The new Visy Glama package print factory being built in Sydney will house the country’s biggest sheetfed press when a new KBA Rapida 205 arrives at the end of the year

The KBA Rapida 205 can print on a sheet 2050mm wide, and will come in five colour plus coater specification for Visy Glama. The company will use the new press to print packaging, POS, and is also aiming to print posters at its Revesby site, particularly targeting large format work currently being screenprinted.
The new Sydney print centre will be the first for Visy Glama outside its Melbourne facility, and highlights its rapid growth and confidence in its future, the total investment will be in the region of $12m for the press, factory and associated equipment which includes CTP, digital proofer, die cutter and specialty POS and two piece gluing equipment.
Visy’s John Wheeler says, “The new factory is a major project, but a comfortable one, because we have worked with KBA several times before as we have three large format KBA presses in Melbourne.” Indeed Visy Glama is one of the Australian printers that welcomed KBA’s re-entry into the Australian market five years ago, and has since become a confirmed customer.
Wheeler says, “KBA presses are highly specified with automated plate loading, quality management, colour control and interdeck drying in particular.”
Dave Lewis, sales manager at KBA Australasia says, “The arrival of the Rapida 205 into Australia signals a new era in print for this country. The production efficiencies that are gained from large format printing are immense, and Visy Glama will reap great benefit from its new press.”

KBA web
KBA has manufactured web offset presses in an unbroken line since 1811. Its coldset and heatset presses are now being used in virtually every country in the world, certainly in the industrialised world, including Australia where its Compacta heatset, Commander and Cortina newspaper webs, are being installed in increasing numbers, WAN for instance has just built an entire new print facility with KBA presses.
Now KBA is boosting its web presence in Australia with the imminent arrival of its first dedicated web sales director NL Chin, who is relocating from Malaysia. Universally known as Chin, the new web chief is highly experienced, with vast web knowledge, and is known for being one of the more affable characters in the industry. According to Chin Australia has more developing web projects than much of the rest of south east Asia. He says, “KBA has several different projects going on in Australia right now, and I wanted to be closer to our key customers.”
Chin says, “Australian heatset printers are very advanced in their implementation of technology, perhaps more so in my view than anywhere else in the world. They are all looking for efficiencies and value add to differentiate themselves. For instance they are requesting many different folding solutions to present new options to their customers. Australian heatset print houses also probably have the most advanced high speed mailrooms in the world.”
According to Chin, KBA is perfectly placed to deliver innovative solutions to the nation’s heatset printers, partly because of its wide press experience, and its ability to leverage solutions from one platform to another. It is the only press manufacturer in the world to produce, small, medium and large format offset presses, heatset and coldest webs, gravure and digital. Chin says, “I will give an example. KBA is the undisputed leader in multiple ribbons, we have no issues even running 24 or whatever. This is because of our knowledge of gravure presses, we know how to build a superstructure for 24 ribbons. This is a great strength for us, and a major benefit for the heatset world in dealing with KBA. Everyone is looking for an edge, printers are prime examples, and KBA is able to provide that edge through its innovative heatset solutions.”
KBA Australasia has experienced strong sales of both its commercial and newspaper web offset press models since the company’s establishment here five short years ago. For the second time, Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd group ordered a KBA web offset press, this time a Comet single-width, double-circumference press line for the Mercury in Hobart, in February this year. According to group technical manager at News, Barry Johnson, there were obvious synergies in going with KBA following the 2004 installation of a KBA Comet at The Gold Coast Bulletin, in Molendinar.
Late last year, a hybrid press line comprising a double-width coldset KBA Colora alongside a single-width heatset KBA Comet successfully launched into operation at West Australian Newspapers in Perth. The networked presses boast a total of 24 reelstands, 192 printing couples, six folders and an order on the spot following the performance.

KBA Australasia continues expansion
KBA Australasia is continuing to invest in infrastructure and people in Australia, with the opening of new offices in both Sydney (Campbelltown) and Melbourne (Mt Waverley), and the recent appointment of David Best in to a sheetfed press sales role in Sydney from which he will service the NSW and Qld markets.
In NSW Best joins sheetfed technician, John Studley, as well as NL Chin, director of web press sales, and administration manager, Heidi Ovski, all of whom are working out of the KBA’s new Sydney office.
KBA sheetfed sales director, Dave Lewis, is based at the company’s new Melbourne office, along with sheetfed service manager, Graham Harris, and Shauna Kyle in administration.
According to Lewis, KBA’s expansion is logical given its increasing profile in the local market, with recent sales successes in web (a recent order from News Ltd’s Mercury in Hobart for a single-wide Comet newspaper press) and from Visy Glama for its fourth large-format Rapida, which at 205cm wide will be the biggest sheetfed press in the country. Lewis says, “Our new offices will provide improved customer care and support to customers across the country. Australian printers are drawn to KBA by its very wide offering of press formats, all of which offer customisation depending on the specific needs of end users.

“KBA has a depth of expertise in value-adding technologies with which it is possible to make a huge reduction in set-up time through process automation and enabling multiple processes to take place simultaneiously.
“For example, KBA’s DriveTronic concept, based on dedicated drives for maximum user benefit, embraces a shaftless feeder, frontlay adjustment, no-sidelay SIS infeed and SPC direct plate-cylinder drives.”
Depending on press configuration and sophistication, as many as six processes can run simultaneously, cutting by 40 to 60 per cent the time required for a complete job change. As a result, annual press output can climb by around 15 per cent. Lewis says he is confident of the value KBA’s presses and its people in Australia can bring to market, and the team will continue to expand where necessary to cope with what he sees as increasing demand.
“We have technicians and spare parts both in Melbourne and in Sydney, and the supply of spare parts will shortly be improved with a new user-friendly, web browser-based ordering system which is currently undergoing final trials. KBA’s new Web Shop will allow customers to check on stocks and order direct from KBA Germany,” he adds.
“In less than five years, KBA has successfully completed more than 20 press installations in Australia, many of them large format presses.” “Whilst continuing our thrust into the large format press market in which we dominate, KBA Australasia is now looking forward to bringing similar levels of technology and support to commercial printers who are ready to invest in medium-size and smaller five- and six-colour sheetfed presses. David Best has been brought on board to develop this very market, ” Lewis concludes.

Rapida 106 world sheetfed makeready champion
The very high level of automation on today’s KBA presses was highlighted dramatically at drupe, when a KBA Rapida was demonstrated printing an amazing 15 jobs in less than an hour.
The press in question was a Rapida 106 eight colour perfector, which produced the 15 jobs, with between 539 and 563 saleable sheets on each job, on June 10 in 59 minutes and 24 seconds at the giant trade show. This involved 14 plate changes, and with eight plates per job that is 112 plates changed in total. Simultaneous with platechanging the press ran through its automated blanket wash and its clean print sequence, and changed the feed and delivery piles.
Such high performance is possible through the Drivetronic SPC with high automation modules such as Driovetronic Plate-Ident and Qualtronic Professional.
In total the 15 jobs totalled some 8,000 saleable sheets. The demonstration was performed at the request of a US customer, who promptly signed an order on the spot following the performance.