the meeting in St. Petersburg that CEO of KBA-Grafitec Mr. Jens D. Junker will visit St. Petersburg on June 16-17 and together with Dr. Jargstorf conduct the joint general meeting of KBA RUS and IPRIS.  Joint press conference is scheduled on occasion of Mr. Junker and Dr. Jargstorf visit to St. Petersburg on June 16.

Consequently to KBA acquisition of Grafitec this was already the second top level meeting between KBA and IPRIS, sole distributor and one of the most successful distribution partners of KBA-Grafitec, Czech based manufacturer of small format sheet-fed offset presses, now rebranded and redesigned as KBA Performa 66 and KBA Performa 74.

Both KBA RUS and IPRIS have held historically strong presence and market share in the Russian market with their respective products and recognize the challenging potential and growth of the market as the major ground for their deep cooperation in the future targeting small, medium and large format segment. The major goal for both companies is to put  strong joint efforts in order to continue increasing the market share of KBA Group in Russia and serve the large portfolio of customers to their utmost satisfaction.

It was agreed in the meeting that in the sheet-fed offset press market KBA RUS will focus on sales of KBA Rapida product range  and IPRIS will continue as sole distributor of KBA-Grafitec serving the customers with small format presses (KBA Performa 66, KBA Performa 74). It was also clearly stated in the meeting that KBA Rapida 74 and KBA Performa 74 are not erceived as competitive products because each of them serves different customer needs. KBA Rapida 74 in all its technological modifications will remain highly automated engineered and high speed product for the most demanding customers whereas Performa 74 will be marketed as the product with optimal cost and performance ratio. Two  channels distribution of KBA and KBA-Grafitec products in Russia is without doubt the most effective way of distribution utilizing the strengths and customer relations of both distribution companies in their respective market segments. Intensive sales information exchange and marketing coordination between KBA RUS and IPRIS will be conducted on regular joint meetings.

Poligraphinter Trade Show in Moscow in October this year comes as the next very important marketing event. KBA RUS and IPRIS will jointly work out  the concept of participation at the trade show shortly.