Production based on the first sheetfed offset press from the new Rapida 105 series in Russia was recently launched by the print company ‘Diana’, a specialist supplier of cartonboard and corrugated packaging for the food and non-food industries in the city of Ivanovo. The press concerned is a six-colour configuration with additional coater and extended delivery. It is the company’s second Rapida press and joins a half-format model installed on a previous occasion.
Left to right: Sven Strzelczyk (Koenig & Bauer), Oleg Gospodinov (Diana), Fjodor Smirnov, (Koenig & Bauer) and Maxim Kruglov, (Koenig & Bauer). The print minders can be seen in the background.
The Rapida 105 can handle a maximum sheet format of 740 × 1050mm and has been placed on a 555mm plinth to accommodate packaging printing. This allows it to process piles up to 1.6m in height. The extensive list of equipment feature includes CleanTronic washing systems, EasyClean ink ducts, lowerable non-stop rollers and VariDry IR/hot-air dryers in the swan neck and extended delivery. Inline colour measurement using QualiTronic ColorControl guarantees a high quality of the printed and coated sheets. In addition, a tag inserter distinguishes the good production from sheets identified as waste, for example when starting production of a job. The Rapida 105 receives press pre-setting instructions from the Diana pre-press department via CIPLink X.
Diana was founded in 2008 and has exhibited dynamic growth ever since. With Ivanovo being a hub for the textiles industry, packaging for this sector accounts for a large proportion of the product portfolio. Ikea and Askona, the largest mattress manufacturer in Russia, are also among the company’s big-name customers.
Many of the packaging designs handled by Diana are far more complex than a standard folding carton or litho-laminated corrugated box. Diana operates its own packaging design office and considers complex designs as one of its key strengths. Colour capabilities, interesting finishing options and the converting of microflute substrates also play a central role.
Diana is growing both in terms of its product quality and its production volume. As director Oleg Gospodinov sums it up, “Over the past two years, we have tripled the quantities of microflute, cartonboard and coated papers that we process. Our production and storage floor space has similarly increased threefold – and in this, the innovative Rapida technology has played a decisive role.”
