It goes to prove how the old adage of how one invested in a press model has changed. If one looks at the ten year challenge; then ten years ago one would buy a press, which is an expensive piece of kit, run it for a decade and get a return out of it. But that’s changing, ten years later. Sascha Fischer seemed to suggest that when one invests USD 4m on a new press, the press owner must ensure it is competitive in five years’ time. This is possible by keeping tabs on technology; and since technology is moving on, it is tough to do so. This was the theme of Fischer's talk: optimising makereadies, saving time, top speeds in colour controls, and ensuring there are zero repairs and breakdowns.

Sascha Fischer looked at KBA's sheetfed technology especially the new features in sheetfed presses for packaging. “As the world market leader in folding carton printing, we are benefiting from heightened capital spending of the international packaging printers —including India," he stated.

He focussed on new products for the folding carton market which included the Ipress 106 K Pro flatbed die-cutter that uses the same feeder as the Rapida sheetfed presses.

A big increase in orders for special presses has boosted results in 2018 at Koenig & Bauer, with the order backlog at the manufacturer ‘extraordinarily high’ at more than USD 800-m.