KBA Road Show Gathers Traction in China
For a number of years now, the Chinese print industry has looked forward to the KBA road show, in which KBA head of marketing Jürgen Veil and other guest speakers tour the country each October. This year’s nine-day tour under the banner “KBA: Pioneer of Green Innovation” stopped off in Beijing, Yinchuan, Jinan, Xiamen and Dongguan. Three of those cities were on the itinerary for the first time, offering potential customers from the Northwest and other less frequently spotlighted regions of China an opportunity to gather information on the latest state of sheetfed offset printing technologies.
Ecological print production is also being shifted into the focus of attention in China, as ever greater importance is attached to environmental protection. Reflecting the diversity of regional interests, the topics of brand protection, UV printing on plastics and large-format sheetfed offset were further items on the agendas of the individual events. Exhibitions of high-quality print samples and practical demonstrations on Rapida presses completed the program at each road show location. At the end of the day, every conference participant received a book of coating samples with useful instructions on inline finishing and product refinement.
Bringing print to the provinces
With its regular road shows, KBA targets every region of the country. The print industry in the Northwest of China, for example, is in many ways dependent on such offerings for its further development. KBA was the first press manufacturer to offer technology seminars in the region, contributing to expansion of the of the local printing scene and helping its knowledge-hungry printers to learn more about the “wide world of print.”
This commitment is already bearing fruits. In medium-format, KBA has been the only manufacturer to supply latest-generation presses to users in the Ningxia Autonomous Region over the past three years. One of the fastest growing provinces, with a high level of demand for print products, is Shandong. The coastal city of Xiamen in the south of Fujian Province was one of the cities hosting the road show for the first time. The high attendance far exceeded the expectations of the organizers at KBA China, despite the fact that the event took place on a weekend.
Top sales market
For KBA, 2010 was its best-ever year for sheetfed offset in China. The country has even climbed to the top of sales markets for the first time, ahead of Germany, the USA and other big European markets. In the large-format sector, there are more than 30 presses on the order books, and the corresponding figure in medium format is higher still. One interesting aspect among the orders for new presses from China is the increasing trend towards longer presses in individual configurations.