KBA Helps Savvy Printers Expand Into New Markets and Gain Greater Profitability

When Motivating Graphics, a global printing company based in Fort Worth, TX, wanted to grow its packaging and printing business even further within the high-tech telecommunications market in North America, South America, Central America, China, and Europe, it knew where to look. Motivating President Ray Glenn Clark chose a new KBA Rapida 162 64" six-color press, becoming its third KBA press. “It increases our platform of automated technology, allowing us greater flexibility, shorter turnaround, less waste, and additional efficiency to continue to serve our customers at a high level,” says Clark, “and grow our business into new markets.”

Motivating is not alone. With well over 1,000 large-format presses operating worldwide, this ongoing success underlines the reason that KBA continues to be the undeniable leader in the large-format press market in North America. Since drupa 2008, KBA North America has captured more than 65% of leading print industry titans who choose a KBA large-format press to grow and succeed.

Foster Printing Company, a large-format trade printer based in Santa Ana, CA, inaugurated its new 46,000 sq.ft. facility in southern California with its second new KBA Rapida 162a 64" sheetfed press. The firm began printing in its new facility in early December 2010 with its new KBA Rapida 162a 64" five-color conventional press alongside its 2008-purchased KBA Rapida 162a 64" six-color press with UV capabilities.

“Since the installation of our first KBA large-format 64" press in December of 2008, we’ve seen business grow tremendously,” reports Kris Blackburn, Vice President of Sales at Foster Printing. “To maintain this growth, we started to think about purchasing a second KBA press. During the decision making process, we kept the needs of our customers in mind and wanted to fulfill their orders in a timely manner. We also wanted to give ourselves the opportunity to continue to grow our business, increase our print capacity, and continue to do what we do best: put ink on paper. In the end, purchasing a second KBA press within two years was an easy decision.”

Malnove, the largest independent folding carton manufacturer in North America, chose to equip its Jacksonville, FL, facility with a new KBA Rapida 142 56" seven-color sheetfed press with anilox coater and delivery extension during the first quarter of 2011.

“We installed the first large-format KBA Rapida 142 in the U.S. in our Omaha plant in 1997,” says President Paul Malnove. “We have continued to support a strategy based on a common press platform across all of our facilities. The benefit to our customers is that we are able to produce any carton, for any customer, in any plant with the same quality and pictorial results. The Rapida 142 supports that strategy.”

“Since 2008, KBA has continued its long-term 90-year dominance in the large-format market for both commercial and packaging customers with a lion’s share of the market over its competitors,” adds Mark Hischar, KBA North America President and CEO. “In the last three years, we’ve sold nearly double the number of presses that our two competitors have sold combined.

“Our roster of customers reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the most respected and dominant printers in North America. They are attracted to our innovative technology and our wide array of large format press models—from 51" to 81"—as well as being the only manufacturer to offer many unique features in large format,” Hischar continues. “Plus, we are the only press manufacturer to have been recognized with the prestigious PIA InterTech Award for our large-format model, the Rapida 205 81" press.”