ExpoPrint in São Paulo impressively confirmed the need for technological answers to the current challenges in the Brazilian print market. Koenig & Bauer recorded an enormous influx of visitors to its stand and successfully used the trade fair to place the profitability of its customers centre stage. With around 20 highly attended live presentations by the sales and technical teams focusing on the Rapida platform, the company demonstrated how technological competence contributes directly to the profit and loss accounts of printing companies. The success of this strategy was immediately evident at the exhibition centre through the sale of several medium-format sheetfed offset presses from the Rapida series to printers in Brazil and neighbouring countries.
Investment surge in the Brazilian packaging market
The Rapida 105, showcased as the trade fair highlight, proved its performance capabilities and changed owners right there on the spot. The six-colour press with coating tower will go straight from the exhibition stand to Grafica Rex in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Today’s print users are looking for solutions for fast make-ready processes to counter pressure on margins. The Rapida platform solves this problem through drastic time savings during job changeovers.
These quantifiable efficiency benefits convinced other companies to invest in folding carton production. Ingral Industria Grafica is investing in a Rapida 105 with four inking units and a coater, and Malires from Curitiba is expanding its machine park with a second system: a Rapida 105 with five inking units and a coating tower. In addition, a strategically important new customer, Quatro Pontos from Ribeirão Preto, was acquired in the greater São Paulo area; they will commission a six-colour Rapida 105 with a coater at the beginning of 2027.
Partnership and service as profitability drivers
Alongside the press technology, Koenig & Bauer’s trusted advisor approach was a focal point of its trade fair presence. The company has the highest number of specialised technicians per installed machine in Brazil. This ensures rapid operational readiness without the need for improvisation or outsourcing, secures high machine availability, and protects businesses from unplanned downtimes. This strength in service has generated important new press business in the past, and continues to do so at ExpoPrint.
“Printers in Brazil are faced with increasing cost pressure and the demand for ever-shorter delivery times,” explains Paulo Faria, CEO of Koenig & Bauer (BR). “The Rapida systems sold at the trade fair are not just new machines. They are our answer to this market shift. When we reduce make-ready times to just a few minutes whilst simultaneously offering the densest service network in the country, we transform production bottlenecks into genuine competitive advantages for our customers. That is the core of a true partnership.”
Tailored concepts for the print production of the future
In addition to the sales successes in traditional sheetfed offset, visitors gathered detailed information about Koenig & Bauer’s entire, broad-based portfolio. Expert discussions focused on tailored concepts in digital printing, half-format and large-format printing, as well as comprehensive postpress technology – from rotary and flatbed die-cutters to folder gluers and networked digital solutions.
Just like the live print demonstrations on the Rapida 105 exhibition press, an exclusive VIP event for managing directors and decision-makers from the Brazilian printing industry and neighbouring countries met with extraordinary interest. There, the management team demonstrated how printers can successfully position their business models for the future. Dietmar Heyduck, SVP sales at Koenig & Bauer Paper & Packaging Sheetfed Systems, opened the dialogue with his keynote, “The Print Capital of Tomorrow”. In his presentation, “The Dual Transformation. How We are Shaping the Future of the Printing Industry!”, Markus Weiß, CEO of Koenig & Bauer Paper & Packaging Sheetfed Systems, outlined Koenig & Bauer’s strategic orientation for the future, whilst Dirk Winkler, Head of Print Technology at Koenig & Bauer Sheetfed, highlighted concrete technological pathways to increase margins under the title “Engineering Your Profitability”.
