KBA-MetroPrint's Genius 52UV 'Conquers' South American Markets

Since its commercial launch, KBA-MetroPrint has sold more than 150 of its waterless Genius 52UV in B3 format, which are now deployed in many countries around the world and have gained an outstanding reputation as an economic and ecologically exemplary means of production. The success story of the compact, flexible press has now reached the emerging growth markets of South America. As demonstrated by the current installations at Oberthur Technologies in Cotia, near Sao Paulo and RM Graph in Belem in the Amazon delta, the compact, waterless UV press has also seen a marked rise in interest in Latin American countries.

Safety first premiere at Oberthur Technologies

The Genius 52UV celebrated its South American premiere at Oberthur Technologies in June last year. After intensive test runs, it successfully demonstrated its impressive performance potential, even able to meet the particularly high quality demands required for security printing. Word has it that further investments in the flexible all-round talent are planned in the near future.

Established in Le Vallois-Perret, near Paris in 1984, Oberthur Technologies started life as a specialist for precise security technologies for smart cards, security printing, identity and cash protection. Innovative solutions quickly saw it evolve into a global market leader.

Following an investment of USD 10 million, February 2011 saw the inauguration in Parque Alexandre in Cotia, near Sao Paul, of a new 7,500 m² production and service center, which takes into account the positive market development in Brazil and other South American countries and promises huge growth potential.

The five-color Genius 52UV with coating unit and delivery extension is operated around the clock in four shifts at Oberthur Technologies and is primarily deployed for the printing of GSM phone cards for Latin American countries.

Following previous successful installations at Oberthur production plants in Stragnas (Sweden) and Axton (USA), a corporate decision was made to purchase the press for the new subsidiary - dubbed the "super factory" - in Brazil, as the company was now keen to expand use of KBA's innovative technology.

Impressive performance review

After an initial performance review, Mario Zonaro, Industrial Manager, Card Systems at Oberthur Technologies in Cotia, declared himself extremely satisfied with the performance of the Genius 52 UV: "After the test runs, we are now able to fully exploit the potential of the waterless UV press and, having seen continuous improvements in quality and productivity, we are also considering further investment plans. Having optimized the link-up between prepress and printing press, we are now obtaining outstanding results. The press offers a number of relevant advantages compared to conventional offset printing and its high quality, flexibility and cost-efficiency also make it a very interesting proposition for other areas of production. In addition to the production of phone cards on PVC substrates, we will also be investigating its suitability for other application options and taking the appropriate decisions, depending on the outcome."

Future prospects 

"We hope to achieve further developments in all business divisions with the aim of improving cost-efficiency and environmental sustainability in equal measure. The Genius 52UV offers a promising basis for this concept. We were impressed by the strengths and unique selling points of the press at Cartes in Paris some time ago and we have big ambitions for the future."