PERFORMA

Mr. Michal Maslanka from the Multipol printshop has known the products from the Czech printshop in Dobruška for many years. This is why he has had the chance to carefully observe all the key activities of the Grafitec Company since the beginning of this year - the beginning of direct sales to the Polish market, the March acquisition by KBA and the subsequent rise of KBA-Grafitec and with that the introduction of the KBA-Performa "blue" offset machines, the successful follow up to the Prestige and Performer sheet-fed offset presses. Mr. Maslanka was also one of the first Polish customers to receive the new blue KBA-Performa. While interviewed by Mr. Adam Slazynsky from KBA-Grafitec, Mr. Maslanka described the details and reasons for such a purchase.

Can you please briefly tell us about your company?

The Multipol printshop has existed on the market for more than 15 years. That is a long time, despite the fact that a major number of "business colleagues" who deal on the market started their businesses much later. So we can easily say that we are part of the small group, the so called "old guard" of Krakow pressmen who started private polygraphic business in Malopolsko almost ten years ago. We have gained a lot of experience in the technological area of polygraphic production including our market knowledge during this time. The result of this is a significant and stable position in our market area.

What led you to choose the KBA Performa press?

There were many factors that played a role in choosing the KBA Performa press. One of the major reasons which influenced our decision was the fact that we have been successfully using for many years without any problems the Polly 745 press from the Grafitec Company. When we bought the machine, it was the first of its kind of the new series installed in Poland. For us, who at that time used Romayor one colour ink, this was a real revolution which allowed the rapid development of our company. The recently purchased KBA Performa 66-5 press is the newest press following the previously mentioned series of POLLY machines. Another important aspect was the matter of warranty and service. On one hand, we have been offered a long warranty period and on the other hand also a professional service (in our case by the LUBISZ company). This is very important, considering the necessity to keep the fluent flow of the production. The professional service by the collective from KBA-Grafitec that targets satisfying our needs and requirements combined with their work flexibility was not a negligible fact when making the final decision.

What were the technical parameters that made you decide about the purchase of the KBA Performa 66-5 press?

For us, the most important thing, considering the production specifics, was to purchase a five colour ink press. Currently, the four colour paper dockets are rather an exception. It is very often now that company colours or logos are unprintable in their graphical form without the fifth ink, the most common being Pantone. The same trends are now in advertising which increasingly demands higher quality and colour schemes.

The list of references of the Wendy printshop contains a large number of customers. We can find such well known company names as ABN - AMRO Bank, Bateria Slaný, DAS - legal insurance, Norway Skog Štětí and Vitana. Other Wendy customers include The Czech Ministry of Defence, The Czech-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, The Czech Handball Federation and other institutions. Not so traditional products of the printshop are the QSL tickets for the radio amateur enthusiasts. These are basically cards which are mailed by radio fans of radio communication around the whole world so as to confirm contact.

Was the five ink performance of the purchased KBA-Performa machine the only technical aspect that made you to decide to purchase?

No, of course not. There where many more. One of them is the highly advanced automatization of the KBA-Performa 66 machine. It is possible (with a bit of practice and experience) to set this printing press to work by using the console in half the time than in the case of the "classic" machine. This means serious cost savings in these days of constantly growing labour costs. Another very important aspect was the warranty matter. Believe me, I was very pleasantly surprised by the standard of prints produced on our new equipment. In comparison with work done on the old press, where our pressmen (and these are professionals) literally "squeezed" everything they could out the machine and despite all that effort the results they reached were often nowhere near as good as those printed on the machines of the highest class. The work produced from the KBA-Performa not only comes close to the quality of printing from the most expensive machines, it is often even higher. On top of this, there is also the alcohol humidification which cuts down the drying time which is especially important in our case because a major part of the dockets and also advertising printing is additionally refined and treated by hot "gold gilding", UV varnishing, punching, foliation or by others, in any given moment of the required printing set up.

If you could compare the KBA-Performa press with other similar competitive machines, what would be your thoughts?

During the searching phase between a few potential suppliers, the KBA-Performer has been compared with the competition. We could find several companies with the same price tag but none of these besides KBA-Grafitec could fully complete all the given criteria. Some of them featured the most modern technological novelties, indeed, they were actually a deterrent to their high prices. The current use of the low pile delivery of the machine and very strict general technical requirements such as working environment - stable temperature, air humidity, no draughts etc. practically disqualified such equipment. Others offered machines that were close with price and origin but were "more sensitive" than the KBA-Performa. Here it needs to be added, that in our experience, and over time, we have worked with printing machines of various producers, that the Dobruška machines are more stable and resistant than their competitors from the same market area.

Which jobs will be performed on the KBA Performa 66-5 equipment?

Jobs such as the customer orders arrive. We will be printing a major part of our standard production such as dockets (ordinary as well as exclusive and highly refined) and also advertising prints which require the best quality. When it comes to printing plates, we use various types of paper from 70 g and higher. I think that the new press will at a certain point begin to take over the technically difficult prints from "barely" printable plates. I must admit that there has been an increase in such orders lately and because we are not afraid of new challenges, it is possible that we will become the specialists for specialized printing on our market.

 

 

Mr. Adam Slazynsky thanks you for the interview.