Last October representatives from Eurographic Press (EP) paid a visit to Spanish printing firm Novoprint in Sant Andreu de la Barca (Barcelona). The purpose of the visit was not only to see the company’s web offset and B1 (40in) sheetfed presses but also to learn why Novoprint, which has been active in the field for the past 20 years, has installed a 1,020 x 1,420mm (56in) five-colour KBA Rapida 142.
For some EP professionals, a tour of the 200m² (2,150ft²) hall housing a graphic arts museum – founder Andrés Bellido’s hobby – complete with “operators” manning the machines, took them back to their early years. “We even have a wooden proofing press using stones instead of plates. We would love to learn how to operate it.”
EP (Eurographic Press) professionals pictured during their visit to Novoprint
Why not a Rapida 162 or even a 205?
One of the directors answers this question: “We move ahead step by step, and when we make a move we study it carefully. The next step may well be an even larger format.” The question was raised because models are popular. There are a lot of Rapida 162 presses in Spain, mostly printing books, and even half a dozen of the huge 205 have been delivered to large-format screen printers in the Madrid area.
The new five-colour Rapida 142 printed more than two million sheets in the first two weeks after coming on stream
Has the Rapida 142 fulfilled expectations at Novoprint? “We use the press to print runs of up to 10,000 copies: above that, we may pass the job to the web offset presses. It may not sound logical, but with a press that combines a great performance with a high capacity we can reduce prices and move into a sector that is normally the preserve of sheetfed,” says Andrés Bellido, adding enthusiastically: “In the two weeks after starting up the Rapida 142 we printed over two million sheets of substrates ranging from 85 to 125gsm.”
