Prestige Color Upgrades Offset Operation with RMGT 9 Series

RMGT 9 Series

LANCASTER, Pa. - January 15, 2019 - Prestige Color announced that it has installed a new RMGT 9 Series five-color offset press with coater and LED-UV curing. The 50-year old business has been owned and operated by Jim Miklos, President, for the past 10 years, doubling in size to a more than $8 million operation. Prestige Color caters to medium and large businesses, providing integrated solutions that provide total document management, digital printing capabilities and online access. The acquisition of the RMGT 9 Series offset press allowed Prestige Color to replace two of their older 40˝ offset presses.

An analysis of their previous offset operation revealed that makereadies were taking up as much as 65% of the charged press time, leading to slow downs and backups as they waited to get work into production. “We had to do something to improve that,” states Jim Miklos. “We addressed other equipment needs first, ahead of the press investment, but it was time for us to make the move.”

The press was installed in May 2018, and Miklos says it is performing well above expectations. The average makeready on his old presses, he noted, was around an hour and 45 minutes. Today, it is currently 15-20 minutes. Combined with press speeds of up to 12,000 sheets per hour, “we effectively doubled our press speed and cut makereadies more than half. It has led to a tremendous amount of capacity. We can do what used to take two shifts in one, giving us room to grow. And we can be much more competitive going after new work.”

Miklos notes a possible shift in the work that previously went to the digital print side of their operation. He says that one of the next steps for the business is re-evaluating the threshold of what gets produced on which technology. “With LED-UV curing, the rationale to produce print using offset has changed dramatically,” he noted. “Doing a full analysis of our digital workload will be the next big project. We could feasibly move more back to offset and save clicks.”

While run length is one of the factors for determining which press to use, Miklos noted that it also depends on what type of finishing is required, as well as how fast the customer needs it. “If a project needs to be done tomorrow, before it would go to the digital press,” he says. “Today I would say we can do it less expensively on the RMGT. I could buy two RMGT presses for what I pay in digital clicks per month, so there is definitely a lot of opportunity here.” He did note that not all work can be driven from digital to offset, but say if he can move even 25% of the work back to the RMGT press, he will see significant savings.

And the savings go beyond the click charges, as well. Because the RMGT press replaced two older presses, Miklos was able to move his flexo equipment from another facility into the space vacated by one of the presses, closing down a second location. He says that was $6,000 a month in savings alone. “All these moving parts have allowed us to save more than the cost to install the equipment,” he noted.

Another cost savings they have experienced has to do with the reduction of personnel. Previously, he noted, they had five operators running the presses, but today they just have one. “The RMGT now does the lion’s share of the work,” he says. “It was the best ‘bang for our buck’ in terms of value for the investment. And the emerging LED UV technology, in conjunction with the fast makereadies and press speeds, allowed us to jump in and be at the cutting edge of pressrooms around the country.”

“There is a lot of talk about what digital technologies can do, but the click charges can add up fast,” says Jim Lundy, sales manager with G. E. Richards, an authorized RMGT dealer in North America. “With RMGT’s LED UV technology, Prestige Color is proving that short run doesn’t have to mean high-cost digital equipment. There is still a market out there for short and medium length offset jobs, and innovative shops like this one are a great example of how to do it right. We are proud to be part of their journey, and we look forward to serving them for many more years to come.”

Source: RMGT

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of Printing Impressions.