New Rapida 105 generation to première at Print China

A six-colour Rapida 105, with coater and extended delivery, will be showcasing its performance capabilities in a series of live demonstrations at the China Print exhibition.

The machine will used for producing a broad spectrum of products on board (high-quality folding cartons and door hangers) and paper (landscape and animal posters). The planned shows will allow different types of job changeover to be shown, with not only image and substrate changes, but also the disengaging and re-engaging of individual printing units being demonstrated. This will help trade visitors to gain an immediate impression of the exceptional performance of the new Rapida 105, both in print production and during makeready for a subsequent job.

The press was designed on the basis of the Rapida 106 and Rapida 106 X series, and is distinguished by the upgrades to its automation components, increased printing speeds and a host of Rapida-typical design solutions, such as comprehensive preset capabilities; universal gripper systems with a single setting for all substrates; environmentally friendly cloth-based CleanTronic washing systems; VariDry drying systems and measuring and control systems for quality assurance.

The sheet guiding system is another component that has undergone further optimisation —something that the feed table with its single central suction belt makes particularly apparent. These upgrades will equip print companies to master current and future challenges in equal measure.

Thanks to its high substrate flexibility (0.06 to 0.7-mm as standard, or up to 1.2-mm with an optional package for board handling or corrugated substrates) and seemingly unlimited range of configuration options with up to eight printing units, as well as perfecting units for 4-over-4 production, inline coating facilities, cold foil units, web-to-sheet feeders and multiple logistics options, the Rapida 105 is the perfect solution for commercial, packaging and label printers alike. This new press generation will enable print companies to make their products even better and more flexible than ever before. In addition, a range of systems for register and colour measurement and control, as well as production monitoring with QualiTronic PrintCheck, guarantee perfect print quality.

Koenig & Bauer is currently reaping the benefits of positive post-pandemic economic developments in China. Sheetfed offset presses of the Rapida series are extremely popular on the Chinese market, and demand for them has remained stable for several months now. The majority of the new investments are being made by larger print companies at present. “The new Rapida 105 generation is the right product at the right time,” said Dietmar Heyduck, senior VP of sales at Koenig & Bauer Sheetfed. “It is characterised by both the latest technologies and an ultramodern design.”

And this is precisely the kind of press users are looking for.

The current trend emerging in China tends to favour sheetfed offset systems with six or more colours and inline finishing options. Alongside highly complex equipment variants, customer demands primarily focus on automation solutions for faster makeready and for boosting production efficiency. These include fully automatic plate changing (FAPC) and parallel washing capabilities (CleanTronic), as well as non-stop solutions in combination with pile logistics. Expectations of quality are, too, higher than ever, especially with regard to printed packaging. As a result, more and more presses are being configured with inline measuring and control systems. The same applies when it comes to finishing. Alongside coaters and drying systems, there is a growing demand for systems for cold foil application, for example. Moreover, any number of print companies are upgrading to large-format sheetfed offset, leading to an increase in orders for the Rapida 164 series (sheet format up to 1,205×1,640-mm).