Rapida 76 Double Coater for August Faller in Poland

  • Installation in spring 2021
  • 20 per cent production increase targeted
  • Comprehensive finishing and measuring system option

A new Rapida 76 is scheduled to go into production at August Faller in Łódź, Poland, in the spring of next year. This high-end half-format press with seven printing units and twin coaters is expected to boost annual carton packaging production by around 20 per cent to over one billion units, while at the same time raising efficiency and print quality and accelerating customer service. The company is one of a total of seven locations belonging to Faller Packaging, a system supplier of healthcare and pharmaceuticals packaging with headquarters in the small town of Waldkirch in the south-west corner of Germany.

The printing facility in Łódź was founded in 2013 and – in the words of director Krzysztof Krupa – is an increasingly important division within the company group. “August Faller is a family business which began as a commercial printing workshop, later concentrated on the production of packaging and labels, and in the meantime specialises in products for the pharmaceuticals market,” says Krupa. “This has enabled the company to build up extensive production know-how in this particular market segment, and ensures that we are able to satisfy all regulatory requirements and customer expectations. Our standing within the group continues to grow. The best illustration of this is the investment in a new offset press. We expect to increase our production capacity to around 1 billion folding cartons per year, and then in further steps to as much as 1.4 billion.”

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Krzysztof Krupa, director of the August Faller facility in Łódź, Poland 

New press, increased production capacity

The Rapida 76 ordered by August Faller will be the first in a double-coater configuration on the Polish market. It is the first sheetfed offset press from Koenig & Bauer to be installed at the facility. Alongside equipment for UV production, it features numerous inline measuring and control systems (QualiTronic ColorControl, ErgoTronic ColorControl, QualiTronic QualityPass) as well as pile logistics systems allowing integration into the logistics line already in place in the print centre.

“We worked very closely with Koenig & Bauer to determine an ideal feature list. And these decisions were based on a series of expectations to be fulfilled by the new press,” Krzysztof Krupa explains. “We believe that we have chosen the best and fastest press in this format class. It will boost our productivity dramatically, and the quality of the pharmaceuticals packaging we produce will also be improved significantly. The seven printing units will enable us to work with a broader spectrum of colours, while the two coaters give us many more finishing options. That all adds up to a very future-proof solution. Another important point was the footprint of the press itself; even with its relatively large number of printing and finishing units, it is still a very compact press.”

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Demanding print tests on the Rapida 76 at Koenig & Bauer in Radebeul preceded the investment decision: (left to right): Print manager Mariusz Kantyka, printer Adam Śmietański, director Krzysztof Krupa and production manager Bartosz Ciesiołkiewicz (all August Faller/Łódź)