Industrial packaging printers in Saudi Arabia operate sheetfed offset presses from Koenig & Bauer, prominent ones among them being Al Obeikan Folding Carton, Noor Carton for Packaging and Al Jawad Printing Press. Meanwhile, K&B Rapida presses have also been strengthening their foothold among commercial users, in particular in government-run printing houses.
An order for two new K&B presses was placed by Government Printing Press in Riyadh. The company operates a Rapida 106 with six printing units, a coater and perfecting after the second unit. Alongside stands a 6-color Rapida 76 with coater and provisions for UV printing. Both presses print a variety of documents on paper and plastic substrates, for example passports, ID cards, driving licenses or residence permits. Accordingly, the long list of features also includes corresponding facilities for rainbow printing. The high-end presses for half and medium formats are both engineered for production speeds up to 18,000 sheets per hour.
King Abdulaziz University Printing Press in Jeddah has been using K&B Rapida 105 since last year. The 4-color press prints books and magazines for the university and also incorporates board-handling equipment to cope with substrates up to 1.2 mm. That provides for maximum flexibility in production.
Um Al Qura University Printing Press in Mecca and the Islamic University in Medina are also Rapida 105 users. Both presses are configured with four printing units, coater and extended delivery. The main products are likewise university magazines and books.
The close cooperation with the factories in Germany is a key factor for successful installments of K&B presses, as it permits the fast realization of tailored solutions in response to special customer wishes. Furthermore, local service units have been created to cover all the industrial centers of this enormous country and to ensure optimum proximity to the users.
