Commercial and packaging printing in medium and large formats, rotary die-cutting, sightseeing and time to talk shopCzech and Slovak Rapida printers meet at Koenig & Bauer

• 9th meeting of the Very Smart Offset Printers
• Demos with fast job changes and high production speeds
• Presentations of diverse inline finishing possibilities  

On 13th April, over 40 Rapida users from the Czech and Slovak Republics visited Koenig & Bauer in Radebeul for the ninth get-together in a now traditional series of annual information events. The group included a number of long-standing Rapida users, for example representatives of Grafobal, Model Obaly or Uniprint, as well as print companies which have only recently taken a sheetfed offset press from Koenig & Bauer into service. They are all members of the VSOP club, the association of “Very Smart Offset Printers”.

The spectrum of topics at this year’s event was as broad as the Koenig & Bauer product portfolio: The first session was devoted to packaging printing. In cooperation with Actega and Billerud Korsnäs, interesting finishing effects with UV gloss coatings were demonstrated on a Rapida 106. Further print demos on a Rapida 145 placed fast job changes and dispersion finishes in the foreground. In both cases, there was at the same time opportunity to witness the convincing functionality of the Rapida LiveApp and ProductionApp.

The commercial printers were treated to live production on an eight-colour Rapida 106 coater press. On this highly automated medium-format press, autonomous printing with ErgoTronic AutoRun and the capabilities of the LED-UV process were the focal topics. Subsequently, the press produced samples of magazine covers with high-quality matt/gloss and drip-off effects. The practical demonstrations were rounded off with the creasing, die-cutting and stripping of pharmaceutical packaging on the rotary die-cutter Rapida RDC 106.

An accompanying programme of technical presentations, an excursion to Meissen with a visit to the world-famous porcelain manufactory and a river cruise to Pillnitz completed the two-day agenda and offered plentiful opportunity for individual discussions.