KBA North America appoints technicians

KBA North America has appointed a number of new technicians as part of an initiative to grow its service organization.

Pictured (from left): Jonathan McKinstry (seated), Kim Williams, Stefan Schwarz and Alex Wekerle (seated)

In Los Angeles, Moritz Gress, an electrician, and Dominik Mueller, a mechanic, have joined the southern California team, with Josh Todd joining as a mechanic who will be based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Seasoned technician Sebastian Demming, who spent a year of training at KBA’s factory in Germany, has returned as lead mechanic to his base in Chicago. Demming will be visiting nationwide packaging and commercial customers with KBA Rapida presses in 40-81in widths.

In addition, KBA North America’s customer support team includes Kim Williams, Jonathan McKinstry, Stefan Schwartz and Alex Wekerle.

‘Our job is to partner with our customers and build a relationship with them,’ Demming said. ‘We’re there to ensure that their press is running to its full potential. Every day is a new opportunity and it’s very satisfying to provide our in-depth knowledge to tackle a problem.’

Winston Packaging, a fourth-generation family-owned printed paperboard packaging company located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, recently set a new world job production record on its KBA Rapida 106 41in 6-color press, reaching an average speed of 18,964sph, equaling a total of 127,625 sheets in less than seven hours.

Tim McKeon, vice-president of service and operations at KBA North America, said: ‘Our customer support program is on a mission to make each customer contact, both external and internal, a positive experience. It is a results-driven program providing the utmost support to boost system processing, maintenance, training, color management, and other important areas.

‘The entire team is tasked to resolve issues, find solutions and act with a sense of urgency for KBA customers. They are active listeners, knowledgeable about the printing industry, equipment and their area of expertise, and are proactive business partners.’

The appointments form part of a wide initiative at KBA North America to grow its service organization, including a new training program and a two-year apprentice program intended to continue to add more technicians and bring new talent into the industry.

McKeon concluded: ‘We’re not stopping here. We have several openings for sheet-fed and flexo service technicians in multiple locations throughout North America. This is only the beginning of our expansion phase to meet and exceed our customers’ needs.’

Pictured (from left): Jonathan McKinstry (seated), Kim Williams, Stefan Schwarz and Alex Wekerle (seated)