The right decision for entry into B2 format
Argraf is a small Warsaw printing business whose 18 employees enjoy an excellent reputation on the local market, above all for their printing of books and magazines on historical topics. To answer the increasing demands of the clients, the company decided to purchase a four-colour Performa 74 press with automatically convertible perfecting unit for 2/2 production. Following its German premiere at Luthe Druck und Medienservice in Cologne in mid-2006, the Performa 74 perfector press from Czech subsidiary KBA-Grafitec in Dobruška has now also been demonstrating its potential in Poland for almost a year.
Argraf has been active on the market since 1990 and is managed by Kristyna Dukielska, who took over the business after the sad death of husband and founding proprietor Tomasz Dukielski in November 2006. During the first years, Argraf concentrated on providing intermediary and agency services for the print market, before venturing into actual printing in 1995. Profound knowledge of the publishing market and the increasing demand for favourably priced short-run book and magazine production were both very positive decision factors.
Continuous growth
The first press installed was a single-colour sheetfed Romayor in B3 format. „We printed all our colour work on that press,“ Andrzej Malejko recalls, „but we very soon noticed that it was not able to meet all our needs. Six months later, we installed a second Romayor, and also purchased a cutter to set up a bookbinding shop.“ From 1996 onwards, all the work which had previously been contracted out to another printer with pre-press facilities was handled by Argraf itself with its own Polygraph machine. At the end of the 1990s, a single-colour Dominant 715 and a two-colour Polly 266 were purchased (both for format A2), though the latter was shortly afterwards exchanged for a four-colour Polly 466. In the years which followed, the investment emphasis was shifted to the pre- and post-press departments. On the pre-press side, for example, a Presstek Dimension Excel 425 CtP system was installed to enable the chemistry-free processing of Anthem Pro plates. Andrzej Malejko: „We are exposing an average of 1,200 A2 and B2 plates every month.“ And the post-press department is today able to boast a folding machine, an adhesive binding and stitcher line, and a cutter. As it is possesses its own graphic studio, the company is in fact practically autonomous.
Books and magazines as core business
Andrzej Malejko: „We have been involved in the printing of books and other publications on historical and educational topics from the very beginning.“ At first, most of the work was quite simple. But after the purchase of the Polly 266, more discerning clients were attracted, with orders for high-quality albums, e.g. for the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Warsaw Historical Museum, the Museum of Independence and the Vilanóv Palace. The historical books and exclusive albums are generally limited editions of less than 1,000 copies, but with high page counts. Another service offered is the finishing, lamination and coating of products in a screen-printing process, which is entrusted to a nearby bookbinder. Argraf has participated successfully in various tenders on the magazine market, for example for 8,000 copies of the monthly „Spotkania z Zabytkami“, for the Polish-Jewish monthly „Midrasz“ (2,500 copies) and for magazines published by the energy supplier Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne. The Warsaw Centre of Modern Art and the Fibak Gallery also turn to Argraf for the printing of their albums. Approx. 14,000 books and albums leave the printshop every month, of which around 30% each are with hard or soft covers or stitched bindings. Advertising flyers, calendars, brochures, business stationery and general commercial work round off the product range.
The growing share of high-quality books forced Tomasz Dukielski to further expand his production capacity. At the same time, he decided to move up to a B2-format press. Andrzej Malejko: „We print a great deal of books in B5 format, and it was no longer economical to print B3 on A2-format presses, because twice as many plates are required and the overall process was much more complex. We also very quickly discarded the idea of buying second-hand equipment, and instead decided to buy a new press. After comparing the products offered by the German manufacturers on the market, Tomasz Dukielski chose the KBA Performa 74, because it promised the most convincing technical features (automatically convertible perfecting, diagonal register, CIP4 system) and value for money.“ Other no less important aspects were the compact dimensions of the Performa 74 press, the proximity of the manufacturer and the fast service this permits should need arise. „We have witnessed some very positive developments in Dobruška since Grafitec became a member of the KBA group. Significant investments have been realised in the factory, and the precision of the work is now fantastic,“ says Andrzej Malejko. „Our Performa 74 has been running for almost a year without any quality problems whatsoever.“ The Performa was installed and commissioned in only seven days just before Christmas 2006. The first jobs were already handled by the press after four days. A single day of training was sufficient for the printers at Argraf to master the basic operation. „The press is very simple and intuitive to use, and thus presents no difficulties for a good printer,“ says Andrzej Malejko. As a four-colour press with inline perfector, the Performa can handle both 4/0 and 2/2 production. Semi-automatic plate changing completed in less than 60 seconds per printing unit creates a sound basis for high productivity, alongside remote adjustment of all register functions (including diagonal register), infrared dryers in the delivery, automatic ink roller and blanket washing, CIP4-enabled presetting and remote control of the inking units, and a maximum printing speed of up to 13,000 sheets per hour.
Andrzej Malejko: „Also looking back, we can say that the decision to buy the Performa 74 was absolutely right. Print customers today expect high quality and fast turnarounds at a fair price. With this press, we are set up to offer just that. All the promises which KBA made have been kept. We are using the new press practically non-stop in two-shift operation.“
Quelle (lifePR)