Embracing a wider market

40 in. press opens new markets as part of a $4.5 million equipment expansion.

By Senior Editor Laura Butalla -- Converting Magazine, 4/1/2004

Although commercial and packaging printer Graphic Printing Services, Inc., Greensboro, NC, was growing in its standard print job size of 28 in. or smaller, they didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to work with prospects and customers on larger projects geared for a 40 in. press. They began to search for a 40 in. press, and ordered one in September 2002. It was installed by December 2002.

"We spent three months researching, evaluating and testing 40 in. presses from multiple manufacturers," says president/CEO Bryan T. Hall. "In the end, Komori was absolutely the best choice for Graphic Printing Services, Inc."

"The new 40 in. Lithrone S40 [6-color plus aqueous coater], which Komori introduced to the market during our evaluation process, clearly was a press with features that were not available yet from the other manufacturers," states Hall.

A two-man show

Graphic Printing Services was founded in 1985 as Carolina Duplicating with a two-man operation covering one long shift. In 1988 the company was renamed to better reflect the company's reputation for its quality printing services. In 1991, the company grew from three employees to 25. They also relocated to their current location in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina with a total square-footage of 10,000, where a new state-of-the-art flexo division was added.

In 2002 a $4.5 million expansion not only included the Komori LS40, but also resulted in a Creo computer-to-plate output device, Nexus prepress workflow system by Artwork Systems, a 40 in. automated MBO folder, and a 40 in. Bobst autoplaten die cutter featuring an automated stripping and blanking system.

Today, Graphic Printing Services runs two shifts between the 80 employees in an 80,000 sq. ft. facility. Besides the Lithrone S40 6-color Komori press, they house a 28 in. Komori Lithrone 6-color press plus aqueous coater. Also included in their offset department are two Shinohara presses—a 26 in. 66V 5-color press and a 26 in. 66 2-color press. The last offset in the bunch is the Hamada H234 2-color press.

As for the flexo presses found on the Graphic Printing Services floor, you'll find three Webtron 1000 presses—5-, 7-, and 9-color units.

All the company's finishing equipment for its folding carton work is nothing but Bobst—the Bobst SP104-ER 40 in. autoplaten diecutter and blanker, the Bobst SP76-E 30 in. autoplaten die cutter and the Bobst Media 100 III folder-gluer.

Onion skin to 40pt board

There were various features that sold Graphic Printing Services on the LS40 press. The automated makeready system for almost all press settings including automatic high speed plate changers, which are capable of changing all six plates in three minutes, and auto ink key presets. The Skeleton Type Transfer Cylinder is equipped with venturi air pans that provide virtually markless printing regardless of stock type.

At the console by the operator, this press has an on-the-run oscillation timing adjustment. There is also a single adjustment setting for grippers on each impression cylinder to go from onion skin to 40pt board. Other features include improved automation for ink roller settings, double diameter cylinder configuration, and a full closed-loop color scanning spectro densitometer system including CIP4.

As for registration control, Hall says, "this is one of my favorite things about this press. With our CTP and the automatic plate changers, registration is achieved on the first pull."

"We also can achieve color that matches our proofs on the first or second pull," states Hall.

The speed capabilities are a maximum of 16,000 sph. "We have been able to average speeds between 75 to 80 percent of the maximum depending on the stock type," he says.

Beyond their expectations

When all was said and done, Graphic Printing Services was more than pleased. "Our expectations for this new press were extremely high. The press has met or exceeded our expectations," states Hall.

The goals were to increase sheet size, increase automation, reduce makeready times, increase run speeds, and maintain high levels of quality.

"Komori was under an extremely tight deadline to get the press installed by the end of the year," says Hall. "They actually beat the target date."

Although Graphic Printing Services did experience startup issues with the spray powder unit as a result of being one of the first new model installations, Komori worked diligently to solve the issue. "In the end, they [Komori] had to change suppliers and the issue was completely solved," says Hall. "I was very pleased with Komori's commitment and success to solving the startup issues that we experienced."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

KOMORI AMERICA CORP., 847/806-9000 fax: 847/806-0987, www.komori.com

SHINOHARA USA, 847/439-0975, fax: 847/439-1021, www.shinohara.com

HAMADA OF AMERICA, 714/990-1999, fax: 714/990-1930, www.hamadaofamerica.com

PAPER CONVERTING MACHINE CO., 920/494-5601, fax: 920/494-8865, www.pcmc.com

BOBST GROUP USA, INC., 888/226-8800, fax: 973/226-8625, www.bobstgroup.com

CREO, INC., 800/685-9462, fax: 604/437-9891, www.creo.com

ARTWORK SYSTEMS, 215/826-4500, fax: 215/826-4510, www.artwork-systems.com

Established relationship makes a difference

By Senior Editor Laura Butalla

Heidelberg recently bought Jagenberg's die cutter/embosser machine technology and renamed the brand to Dymatrix 105 CS under the Heidelberg name. Upon doing so, Texas printer, Buchanan was the first to purchase the renamed machinery in October 2003 and install it in January.

This telecommunications, financial, cosmetic and pharmaceutical printer was in need of a new die cutter, and as an added benefit, embosser. Their current Heidelberg die cutter was an older model. Not only could it not run as fast as the new model, but the size of the paperboard sheet being fed through it was limited too.

Being a Heidelberg shop, it was easy for Buchanan to decide on a supplier when it came to a new die cutter. "We are a complete Heidelberg shop, and I feel it's very important to have a very strong relationship with the equipment suppliers," says CEO Dave Johnson of Buchanan.

Not only does Johnson believe in building a good relationship with the supplier when purchasing new equipment, he firmly believes that the relationship after the sale is the most important part. You want to make sure the service to back you up when you need it is available, which results in minimal down-time and fast recovery, states Johnson.

Buchanan can now run twice the amount from a size and speed standpoint. The old die cutter was strictly a die cutter. For embossing jobs, they had to remove the job from the die cutter and place it on their Kluge machine to emboss it. Now, they continuously run the multi-job on the same machine.

There are no fancy bells and whistles to the Dymatrix. That wasn't important to Buchanan. "There's a lot more than what you pay for the equipment that dictates your success with it [the machine]. It's how strong is the support team behind you in terms of bailing you out when you need the help," reaffirms Johnson.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: HEIDELBERG USA, 888/472-9655, fax: 770/794-6272, www.heidelberg.com

BRANDTJEN & KLUGE, 715/483-3265, fax: 715/483-1640, www.kluge.biz