One of Australia's leading communications and printing services groups has commissioned two Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106 X sheetfed offset presses at its new facility near Sydney. Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, IVE Group employs more than 2,100 people across 22 locations. Specializing primarily in commercial printing and packaging, the group wanted to have, at its new 42,000 m² facility, 2 , with capabilities comparable to those already in place in the State of Victoria.
"The installation of a fleet of identical Koenig & Bauer presses is a central part of our investment strategy" , explains Matt Aitken, CEO of IVE Group. "This allows us to serve national brands and once again significantly accelerate our time to market."
IVE Group and Koenig & Bauer spent three years configuring these two presses and installing them at the new facility.
Two Rapida 106 X presses with different configurations
The first offset press is a seven-color Rapida 106 X Hybrid equipped with a dual coating unit and a triple extended delivery. It is designed specifically for the in-line printing and finishing of packaging.
The second Rapida 106 X has ten colors with 5/5 reverse printing and a coating unit. It is capable of producing magazine covers, among other things.
To reduce setup times, the presses feature a high degree of automation. Both presses are equipped with DriveTronic SPC, which enables simultaneous plate changes, as well as integrated measurement and quality control systems.
With these configurations, the two Rapida 106 X presses print up to 20,000 sheets per hour. According to Koenig & Bauer, these are the first sheetfed offset presses installed in Australia to achieve this output rate.
Rayne Simpson, sales director at Koenig & Bauer Australia, says: "The presses consistently operate at full capacity and achieve high scores across all key performance indicators." And he emphasizes that these speeds do not come at the expense of quality. "On a global scale, IVE achieves results that rank among the very best."
Matt Aitken acknowledges another advantage of his new machines: "The investment we've made in these presses really wows our customers. Those who have visited us are very impressed and really appreciate our work."
