Gramedia gears up with two KBA Rapida 106 presses

Between 2001 and 2007 Indonesia's PT Gramedia Printing Group installed four four-colour KBA presses: two medium-format Rapida 105 universals, one Rapida 105 and one half-size Rapida 74. Now this fast-growing enterprise, the market leader in Indonesia, has topped this by placing an order with KBA Asia-Pacific for two eight-colour perfector versions of the Rapida 106 exhibited at Drupa.

New level of performance with dedicated plate-cylinder drives While eight-colour perfector presses for four over four are no novelty in Southeast Asia, it is unusual for them to boast such a high level of automation and performance as that specified for the two identical Rapida 106 press lines. In addition to automatic plate changing Gramedia has opted for DensiTronic S closed-loop densitometric colour measurement and control, a LogoTronic Basic management information system, a lightweight print capability and DriveTronic SPC dedicated plate-cylinder drives, which allow all eight plates to be changed simultaneously in a mere sixty seconds or so. In conjunction with various other contemporaneous processes this makes for exceptionally fast job changes - as KBA demonstrated at Drupa by printing 15 jobs of 520 good sheets apiece in less than 60 minutes.

The two presses are scheduled to ship in September. Once they are up and running they will position Gramedia at the very forefront of medium-format press technology, not just in Indonesia, where it is busy consolidating its market leadership, but in the entire region.