Offset press manufacturer KBA has hinted that it could expand into the digital market as it announced that it had sold 30 sheetfed presses so far at Ipex.

　　The company racked up its 30th Ipex sale by Sunday, with the pick of the bunch coming earlier in the week when Turkish printer Egesan bought the Rapida 105 five-colour plus coater straight off KBA's stand (6/D560).

　　Christian Knapp, KBA UK managing director, said: "Most of the equipment that is sold off manufacturer's stands at Ipex is agreed in advance, but this literally was a walk-up sale - we didn't even know that this customer would be coming."

　　According to KBA, the Rapida 105 is proving very popular in developing and threshold markets, while its flagship Rapida 106 with flying plate change technology has been gaining interest from developed markets.

　　KBA vice-president Klaus Schmidt described Ipex 2010 as a "breakthrough" show for digital, but said that the future would continue to lie in the "coalition of offset and digital technology".

　　"Our [traditional offset] market will shrink, but not as much as some people are suggesting, and digital will not explode as much either," he said.

　　Schmidt added that the company was looking at partnering with an inkjet company to launch a digital press, but stressed that this would not be a "me too product" in the already oversubscribed commercial or transactional market.

　　"We want to find solutions others don't offer," he said. "The best possibility is that we will do something allied to our core competencies, which could include packaging technology, for one, as we have a lot of know-how in this area."

[时间：2010-05-25]