KBA Designs Special Rapida 105 for Color Spectrum Network

MARIETTA, Ga.—KBA North America, a leading press manufacturer based in Williston, Vt., announced that Color Spectrum Network, a manufacturer of printed folding cartons located in Marietta, Ga., has ordered a specially-configured Rapida 105 41-inch eight-color sheetfed press configured with a coater, dryer, dryer and coater with extended delivery and plastics packaging kit in an all U.V. environment. The press is due to be delivered to Color Spectrum Network in June 2007 and be fully-operational by August 2007.

“Our new KBA Rapida 105 will further our offerings as a provider of high-end cartons and rigid boxes, and allow us to reach greater degrees of difficulty in our packaging work,” explains Gilbert Bonilla, the firm’s president and founder. “This U.V.press will set us apart from the majority of our competitors as a result of the double coater with eight colors. By installing the Corona treatment unit on the front of the press for plastics printing, we will have the first unit in North America with this type of plastics capability, ensuring maximum adhesion of ink to the substrate. The configuration of the press also differentiates us—only 1 percent of printers in the entire world have this type of configuration.”

The inline Corona treatment unit is a brand new feature on the Rapida 105 that is being used for treating plastic substrates. The corona treatment stabilizes plastic dyne levels (a measure of static electricity) prior to printing for better ink adhesion. It restores the dyne level that can diminish while a plastic substrate is in storage or being shipped from overseas to the printing plant. In a Rapida press, the corona module is positioned before the first printing unit and is mounted on a dedicated substructure. The module comprises the corona unit with a 15kV quartz electrode and a dedicated transformer. The treatment will allow Color Spectrum Network to buy plastic substrates anywhere in the world and be assured of proper dyne levels.

Bonilla says the new press purchase was prompted by his firm’s “continued pursuit of the high-end cosmetic and confectionary markets. Since we are courting these markets, we need to have the ability to utilize metallic inks for their jobs. Our new KBA Rapida 105 41-inch press gives us that ability. We want to position ourselves ahead of our customers’ sophisticated requirements and be able to take whatever work they design and be able to produce it to the highest quality,” says Bonilla.

In April 2003, the firm opened its Marietta, Ga. facility with 16 employees; today the firm employs 110 and will count 130 employees by the end of June 2007 due to the new press installation. At the 145,000-square-foot facility, a new 16,000-square-foot pressroom is being assembled with humidity and temperature control to accommodate the new press plus growth for another press. Bonilla has used his 12-year-experience in corporate banking to effectively manage his capital-intensive business spending almost $30 million for new equipment in four years, which will help to reduce his customer’s inventory and further perfect the model of “packaging-on-demand” in seven or less days.

“We chose KBA after thoroughly researching the press manufacturer market for nine months,” says Bonilla. “This is our first KBA press, and we’re very excited to be installing it. We found that KBA has a large, loyal following of customers, which impressed us, and only they were able to produce a proven, custom press to our specifications.”