The new five-colour KBA Rapida 105 with integral coating and dual conventional and UV ink capabilities was installed at the Worksop-based firm’s 697sqm premises as part of a £1.5m investment programme that has also included an upgrade to its Tharstern MIS. The machine has replaced Ryobi SRA1 and B3 devices, both of which have been part-exchanged.
Director Irene Bayliss said: “We wanted to go into higher-end work and decided that we’d put everything into just this machine after exploring the market and looking at what we were doing and where we wanted to be.”
Managing director John Bayliss added: “Our former MD Alan Johnson and I felt that the SRA1 press had been a good stepping stone for us, but the format is not sympathetic to anything outside the standard page sizes and for our trade work we need to be flexible.
“The Rapida is also a big step up in performance levels. Our plate counts have risen significantly and we are achieving a big increase in sheets on the floor. Our main challenge now is to continue to maximise this new capacity.”
The business opted for the KBA machine following extensive market research. It has also operated Heidelberg and Komori litho presses in the past.
“The way KBA have developed their technologies shows they understand the pinch points and problems from the operator’s perspective and, because they build each press to order, it means they can create the specification that’s in-line with our ongoing business strategy,” said John Bayliss.
The firm’s press specification includes an integral coater for both water-based and high gloss UV finishes, a double-extended delivery, fully automated platechanging and ErgoTronic Colour Control with LAB function and Wallscreen.
The 16,000sph machine also features KBA’s cassette-based VariDry UV drying system and the CX thick stock option (up to 1.2mm).
Bayliss also operates a Konica Minolta Bizhub C1070 digital printer and finishing equipment including MBO and Horizon folders, a Heidelberg Platen, a Heidelberg Cylinder, a Heidelberg Stitchline, a Polar guillotine and an additional smaller guillotine.
It outsources foil blocking, die-cutting, varnishing and laminating.
The company already has a strong presence within the publishing sector, supplying book covers in runs from hundreds to hundreds-of-thousands, and John Bayliss expects the abilities of the KBA press to take them into other specialist areas too.
He said: “We see print not as a commodity, but as an opportunity to add value to the message, the brand or the product.
“So we see the Rapida attracting overspill work for the packaging sector, greetings cards and even for print on plastics, such as loyalty cards.”
Bayliss Printing Company employs 22 staff, 16 on its litho side and six at its digital operation Peppermint Press, which Bayliss acquired around 18 months ago. The company has quadrupled its turnover to £2m over the past decade.
It produces items including posters, folders, brochures, magazines, leaflets, folded documents and perfect bound-books in runs of all lengths, but typically between 3,000 and 10,000.
