Not Just for Cartons... KBA Shows Off Its Label Printing Capabilities at GAM Open House

Published: December 10, 2003, By PRESS RELEASE

ROCCAPIEMONTE, ITALY—Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) says a recent open house staged at the Italian label printer Grafica Artistica Meridionale's facility in Roccapiemonte (near Salerno) revealed its Rapida presses are as popular south of Rome as they are in the rest of Italy. According to the OEM, the KBA-Italia organized event was promoted under the slogan ”Non Solo Cartotecnica”—not just carton technology—and focused on hybrid inks and relevant applications; it attracted some 150 printers to KBA's long-standing customer Grafica Artistica Meridionale (GAM).

A family-operated business, says KBA, the 1974-established GAM has been transformed into one of the region's top label printers; Salerno is one of Italy's biggest tomato- and fruit-growing centers, exporting tinned tomatoes and sauces (labeled, of course) worldwide.

Hybrid Inks Raise Product Profile
KBA says GAM counts leading Italian food manufacturers among its biggest customers, and to service them, the company has an existing range of 18,000 label designs. "As if that [is not enough]," explains KBA, "GAM [now] is promoting the value-added properties of hybrid inks as a means of further enhancing the appeal—for little additional outlay—of its customers’ products."

According to KBA, GAM has been an all-KBA operation ever since it installed a P-44 Super Variant 14 years ago. Since then it has added six-color coater versions of the Rapida 104 and Rapida 105, followed, a year ago, by a five-color Rapida 105 dual-coater press with double delivery. "This latest acquisition—the focus of the press demos at the open house—boasts an advanced level of automation embracing pile logistics at the feeder and delivery; plate changing; an Ergotronic console for job scheduling and press presetting complete with CIPLink interface to prepress; a Densitronic S closed-loop color-quality control; and a Logotronic professional network link to administration," states the manufacturer.

Learn more about KBA at kba-print.de.