‘The Refrigerator’ Helps Promote Edison Litho’s Very-Large-Format Press

William “The Refrigerator” Perry, a retired Chicago Bears football player known for his considerable size (6-foot-2 and 370 pounds), was enlisted to help promote the new very- large-format capabilities of North Bergen, NJ-based Edison Litho & Printing at the annual GlobalShop Show (held in Las Vegas in March). Perry appeared at Edison’s booth to sign autographs and have his picture taken with show-goers.

“We wanted to stand out at the show, and what better way to promote our large-format capability, but to have a celebrity football player at our booth,” says Joe Ostreicher, Edison Litho’s vice president. “We chose William ‘The Refrigerator’ Perry because he personifies everything about Edison Litho: perfection, a winner who will go the extra mile, and a high-quality player with a superb large-format size.”

Perry’s two hours at the Edison Litho booth drew hundreds of attendees anxious to meet and be photographed with the former football great, who carried the touchdown taking the Chicago Bears to victory in Super Bowl XX. Perry signed posters of himself printed on the printer’s large-format KBA Rapida presses.

Edison Litho & Printing, one of the country’s leading large-format litho printers, had so much success with its first very-large-format KBA press—an 81˝ Rapida 205, purchased in 2005—that, less than two years later, it installed a 64˝ Rapida 162 with aqueous coater.

George Gross, president of Edison Litho & Printing, reveals that, shortly after the installation of the Rapida 205, it was running 24/7 producing point-of-purchase, packaging, poster, retail signage, and other large-format jobs for both existing and new customers.

The new 64˝ Rapida 162, while still a large-format model, provides a different set of features from the Rapida 205, which Ostreicher believes gives his company further production flexibility.

Edison Litho & Printing operates more than a dozen large sheetfed presses, including two 54x77˝ and six 43x60˝ seven-color presses with in-line UV and aqueous coaters. The 81˝ Rapida 205 press is Edison’s 13th sheetfed press; the 64˝ Rapida 162 is press No. 14.