Offset Printing
New sheetfed presses for the heart of Africa
Friday 05. November 2010 - KBA drives growth with seminars and sales in central Africa
In 2004 KBA started holding seminars in central Africa on new advances in sheetfed technology and processes. They evidently hit the mark among print professionals, and the group is now reaping the benefits: in a region where most of the kit purchased is second-hand, KBA has become a leading vendor of new press lines.
For example, the fourth new press for Cameroon – a 46 Karat – will soon be heading for Imprimerie du Premier Ministre in Jaoundé, where it will print internal documents and publications for the prime minister, Philemon Yang. It follows a similar press at Banque des Etats de lAfrique Centrale (BEAC), and a four-colour B1 (41in) Rapida 105 coater press and a B2 (29in) Rapida 74 at CMF Multiprint in Douala. New KBA presses have also gone to printers in Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Senegal.
KBA will continue the series of seminars in Africa. The most recent one, which focused on its web and security press technology along with sheetfed, took place at the end of August in Cotonou, the capital of Benin, and attracted 80 printers from all over the country. Speaking at the seminar Ludwig Lindner, Germanys ambassador to Benin, emphasised the importance of such an initiative in view of the local printing industrys urgent need of new technology and the transfer of knowledge. While visiting various printing plants after the seminar, KBA representatives discovered a vintage SRIII built at the groups Würzburg headquarters. KBA is planning further projects in West Africa.