Imagine! Print Solutions Adds Seventh KBA Rapida 105 Press

DALLAS—July 9, 2013—KBA North America announces that Imagine! Print Solutions, North America's prominent independent commercial and packaging printing company headquartered in Minneapolis, has installed a new six-color, 41˝ KBA Rapida 105 press with UV. This is the seventh KBA press installed at Imagine! Print Solutions. The installation took place in January 2013.

"We are continually taking the pulse of our customers and asking them how we are doing," stated Bob Lothenbach, founder and president of Imagine! Print Solutions. "Our customers look to us to provide solutions and creative thinking to help sell their products. Ultimately that is what we do as a company. When we began to receive many new UV projects in packaging, we decided to invest in a new press."

According to Lothenbach, the company wanted to to add capacity for several customer requirements. "Our print buyer customers, like everyone else, are looking for higher quality and faster throughput. We can offer these things in combination—not one or the other—with the new KBA press."

Imagine! Print Solutions has been a long-time KBA partner with the purchase of the first six-color, 81˝ Rapida 205 press in North America. Since then, it has added several additional KBA presses to maintain the quality level and provide the company with the best possible performance from its litho department. "KBA has been our press partner for several years," added Lothenbach. "Their commitment to our market and sheet size requirements is what sets KBA apart from its competition."

Lothenbach believes that the new KBA press fits perfectly into the overall expectations of Imagine!’s print buying customers that require the firm to provide quality products with a high degree of complexity. “It is hard to point out one feature or benefit that sets us apart. It is the complete Imagine! experience,” he adds. The newly-installed six-color, 41˝ KBA Rapida 105 press at Imagine! Print Solutions joins six more KBA Rapida presses: a giant six-color, 81˝ Rapida 205, a four-color, 64˝ Rapida 162, a seven-color, 64˝ Rapida 162, two six-color, 41˝ Rapida 105 UV presses, and one five-color, 41˝ Rapida 105 press.

"We congratulate Imagine! Print Solutions on its latest KBA press investment and are appreciative of its strong partnership that we’ve forged together over so many years,” said Steve Korn, KBA director of national and key accounts. “We applaud Imagine's extraordinary growth and its customer-centric approach; it’s a part of its DNA. We are confident that their new KBA press will increase Imagine's capacity and help continue Imagine's quality production and on-time leadership position with its existing and future clients for many years to come."

The continual growing success at Imagine! Print Solutions can be attributed to its services, its equipment, and its personnel. Management continues to invest in new technology to provide its employees with the best possible working environment. In the last 12 months, the company has made several equipment upgrades and expanded operations significantly. These include new litho KBA printing presses, large format digital devices, 10-ft multicolor silkscreen equipment, digital roll label equipment, cutting equipment, wrapping and material handling equipment, enhancements to its store profiling, campaign management and storefront solutions. In addition the company expanded its facility by over 300,000 square feet to a total of 700,000 under one roof. This expansion to its kitting and warehouse area allows for better workflow and expanded storage facilities.

“Imagine! truly has a customer-first focus,” relayed Lothenbach. “We want to be the single source provider for our prospective customers, as well as our current ones. We take this concept farther than anyone else in providing these services in scale under one roof and controlling the process from start to finish. We envision staying current with our customers’ needs and providing them with products and expertise that will make them successful.”

Lothenbach’s own formula for success is certainly paying off. In 2012, the company spent over $10 million on equipment capitalization, not including its building expansion. Lothenbach expects to do the same in 2013. “We will continue to invest based on what we are hearing from our customers,” he said. “They will ultimately drive what the company looks like in the next time period. We have been very successful hiring qualified sales representatives and we will continue to recruit to grow the business exponentially. Our customers see our company’s success based on our growth in a relatively short time frame. What sets us apart from our competition is pretty much everything. We have the most equipment, the greatest number of service offerings and the best people.”

About Imagine! Print Solutions
Imagine! Print Solutions is headquartered in Minneapolis, and is North America's prominent independent large-format and commercial printing company. Imagine! has more than 850 employees and celebrated its 25th anniversary in April, 2013. Imagine! has grown to be a $191 million company serving seven national print segments: point-of-purchase, packaging, UV print, commercial, flexography, digital and screen print. Imagine! sets the pace in its core markets for service, capacity, flexibility and on-time delivery. The company's capabilities and services include: temporary and permanent display design; folding carton design; electronic prepress; one- to seven-color sheetfed and UV printing; one- to 10-color flexography; complete finishing and carton converting; kitting and fulfillment and fully integrated eCommerce services—including online product ordering, inventory reporting and job tracking tools.

About KBA North America
KBA North America is located in Dallas, and a member of the KBA Group. Established almost 200 years ago in Wuerzburg, Germany, Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) is the oldest and second largest press manufacturer worldwide. KBA's banner, 'People & Print', reflects its dual focus as a leading innovator for print entrepreneurs. The group's product range is the broadest in the industry; its portfolio includes commercial and newspaper web presses, sheetfed offset presses in all format classes, inkjet systems and presses, special presses for banknotes, securities, metal-decorating, smart cards and discs.

Source: KBA.