L to R: Holger Winkler, head of purchasing at KBA Sheetfed, Richard Wilson OEM technical coordination director SF, Anne Just purchasing, Doug Aldred, president Packaging and Narrow Web Division at Flint Group and Ralf Sammeck, CEO of KBA-Sheetfed.
On 8 November, KBA-Sheetfed and Flint Group Sheetfed signed a strategic partnership. The deal refers to the worldwide use of Flint Group’s conventional sheetfed ink series on high-performance KBA Rapida presses. Inks with the seal of quality ‘Recommended by KBA’ can be obtained through the Flint Group dealer network.
KBA-Sheetfed recommends the use of different Flint Group ink series for different applications, for example for straight printing (Novavit F700 on mineral oil basis or Novavit F950 on vegetable oil basis), perfecting (F950), general packaging printing (Novavit F1000 WIN Bio), food packaging (Novasens P660 PREMIUM) and a number of special applications such as printing on non-absorbent substrates or fast work-and-turn.
Rapida users who choose the corresponding printing inks from Flint Group benefit from the wealth of experience gained with the individual ink systems at KBA-Sheetfed. All inks are subject to constant testing and, where necessary, are modified specifically to suit the fast Rapida presses. The outcome is constantly high and reproducible print quality – process standardisation is raised to a new level.
Flint Group inks are also to be used in the KBA-Sheetfed customer demo centre.
Dirk Winkler, head of print technology at KBA-Sheetfed, says, “We have achieved excellent and stable results with printing inks from Flint Group, not only in connection with our ‘conventional ink’ benchmarking, but also during periodic high-performance tests in the areas of packaging, commercial and Web2Print applications or label printing. And when a product meets our high expectations, we gladly recommend it to our users around the world. This strategy is naturally implemented together with our cooperation partner to the benefit of our customers.”
Particular strengths are seen in reduced ink consumption, high colour brilliance and contrast, smooth reproduction, convenient handling and the reliable printing of solids. Equally decisive, however, is cooperation to develop and standardise new ink systems, and naturally the joint support for users, for example, in the food packaging sector.
As with other strategic partners, KBA-Sheetfed will be working with Flint Group on a global basis. This includes use of the inks for print demonstrations in the customer centre, during training in the company training centre, in the design and development departments, at trade shows and customer events, and for the factory testing of new presses, as well as the inclusion of Flint Group inks in press starter kits and continuous product development. In addition, experts from the two sides will be able to exchange know-how within the framework of joint training measures.
