On November 8, 2016, KBA-Sheetfed and Flint Group Sheetfed signed a strategic partnership regarding 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 now be obtained through the Flint Group dealer network. KBA-Sheetfed now recommends the use of different Flint Group inks for different applications. This includes Flint’s Novavit F700 on mineral oil basis or Novavit F950 on vegetable oil basis for straight printing, F950 for perfecting, Novavit F1000 Win Bio for general packaging printing, Novasens P660 Premium for food packaging, 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 will benefit from the wealth of experience gained with the individual ink systems at KBA-Sheetfed,” said the companies. All inks are subject to constant testing and, where necessary, are modified specifically to suit the Rapida presses. “The outcome is constantly high and reproducible print quality process standardization is raised to a new level.”
Dirk Winkler, Head of Print Technology at KBA-Sheetfed, added: “We’ve 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.” He cited specific advantages including reduced ink consumption, high colour brilliance and contrast, smooth reproduction, convenient handling, and the reliable printing of solids. Equally important, he added, is the cooperation to develop and standardize new ink systems, along with the joint support for users, especially in the food-packaging sector.
KBA-Sheetfed will continue to work with Flint Group on a global basis. This includes use of the inks for print demonstrations in its customer centre, during training at its company training centre, in its design and development departments, at tradeshows and customer events, and for the factory testing of new presses. Flint Group inks will also be included in KBA press starter kits and continuous product development.
KBA-Sheetfed and Flint finalize cooperation on conventional inks
