KBA UK IS TO OFFER Perfecta guillotines in partnership with IFS, a move which follows similar distribution arrangements elsewhere in the world and recalls the East German Polygraph printing equipment marketing agency.
In pre 1989 days Geliot Hurner Ewen used to handle sales and distribution of Polygraph machinery, including Perfecta guillotines and Planeta presses made in what is now KBA’s sheetfed factory near Dresden. IFS picked up the agency for Perfecta guillotines in the last days of GHE when says IFS joint managing director Bryan Godwyn, B&B Press wanted to order the machines, but was concerned about GHE’s status after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
PERFECTA IS THE WORLD’S LONGEST established guillotine producer, and is now part of the Baumann group which also makes Wohlenberg finishing equipment. Perfecta and KBA have retained a close relationship. One of the biggest online print businesses, UnitedPrint, which is based in Dresden is a big customer or both manufacturers with highly automated guillotining. And while there is no direct equivalent in the UK, there are carton businesses buying KBA’s that are beyond the IFS customer base, which could be buying Perfecta guillotines.
“That’s where we hope the KBA name will open doors for us,” says Godwyn. “The two companies work together very well.”
THERE ARE ALSO SHARED PERSONNEL. Len Taylor, KBA sales manager for the south east, has worked with Godwyn and Tony Hards while KBA UK service director Dean Trewin has six years experience in working with finishing equipment and knows the quality of the Perfecta product says KBA UK managing director Andrew Pang.
“We want to be able to offer a press and guillotine package to those customers that want this type of deal,” Pang says. “It’s something that we are being asked about more and more. And because IFS are not working in the large format sector, we can work together very well.”
