Klaus Schmidt (right), Marketing/Communication Director of the KBA Group: “Production ends not with printing, but with the finished product.” Center: Alexander Blank (prepress technician, KBA). left: Klaus Behnisch (service technician, Muller Martini).

KBA has appeared together with Muller Martini at drupa in the past with its commercial web presses. “The two companies have experience of joint trade fair appearances,” says Klaus Schmidt, Marketing/Communication Director of the KBA Group. However, drupa 2012 is a special occasion: KBA is presenting a digital printing press for the first time, and is looking to enter a new business sector with the brand-new Rotajet 76. “Our live demo at drupa naturally only makes sense if we can also show inline print finishing,” says Klaus Schmidt. For Muller Martini, the partnership is an “excellent opportunity allowing us to show that we are the leader in inline solutions for digital printing and how digital printing can be seamlessly integrated into print finishing thanks to our Connex data and process management system,” says Dragan Volic, Director of Marketing for Print Finishing Systems.

The paper web goes to the SigmaFolder from the KBA’s Rotajet 76 digital printing press, before the products are stitched using the Primera Digital from Muller Martini.

At the KBA stand, four different color 48-page print products with various types of paper are being produced using the Rotajet 76 and Muller Martini’s SigmaLine consisting of the SigmaFolder and the Primera Digital. The four print products are “KBA Daily”, a university magazine, a technology magazine and a cook book, variously with and without an additional cover.

“Muller Martini is a global company like us,” says Klaus Schmidt, explaining the cooperation with the Swiss machine manufacturer at the KBA stand. In the view of the experienced printing press expert, it is clear that the industry needs to join forces in order to be able to offer such customer-oriented inline solutions. “Production ends not with printing, but with the finished product. Each customer decides for themselves in practice which configurations to use,” says Klaus Schmidt.

The joint KBA/Muller Martini solution is going down extremely well with visitors to the KBA stand. “Our jointly presented system is pulling in visitors,” says Klaus Schmidt with visible satisfaction.