Employing more than 120 staff members, Dresden-based Kama, which manufactures machines for post-press and finishing processes, has seven patents to its name post its re-establishment in 1994
Scamag, the predecessor of Kama were the inventors of modern kind of creasing line for folding carton boxes. The machine (in the picture) is of a combined bend and compress machine built in 1933
Kama's facility in Dresden is spread across a 5000 sq/m greenfield area with automations in place to produce more than 100 machines a year. The company currently manufactures 50 on-demand machines a year
Kama sources cast iron blocks from its suppliers, which makes up the 2500 pound body of the Kama machine. Mechanical parts of gear boxes for die-cutters and cutting tables are made in-house
Shown in the picture are the laser cut blades which require accurate tolerance measurements. These are assembled in-house
There are five CNC milling machines which produces nearly the same parts but for different sizes. Smaller CNC machines are for the smaller parts
The biggest CNC machine out of all five machines at Kama's shopfloor and has a bed length of 3 metres. This machine can deliver a part with 5X manufacturing process which means the machine can work on any part in five different axis
An intricate part produced with the help of 5X manufacturing
A lathe machine where a steel shaft is being produced
"If you want to produce quality parts, you should be able to measure them," says Steffen Pieper. In the picture is a measuring tool to check the uniformity of a shaft. The entire testing is done whilst mounted on a granite base
A 3-D measurement system checks for the deformities inside a complicated part and traces it on a computer screen for further rectifications. The accuracy is 0.01mm
Worm gears are another part which Kama doesn't produce in-house. Pieper says, "There are specialists to produce certain parts and with that one can increase productivity"
A manufacturing order which keeps track of manufacturing steps involved in the manfacturing of that particular order. Kama nearly has 25,000 manufacturing orders in a year and 100,000 manufacturing steps
Start of the assembling line. Here the Kama technician is assembling a DC 76 machine customised according to the requirements for eg, the machine shown above does not have an auto-register system
Similar machine but without a foil attachment
The ProCut 53 is the maximum manufactured product by Kama and is available with and without hot-foil attachments
Fully assembled DC 76 ready for final test run. Every machine has to go through a 16-hour testing process to check on bearings, temperature etc.
The Profold 74, a multi-functional folder-gluer for commercial as well as for the packaging market
Germany-based Kurz were present at the event with their newly launched digital metal hot foiling machine
A technician working on a refurbished machine. Kama refurbished around 2-3 machines in a year
Inventories are stored in racks across the shopfloor with each part named and dated.
An event to commemorate Kama's 120 years in printing and packaging industry, Kama Finishing Days 2014, was held jointly by Kama and HP Indigo at its headquarters. The event saw 450 customers from 35 countries attend the four day event from 11-14 November, 2014
Marcus Tralau, CEO, Kama, Steffen Pieper, managing director, Kama and Alon Bar-Shany, VP and GM, HP Indigo start the engines of the Flexfold 52 prototype which was being demonstrated for the first time
Kama Flexfold 52 is optimised for converting printed substrates from HP Indigo 30000 at a speed of 200 m/min. It can also be used as a conventional folding-gluing unit
The USP of the Flexfold 52 is its automated pre-setting function on the entire folding section, transverse and longitudinal direction. Kama has patents pending for this arrangement
Also on display was the Kama DC 76 with foiling capabilities, an upgrade of the DC 58, its previous model
The machine as being explained by a Kama technician has been designed for quick changeovers with auto-register system, its USP which can align each sheet to a print mark of +-0.1mm and a tool-less stripping and blanking technology
Finished samples of different grammages printed on 30000 and finished on FF52 and DC76. The machines have the ability to take up to 800gsm
HP technician giving the customers a lowdown on the Indigo 30000 technicalities
The HP Indigo 30000 uses liquid electrophotography method for imaging and delivers images on the blanket using HP's patented one-shot technology
HP Indigo 30000 comes with an Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) which increases the throughput and printing speed by 33% with image quality as close to an offset print
Tresu showcased its inline selective coating solution for the Indigo 30000. Tresu technician briefing the crowds on the capabilities and easy job changeover of the recently launched Tresu iCoat 30000
Kama Cockpit is a control station designed for communication between the machine and MIS using JDF. Cockpit has an integrated organiser system for mounting chases and male and female dies and an integrated CPX system allows for quick positioning of these dies
Kama: 120 years of technology innovation
It was 1936, when Kama (then Scamag), built the first ever automatic die-cutter. Since then the company has continued to provide innovations and register worldwide patents. In 2014, it launched the prototype of the Flexfold 52 digital finishing machine, which was exclusively created for the HP Indigo 30000 at ‘Finishing Days’. What better way to commemorate its 120 years print legacy.
Photographs and text by Anand Srinivasan