Sakurai Packs Open House, Marks 65th Anniversary

SCHAUMBURG, IL— August 31, 2010—Sakurai recently hosted a successful Open House & Vendor Tradefair in its Schaumburg, IL headquarters to celebrate its 65th year in business and 20th year as a U.S. Corporation. The Open House featured offset and screen press demonstrations, technology seminars, a barbecue and raffle prizes donated by Sakurai vendors and suppliers.

“We were extremely pleased with the turnout for our Open House which was heavily attended by both offset and screen press customers, prospects and guests plus vendors, suppliers and their staffs,” said Greg Friesser, General Manager, Sakurai USA. “The level of interest shown by most everyone in attendance was encouraging and we are already planning for similar event next year”.

Sakurai press crews conducted fast makeready demonstrations running posters of Chicago scenes on a 20” x 26” 466SDC four color offset press with coater using Mitsubishi Imaging plates.

“The Open House was a class act, and we had an enjoyable time,” said Bob Gajewski, co-owner, Trend Graphics, located in Huntley, IL, who operates two Sakurai offset presses. “Seeing the Sakurai service team in an informal setting reminded me how much I’m impressed with them and how they go that extra mile for their customers.”

Shown for the first time in the U.S. was the new 29½” x 43¼” Sakurai Maestro 102SD SD. This Servo Driven, optimal registration Cylinder Screen Press was equipped with a Natgraph UV curing unit which produced an impressive 10-color poster with a Las Vegas theme running MacDermid Autotype plastics using Sun Chemical UV inks.

“The Sakurai Screen press performed beyond expectations in terms of registration and speed on 5 mil. material”, said David Rose, National Sales Manager, Screen Press Systems. While producing our 10-color graphics, the Natgraph unit demonstrated its ability to cure high opaque inks while maintaining low stable temperatures on the plastic substrates”.

"This event has been just wonderful, it certainly demonstrated the continued viability of the screen printing process," said Alan Shaw, Commercial Director, Natgraph. "Printing a high speed, challenging ten color job, showed the productivity of a state of the art Sakurai/Natgraph cylinder line as well as the as the efficiency of our UV system by reducing energy consumption. We look forward to demonstrating this again at SGIA."

Sakurai will be running the same 10-color Las Vegas themed poster on the Maestro 102SD Servo Drive Screen Press and Natgraph curing unit system in booth 4225 at the upcoming SGIA Expo, October 13-15, 2010 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Sakurai offers a family of sheetfed offset and screen cylinder presses for every size and need. Fully automated Sakurai sheetfed offset presses are available in widths from 20" x 26” to 25" x 38” with coating and perfecting. Ultra high precision Sakurai cylinder screen presses are available in sizes from 20½” x 28½” to 48” x 63”. Sakurai presses are distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Sakurai USA, backed by an Experienced Dealer Network, customer support, service, parts and training.