Twelve years after signing up for a 16-page KBA C16 at DRUPA 2004, and after returning for its Compacta 217 successor in 2012, heatset printer B&K Offsetdruck has ordered another, just a few weeks before this year's show.

The Ottersweier, Germany, family enterprise is managed by Jörn Kalbhenn, the second generation of the founding family. Its focus is on innovative and tailor-made products rather than high-volume.

Satisfied with the then two previous presses, it was "logical step" to invest in another. Kalbhenn says B&K has maintained a healthy growth curve since its foundation almost 50 years ago, and now employs more than 200 staff who produce more than five million 16-page products every day.

The new KBA C16 has a maximum rated speed of 65,000iph and will be used to print upmarket magazines and journals, complete with their covers, to the highest quality standards. Five printing units will have plate changers and the press features a number of additional automation modules.

The new C16 will be embedded in the presses' existing KBA LogoTronic Professional system for production management and is expected to be fired up in summer 2017.

Pictured (from left): B&K financial manager Werner Stimmler, KBA sales manager Reiner Dluschek, Jörn Kalbhenn and technical manager Hans Geideck