KBA makes progress with RotaJet quality

The firm reported keen interest from the newspaper sector at last week’s Ifra Expo event in Frankfurt.

"It would be an ideal combination for existing newspaper printers, who can still use their main press firepower for the bulk of the run," explained KBA UK managing director Christian Knapp.

"The RotaJet could be used for time-sensitive content or to ‘sectionalise’ the main paper by printing, say, a 16pp section on the RotaJet either for use as an insert or a jacket. We can take this technology beyond the initial plan into a lot of areas."

Knapp said print quality on the 150m/min machine, which has a 782mm-wide web and combines know-how from KBA and RR Donnelley, had "made great strides" since its debut at Drupa in May.

The next public outing for the RotaJet will be at the Hunkeler Innovationdays in February 2013, where the compact system will be seen running live.

KBA director of marketing Klaus Schmidt said that since Drupa "significant progress" had been made including improvements in colour management, screening and software to achieve the required print quality and stability.

Customers from Europe and the US have travelled to KBA’s Wurzburg, Germany facility for demonstrations on the press over recent months. "We are confident of signing the first orders very soon. First installations should take place in the first half of 2013," Schmidt added.