Heyduck says the move is being driven by the growth in packaging printing as a consequence of the country’s dynamic economic development and on a local scale it is driven by the need for better productivity and profitability.
Since the first installation of a Rapida 162a at Shenzen Huali in 2003, KBA has sold some 50 large-format Rapida presses of the Rapida 142, 162 and 162a series to China and Hong Kong. Another dozen installations are expected to be added to this number this year.
One of the most recent installations was a five-colour Rapdia 162a press into Sichuan Fortop Printing in Mianyang, an industrial city in Sichuan province, southwest China. The company recently ran an “open house” presentation to showcase the latest in large-format press and prepress technology from KBA and Kodak, to more than 200 print industry specialists from Southwest China.
The five-colour Rapida is the company’s first sheetfed offset press, and with its maximum sheet format of 1200 x 1620mm at the same time the largest sheetfed offset press in Southwest China.
The company was founded in 1997 and is now one of the largest packaging suppliers in this part of China today, with more than 1000 employees. Occupying a production floor space of 86,760 sq/metres, it concentrates its activities on folding cartons and other forms of packaging, alongside a range of corrugated products.
It produces over 90 million square metres of three- and five-ply corrugated board in various qualities every year, serving more than 1000 customers in Sichuan province and the surrounding regions.
