KBA displays new opportunities, product synergy, and strong industry support at Graph Expo 2014

KBA is highly anticipating another positive show at Graph Expo 14 in which it will demonstrate its strong support for the printing industry and its customers and prospects through a dynamic informative and interactive booth.

Graph Expo 14—co-located with CPP Expo— is held September 28-October 1, 2014 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. The event is an innovative and comprehensive exhibition showcasing digital, offset, inkjet, flexo, gravure and hybrid technologies, products, and services for the commercial, transactional, converting and package printing, publishing, mailing, in-plant, photo imaging, marketing and industrial printing industries.

KBA North America, located in Dallas, Texas and a member of the KBA Group, is part of the near-200-year-old German firm Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA), the oldest and second-largest press manufacturer worldwide.

KBA, situated in Booth #213 at the front entrance to the show floor, is inviting attendees to Graph Expo 14 to learn about the its latest news, its wide range of printing presses, its solutions for commercial, packaging, digital, newspaper, metal decorating, and flexible substrate markets, and its unique automated systems and services all in an effort to help printers raise the bar.

“We are proud to be exhibiting at Graph Expo 14 under its theme of integration,” says KBA North America president and chief executive officer Mark Hischar. “We’re casting our strong support of the industry among all attendees no matter which market they serve. We wouldn’t miss an opportunity as large as Graph Expo 14 to talk one-to-one with our customers and prospects and to show them why KBA is the leading press manufacturer in the graphic arts industry.

“This is an important once-a-year occasion to demonstrate our wide range of equipment, including digital and large format presses, and our many popular services, such as Service Select, while showing them how they can add to their bottom line and truly exceed their clients’ expectations,” he continues.

KBA will be highlighting a few notable new distinctions between itself and its competitors presented within the past year. One is its growth into new markets including the new KBA-Flexotecnica subsidiary for flexible packaging.

As of January 1, 2014, KBA North America became the exclusive distributor for Flexotecnica’s flexible packaging presses in North America. With this announcement, KBA is expanding its strong market position in the folding carton market into another growing packaging segment. KBA-Flexotecnica develops, builds, distributes and services central-impression flexographic presses for printing on flexible packaging materials.

Another part of its Graph Expo 14 booth will be dedicated to displaying newspaper upgrades including the popular unique advertising format (UAF).

Modern newspapers have turned to print to secure new, eye-catching, creative advertising formats for brand owners and trade companies. KBA has responded to this trend by delivering highly-automated newspaper presses with optional modules for stitching, gluing, half covers, four-page center spreads plus Zip’n’Buy perforation, hot-air dryers including quarterfold capabilities for semi-commercials and hybrid production in coldset/heatset.

One popular example is the “Give me 5” ad insert, which will be on display at Graph Expo 14, that creates five different ads when opened in the correct way by creative folding, gluing and perforation of three center spreads with two “zips” for tearing off.

Back by popular demand will be KBA’s expert Service Select team in which highly-trained technicians will be demonstrating live press analysis for both sheetfed and web from the show floor.

Attendees will learn about Service Select, a complete line of customized service products designed to maximize the productivity and profitability of a customer’s KBA press, how it helps KBA customers identify critical function areas that may be influencing productivity using press historical data. and the comprehensive support team that can’t be duplicated by any other manufacturer.

Since KBA is the dominant and leading press manufacturer for the packaging industry, a large part of its booth at Graph Expo 14 will be focused on this important and growing market. KBA boasts over 300 large-format installations in North America.

Over half of the large-format press installations in North America are KBA. It offers a wide-ranging portfolio of large-format press options from 51-inches to 81-inches (the largest press in the world) equipped with unique technology not found on any other press.

“The Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) is proud of the broad support that Graph Expo 14 has been receiving from KBA and the supplier community with its solid commitment to the industry by exhibiting in Chicago this year,” says GASC president Ralph Nappi. “KBA has an impressive record and commitment to our industry by being a consistent supporter of trade shows and our industry’s customer base for many years.”

The centerpiece of the KBA booth at Graph Expo 14 will be a comfortable lounge atmosphere with German beer and pretzels. On the outer perimeter of the booth will be 10 free standing walls showing the different market segments that KBA serves.

The 10 segments will furnish information on commercial printing, folding carton packaging, flexible packaging, metal decorating, newspaper, plastic cards, security printing, digital printing, signage/POP and service and support. Private conference rooms will be available for speaking one-to-one with customers.

KBA is a proud co-sponsor of the new State of the Industry report by NAPL senior vice-president and chief economist Andrew Paparozzi. The report is an overview of industry business conditions based on hundreds of comprehensive company surveys, studies, and economic reports. It also provides the story behind the numbers through interviews with survey respondents who explain their assessment of current conditions and outlook for the future. Paparozzi will be unveiling the report at the NAPL booth.

For more information on KBA, visit www.kba.com.