Back in 1932, David Levkoff moved from his dress store business into the boxmaking world by creating a cardboard handle for boxes that several of his dress customers requested. From there, Levkoff created a patented triple-tie tray for tomatoes and named the company Standard Folding Trays.

Known today as The Standard Group, the converter is able to keep up with its customers' demands—and its competitors—by producing quality folding cartons in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Dedicated long-term employees need machinery to make that happen, which is why The Standard Group began purchasing new Mitsubishi seven-color sheetfed presses back in 1996.

By the time plastic suppliers came out with a more preferred tomato tray, allowing customers to see all four sides of the tomato, Standard Folding Trays had started moving into different folding-carton markets, such as for toys and other food products. Within that time period, the company changed its name to Standard Folding Cartons to better reflect its diversity.

In late 1982 Standard Folding Cartons acquired a Louisville, Ky., converting plant from Potlatch, now known as Southern Standard Cartons. Today the Jackson Heights, N.Y., and Louisville plants are known as The Standard Group. With this fourth-generation, privately held converter, now run by Levkoff's grandson, Steven, comes committed employees in it for the long haul.

Vice president of manufacturing Al Falco has been with the company for over 40 years. "The history of the company is that there are a lot of long-term employees here. We don't have a fast turnover," says Ray Falco, Al's son and operations manager at the New York facility. "We have multiple generations in management, as well as in manufacturing and sales," says vice president Louis Cortes, the son-in-law of Steven Levkoff.

With better press technology always being developed, The Standard Group felt it was time to move ahead. It wasn't that its current presses weren't running up to par, but the old presses had been around for as long as a few of the employees—more than 25 years.

After attending Drupa and seeing the newest technology in sheetfed presses, Mitsubishi caught the eye of Standard's managers. "Compared to our older presses, the make-ready on the Mitsubishi was cut almost in half and the running speed was doubled," says Al Falco.

The first Mitsubishi seven-color, 51-in. Model 6FC was installed in the Louisville plant in 1996. Within two years, a Mitsubishi 56-in. Model 6FC was purchased for the Jackson Heights plant.

In 2001, two other Mitsubishis were installed—a used 51-in. for Louisville and a new 56-in. for Jackson Heights.

"We have not looked at, and will not look at, another sheetfed press," says Levkoff, Standard Group president. "We're extremely happy with the Mitsubishis in terms of color fidelity, production output and durability. We've found Mitsubishi presses to be very reliable and have been impressed with the manufacturer's commitment to developing new technologies."

The format of the Mitsubishi is better suited to customer needs, and the newest press (added to Jackson Heights last year) employs the next generation of technological advances, states Levkoff. "It's faster than our first 56-in. press and handles a wider range of substrates, which opens up greater opportunities to serve our customers," he says.

With high-gloss coatings in demand from more and more customers, a tower coater and curing system capable of accommodating both aqueous and UV coatings was added to the press. "In the folding-carton business, the need for coating is critical. We use in-line coaters on all of our presses, but previously only the Louisville facility had UV coating capabilities," says Levkoff.

There are unique anilox-coating systems from Harris and Bruno that Mitsubishi specified for each press. Cylinder extensions to dry the sheets before they are printed, and prior to tower coating, were an added feature.

Each press also contains a semi-automatic or automatic plate changer. The computer press-control system, known as Color Link, and the ability to split fountains are other capabilities.

Because The Standard Group is in the folding-carton business, its sheetfed presses are only part of its complete operation. The entire manufacture of folding cartons can be done in either location. "We manage the entire converting process, except for trees," says Cortes.

Windowing and embossing capabilities are also offered. "We can even take it into the front end for graphics and imaging," says Brian Gorman, vice president of sales administration in New York.

The Graphics & Imaging division operates on a Macintosh platform. "We do the front-end work for our Louisville plant. As far as the RIPping, trapping and imposition for jobs they do computer-to-plate," says Gorman. The Louisville plant operates by computer-to-plate (CTP), while the Jackson Heights facility is currently searching for the latest CTP technology to install soon.

An Agfa filmsetter lets Standard Group produce its own film while Agfa's Press Match system produces proofs from the film. A SICPA scanner is also available to accommodate any changes customers may require. Three Bobst blanking machines and four Bobst cutters diecut the folding cartons down to size. To complete the process, there are rows of folder/gluers to finish the job.

"Our philosophy is to reinvest in our business so we may stay competitive and continue to serve our customers. We must stay in step with technology," says Gorman.

"The Standard Group has come a long way since 1932," says Al Falco, "when we used to run two-color letterpresses." With an emphasis on quality and productivity, The Standard Group can now compete and meet its customers' every need with four seven-color presses. "That configuration provides the right number of stations and the flexibility to accommodate the high volume of private-label work we manufacture," says Levkoff.

More information from:

Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses, 847/634-9100, fax: 847/634-9109. Enter 286.

Harris & Bruno Machine Co., 916/781-7676, fax: 916/781-3645. Enter 287.

Misomex, 770/422-9496, fax: 770/422-4624. Enter 288.

Bobst Group, Inc., 888/226-8800, fax: 973/226-8625, www.bobstgroup.com Enter 289.

Young Wah, 800/553-7777. Enter 290.

Data Technology, Inc., 978/694-0055. Enter 291.

Agfa Corp., 800/227-2780, fax: 201/440-8187, www.agfa.com Enter 292.

SICPA, 804/550-1150, fax: 804/550-1661. Enter 293