Efficient printing with Rapidas

 
Packaging printing KBA has been the market leader in sheetfed offset presses for packaging printing for many years.   
The demands placed on packaging printing have increased in recent years. Packaging should stand out at the POS, ensure a high degree of recognition and still be able to be produced at reasonable prices. Rapida presses in all format classes up to the 2-meter Rapida 205 are suitable for display printing. There are many reasons for the Rapidas' strong market position. They range from the substrate flexibility of the Rapida presses and their predecessors to the extensive know-how in the field of coating finishing, process innovations, robust engineering and individual solutions for integrated substrate logistics that these presses offer.Features for high performanceThe basis for printing on thick cardboard, corrugated board or plastic sheets is the lean sheet travel. The necessary unit design with double-size impression cylinders and transfer systems was introduced back in 1965 at what is now the KBA plant in Radebeul. It creates the prerequisites for processing medium and large-format cardboard up to 1.2 mm thick, microwave even up to 1.6 mm thick and, with suitably modified cylinders, even much thicker beer felts. However, the basic design of a machine is not everything. There are also features that ensure high output, a wide range of finishing options, integrated logistics and end-to-end quality control in packaging printing. Here, too, KBA has a lot to offer.
Precise controlMachines with single or multiple coatings are now standard in packaging printing. Whether dispersion or UV coating, surface, panel or spot coating - everything is possible with the chambered doctor blade coating units. New techniques such as the hybrid process with its matt/gloss effects have been developed and perfected to market maturity at KBA. Coating changes and cleaning are now done quickly. This also applies to changing the coating formes or chambered doctor blades. Coating plate changes have long been automated on Rapida presses, whether in medium or large format. The coating application quantity and quality can be precisely controlled with a wide variety of anilox rollers. Rapida presses have also been emission-tested since 2000 and have been awarded the eco-certificate recognized by the relevant authorities in many countries.
In addition to coating, Rapida presses with the appropriate equipment can cut, perforate, number and even die-cut. A tried-and-tested corona tower is available for the trouble-free processing of plastic materials.
Connecting to overall conceptsThick and rigid substrates demand a lot from printing presses and operators. Here, too, a range of KBA specialties is available: In addition to the manual non-stop version at the feeder, an automatic version is also available for Rapida presses. Here, a rake located under the suction belt table is moved between the residual pile and the pallet. This rake lifts the residual pile further. A major advantage of the lowerable non-stop roller blind in the delivery is that it runs in in the direction of sheet travel and therefore works particularly reliably. Stoppers are therefore much rarer than with other methods. The lowering function provides sufficient time for the pile change. Both automation modules develop their full productivity when they are used together with automated pile logistics. A wide variety of logistics components can be combined to create efficient and user-oriented overall concepts.
Monitoring by means of RFIDAn innovation which KBA will be presenting at Drupa is the PileTronic RFID system. This provides the first components for RFID-monitored substrate logistics by identifying and recording pallets at the feeder and delivery. A read/write device is installed at the feeder which records the order-related identification number stored on a chip in the pallet and makes it professionally available to the MIS/PPS via LogoTronic for post-calculation, scheduling and material logistics. In addition, KBA PileTronic RFID can be used to track the location of all substrate pallets in the production facility.
Packaging printing places the highest demands on quality. Color variations, register differences, toning, stencils and hickeys must not affect the packaging and therefore the image of the branded article. This requires consistent quality control and regulation with corresponding documentation. KBA has been offering this for years with its Quali-Tronic inline sheet inspection system. It enables seamless inspection of the printed sheets. A new addition is DensiTronic PDF, which scans the complete sheet on the DensiTronic console and compares it with an approved PDF. Decades of close and successful cooperation with international packaging groups have led to KBA being recognized as the number one in sheetfed offset packaging printing. For the near and more distant future KBA has many interesting solutions in the pipeline for enhancing quality and efficiency, for new fields of application and for the increasingly important issue of brand protection.
Sabine Flachsmann