Vagner Graphic boosts production capacities with a Rapida 105 LED-UV
Successful thanks to UV printing
In summer 2019, a four-colour Rapida 105 with LED-UV capabilities started production at Vagner Graphic, a long-standing Koenig & Bauer user and member of the European printers network Impriclub, in Nancy in eastern France. The new press is replacing a small-format press and is now teaming up with a further Rapida 105 already in operation at the company. It not only allows for the printing of a broad spectrum of commercial products with added value for the customer, but also gives a significant boost to its production capacities.
UV specialist
Vagner Graphic was established in the heart of the Lorraine region in 1843 and is one of the oldest printing companies in France. What began as a small local printshop gradually evolved into a widley respected offset and book printing operation. With up to 80 people on the payroll at times, it was also one of the area’s major employers. After the company faced financial difficulties, it was acquired by the current owner and managing director Dominique Houot in 2001. From the very beginning, Houot adopted a strategy of ambitious investment in order to put the company back on course for further success. Just three years later, Vagner moved to the purpose-built premises in Fléville-devant-Nancy, where it is still located today. Concurrent renewal of the machinery base also heralded the arrival of the first two Koenig & Bauer printing presses at Vagner. When the Genius was commissioned in 2011, the company increasingly began to specialise in printing high-quality commercial work using UV technologies. Polypropylene, PVC, vinyl and lenticular printing became the company showpieces. Alongside classic, four-colour commercial products with and without coating, Vagner today primarily produces shelf stoppers, polyart covers and lenticular products with 3D effects. In 2019, it counted some 20 employees and generated revenues amounting to €2.7m ($2.93m).
Managing director Dominique Houot (left) together with his printers Jeremy (centre) and Ahmet in front of the new Rapida 105
Capacity expansion and enhanced productivity
In 2019, management decided to replace its B2 press with a new Rapida 105 with four printing units and LED-UV capabilities. Dominique Houot: “Given the collapse of our smaller-format market, I saw no real alternative to a complete switch to medium formats. Only in this way could we expand our production capacities and improve productivity, both of which were urgently necessary. The decision to invest in a press with LED-UV technology was the logical next step to take to maintain our long-standing specialisation in UV printing.”
“The decision to invest in a press with LED-UV technology was the logical next step to take to maintain our long-standing specialisation in UV printing.”
Dominique Houot
Alongside production speeds up to 16,000sph, the Rapida 105 is distinguished by its substrate flexibility. Configured with automatic plate changing and the inline colour measuring and control system QualiTronic ColorControl 4K, which scans the print on every single sheet and then adjusts the inking accordingly after every ten sheets, the Rapida 105 is in a position to print a wide range of high-quality commercial products with added value. The LED-UV technology makes it easier then ever before to print on uncoated papers, design papers and substrates with plastic content, thereby adding new options to the product portfolio. Since there is practically no heat input into the pile when LED-UV is used, and because the sheets are already dry when they reach the delivery, powdering becomes superfluous, power consumption is reduced, less maintenance is required and job production times are shorter.
Sarah Herrenkind