KBA Performa 74

The company has majored in hefty behemoths designed for the top-quality and top-capacity end of three main markets: coldset web for newspapers, commercial gravure and super-large-format sheetfed offset. But the problem is that the high end of the world’s printing industry isn’t, by its nature, the most populous; and if, to be crude, KBA wants bums on seats (or “market share growth”, as KBA UK managing director Christian Knapp prefers to call it) then it has to look elsewhere in the printing industry to get those bums. To be specific, it needs to look at the B2 sheetfed sector, where most of the major B2 players have been selling entry-level presses for a couple of years now: it’s a sub-sector in which KBA, bluntly, has been left behind.

“Two years ago we did a market review for sheetfed, and concluded that there was a pyramid-shaped structure out there,” Knapp says. “There are a few super-large-format printers at the top, and quite a few more B1 people, then more still B2, and more again B3. If we’re to grow our market share, we need to be tackling the B2 sector.” KBA has no plans to get into B3 – that’s “a step too far, right now,” according to Knapp. But B2 promises just the right balance between the cost of the press and the number of units KBA believes it can shift: according to the market review, the UK buys 600 B2 presses each year, and KBA is aiming for a fair slice of that market.

Rapida 74 market position
Wherein lies a further problem – in this quest for bums on seats, KBA has realised that not just any old seats will do. In the B2 bracket the company already has the Rapida 74, introduced at Drupa 2000 – a highly automated machine with a corresponding price tag. While the Rapida 74 has sold well in the six years of its life so far, it can’t be said to have achieved KBA’s unabashed aim of B2 market domination. Although it’s had some excellent success in the less price-sensitive packaging arena, the Rapida 74 is not the choice of almost every aspiring B3 printer on his way up the format ladder (that accolade goes to Heidelberg’s Speedmaster 74) but has more often been the machine of choice for B1 printers wanting a second-string machine to mop up shorter runs. It was clear to KBA that if it was to shift more units, what was needed was a machine less highly spec’d, less productive, and – frankly – less expensive.

KBA first investigated the idea of OEM manufacturing. “We looked to Asia and rejected the idea of manufacturing there because we didn’t think the engineering standards were high enough,” Knapp says. Instead, the KBA management took a trip to Dobruska in the Czech Republic, home to Grafitec, manufacturer of the entry-level Polly and mid-level Performa range of sheetfed offset presses. “They had an excellent quality of manufacture, and we were impressed by how solid the presses were,” Knapp says. KBA bought Grafitec last year and set about incorporating it into the KBA empire.

Grafitec’s Polly offset presses are familiar to UK printers as they were latterly agented by Graphic Arts Equipment, which sold several units in the UK; however, no Performas were sold. One of KBA’s first moves was to scrap the Polly press to concentrate on the Performa, which is now made in two formats, an SRA3 66cm and a B2 74cm. The 66cm, however, won’t be pushed in the UK – according to KBA’s market analysis, only 50 units are sold here each year. But the 74cm, introduced to Western and Northern Europe at Ipex, is already selling well in Grafitec’s domestic Eastern European market.

Entry-level machine
To mark its new life, the Performa 74 has been given a cosmetic brush-up to make it look more like part of the KBA family and less – well, East European. It has been positioned as an entry-level machine and a stepping-stone to the Rapida 74. It shares some basic features with the Rapida, including the benefit of KBA’s know-how on washing, cylinder surface textures and sheet transport systems. It has a moderate level of automation, including semi-automatic plate changing, a blanket and inking cylinder wash and (for all machines of four units and over) integration into the KBA Opera workflow system – meaning it’s JDF-compatible. There are options for a convertible coater/dampening unit or a separate coating tower, an online scanning densitometer and inking unit temperature control. The Performa can also be specified with an optional extended delivery and IR/hot air dryer. Presses of four units or more are supplied with a standard off-press control console, which is the identical model supplied with the Rapida even though it houses less automated functions. And printers wanting versatility will be pleased to find that the maximum sheet thickness that can be fed through a Performa 74 is 0.6mm – unusual in such a basic press, although it’s not the highest on the market.

The Performa also has many of the standard sheetfed offset press design characteristics that have been proven by all manufacturers to deliver quality over the years. Double-size impression and transfer cylinders and a seven o’clock cylinder configuration all minimise marking, and the transfer cylinders themselves are of a “skeleton” design for the same reasons. The press incorporates a technotrans Ecomatic dampening unit, and the dampening duct roller can be skewed, and incorporates a “shutdown position” in which all rollers in the dampening unit are moved out of contact with each other. All four forme rollers in each inking train can be set to run with or without lateral oscillation. Twenty-three zones on each ink blade can be set at the delivery-end touchscreen or at the control console. The standard pile height at the front end is a good 840mm, backed up with 920mm at the delivery – which means no minder attention will be necessary either before or after the vast majority of runs.

Protecting the Rapida
However, KBA has made limitations to the press in order to protect existing users’ Rapida investment, together with its own upgrade path offerings. Six is as many colours as you can have on a Performa, and there’s no option for perfecting. Top speed is rated at 13,000sph and as its sales literature says, that’s “respectable” for a B2 entry-level machine. Some of the makeready remains manual, including size pre-setting and pile centring at the feed end and the adjustment of the nine fans in the delivery. And some of the Rapida’s lights-out automation – on-the-run colour adjustments, for instance – are not available on the Performa. “It demonstrates that we see the Performa aimed at the quick turnaround market – it has sensible automation for shorter run-lengths where speed isn’t such a key requirement,” Knapp says.

The Performa 74 was launched at Ipex, and Knapp describes himself as “very pleased” with the interest it attracted. Following the exhibition, the first Performa 74 has been sold, to B2 commercial printer Jade Press. Jade already has a Rapida 74, and is buying the Performa to support its higher-spec press. This confirms KBA’s new entry-level strategy: initially it will target existing Rapida users, widening to include B3 printers stepping up into B2.

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SPECIFICATIONS
Maximum sheet size 520x740mm
Minimum sheet size 330x330mm
Speed 13,000sph
Maximum paper thickness0.6mm
Price from £350,000 (four-colour)
Contact KBA UK 01923 819922 www.kba-print.de/uk

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Komori Spica 429P
Komori’s entry-level sheetfed machine was introduced at Drupa 2004. Four colours are the maximum, but there is the option for perfecting. Automation is reflected by the price, and includes a semi-auto plate change, a blanket wash but no impression or ink cylinder wash. Dampening metering and conversion to perfecting is available as well as a full range of pre-sets covering ink ducts, register and dampening. Off-press controls are standard, as is JDF/CIP4 compatibility, but there’s no option for a coater or ink temperature control.
Maximum sheet size 530x750mm
Minimum sheet size 200x280mm
Speed 13,000sph
Maximum paper thickness 0.45mm
Price from £350,000 (four-colour)
Contact Komori (UK) 01132 799900 / www.komori.com

MAN Roland 200E
MAN Roland revamped its 200 series presses to provide an answer to the entry-level need. Six colours is the maximum, but there’s no option for a perfector or a coater – printers wanting to coat have to add an extra unit. Automation includes semi-auto plate change, but only optional blanket wash and no options for any other washes. A full range of pre-sets is standard, as is off-press control console. It has the highest maximum sheet thickness in the market, and one of the highest prices in the bracket.
Maximum sheet size 530x740mm
Minimum sheet size 210x280mm
Speed 13,000sph
Maximum paper thickness 0.8mm
Price from £385,000 (four-colour)
Contact MAN Roland GB 020 8648 7090 www.manroland.com

Ryobi 780 series
Ryobi’s oversize B2 press is available in four colours straight or optionally as a two-back-two perfector. Despite being billed as an entry-level machine, it runs faster and has a higher level of automation than any of the other entry-level presses featured here (note, though, there’s no coater). Semi-auto plate changing, ink cylinder wash, a full range of pre-sets and on-the-run ink density monitoring and adjustment are all standard, as is JDF compatibility. Price, once it’s been set, may well reflect this.
Maximum sheet size 788x600mm
Minimum sheet size 279x200mm
Speed 15,000sph
Maximum paper thickness 0.6mm
Price not available
Contact Apex Digital Graphics 01442 235236 www.apexdigital.co.uk