Latest News
Large Format Investment
28th November 2008
After months of negotiations and planning, the installation of two large format KBA Rapida presses and a Fuji CTP system in Britannia House is nearing completion.
Power supply permitting, we hope that the presses will be up and running by mid-late January. Preparation for the site included having to pour 360 tons of concrete to fill the void under the floor and the installation of a new 2600 amp/phase power supply - that's a lot of power.
The biggest press, the KBA 205, is a 4 colour plus coater UV press. It has a maximum print area of 1.49m x 2.05m and will print at up to 9000 sheets per hour on a wide range of paper, plastic and board materials up to a maximum weight of 1000 g/m2 or a calliper of 1200 micron.
It has a fully automatic plate changing system - not surprising when you see the size of the plates - and the KBA Ergotronic press control system. Altogether it is a fantastic press, there are only six others in the UK, and it is perfect for the production of large format point of sale and display materials. The KBA 162a is a 5 colour press - no coater - running with conventional inks only. It has a maximum print size of 1.19m x 1.62m and will print at up to 12,000 sheets per hour on a wide range of paper and board up to a calliper of 400 micron. Although this machine is very different from the 205, it will be an ideal back-up and will give us a great deal of flexibility in the production of a wide range of work. In support of these two presses the Group has also invested in a 2.2 metre wide guillotine and a brand new Fuji ULTIMA 3600S Ctp system that will output up to 19 plates per hour in the maximum size required for the 205 press.
From past experience we know that 90% of print jobs in the POS sector involve print runs of less than 1,000. So with fast make ready times and short print runs we are going to need those plates just as fast as the CTP system can output them. These new machines will compliment the previous substantial investments in other areas of the business. We now have a very broad offering, covering all the major print processes, which can only be matched by a very small number of our competitors.
It has a fully automatic plate changing system - not surprising when you see the size of the plates - and the KBA Ergotronic press control system. Altogether it is a fantastic press, there are only six others in the UK, and it is perfect for the production of large format point of sale and display materials. The KBA 162a is a 5 colour press - no coater - running with conventional inks only. It has a maximum print size of 1.19m x 1.62m and will print at up to 12,000 sheets per hour on a wide range of paper and board up to a calliper of 400 micron. Although this machine is very different from the 205, it will be an ideal back-up and will give us a great deal of flexibility in the production of a wide range of work. In support of these two presses the Group has also invested in a 2.2 metre wide guillotine and a brand new Fuji ULTIMA 3600S Ctp system that will output up to 19 plates per hour in the maximum size required for the 205 press.
From past experience we know that 90% of print jobs in the POS sector involve print runs of less than 1,000. So with fast make ready times and short print runs we are going to need those plates just as fast as the CTP system can output them. These new machines will compliment the previous substantial investments in other areas of the business. We now have a very broad offering, covering all the major print processes, which can only be matched by a very small number of our competitors.