B&T already runs five straight printing, large-format Rapidas, the first of which was installed five years ago.
This latest buy is designed to strengthen the firm’s position in its core market of colour books and help it to forge ahead in the commercial market, report and accounts in particular, which now accounts for 25% of its £50m sales.
Joint managing director Peter Maunder said he anticipated that the KBAs would be “every bit as successful and with significantly higher productivity” than the long B1 perfectors favoured by rival commercial printers.
“For many trim sizes we will be able to print 64pp in a single pass,” he said.
In recent years B&T has picked up a number of important report and accounts contracts, including Trinity Mirror and Shell. The 4/4 machine should be up and running in time for the start of the 2003 reports season. The 2/2 will be used for the production of two-colour report sections.
KBA officially unveiled the 4/4 162a to a contingent of UK printers, including B&T, in May (PrintWeek, 24 May). The world’s first was installed at German printer Appel.
* B&T featured in the Sunday Times Enterprise Network page last Sunday (7 July). A panel of business pundits, including representatives from BDO Stoy Hayward, Cisco Systems and Lloyds TSB, advised the firm on how to rise to three key challenges: competing in Europe, how much emphasis to give new business lines, and holding on to talented young staff.
Story by Lauretta Roberts
