Bobst Rescues Customer from Effects of Hurricane Sandy

ROSELAND, NJ—November 9, 2012—On the eve of Hurricane Sandy on Monday, October 29th, it was “business as usual” for Dynamic Die Cutting & Finishing, located in Newark, NJ. Second generation owner-operators and brothers, George and John Esteva were in the middle of a highly time-sensitive diecutting job for a major customer when they lost power at 8 pm, having only completed 75,000 sheets of their 125,000 job order.

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy left extreme devastation and many without power in the Northeast. After two days without power and a job promised to a customer on Saturday, November 3rd, George and John were anxious to find a way to complete this job for their customer. If they couldn’t, their customer would be out $28,000 in printed material. It was on Wednesday, November 1st that George decided to contact the Bobst office in Roseland, NJ, to see what assistance could be provided.

“Without power, we were desperate for help. I had no idea what to expect when I called Bobst and I did not know if Bobst had power," relays George Esteva. "I first spoke with Brenda Hawkins and she arranged for me to speak with Jorge Perez. After explaining our situation to Jorge, within one hour, Bobst confirmed we could use their Novacut 106 to finish running our job, which needed to be diecut, stripped and inserted into cartons. We trucked our job to the Bobst Roseland Demonstration and Training Center on Thursday and began working at 7 am on Friday morning.”

The Bobst Novacut 106 ran the job at an average of 6,000 sheets per hour. "Bobst really came through for us. We could not have done this job without their support," said George Esteva. "They provide remarkable service and support and we are thankful for this. I’m breathing a little easier knowing that I can get my customer’s job out. When we finish here, we are going back to our business, which still has no power and the job will be sorted, packed, then delivered to our customer by their requested deadline of Saturday, November 3rd.”

Technical assistance for the job was provided by Jorge Perez, technical specialist, electrical; and Angel Rios, technical specialist, mechanical.

John Esteva shared the story of Dynamic Die Cutting, stating that theirs is a small, family-owned business, founded by their father Emilio in 1958. "We are a close-knit operation, with five employees and we still operate in the same location, the Ironbound Section of Newark, NJ. Our Dad purchased our first Bobst diecutter, a Bobst SP 1080 in 1968, and we now have a Bobst SP 102 CE, purchased from Bobst in 1988, plus a Bobst Fuego 110 folder-gluer.” George and John took over the operations 10 years ago from their father Emilio. Although their father passed away in 2007, he left a legacy of loyal customers.

“Our mantra is ‘POS,’ which stands for ‘Positively Outrageous Service,’" says George Esteva. "We work seven days a week when needed. Printers have the option to go to any finisher they want and there are at least 10 diecutters within a 25 mile radius from our business. However, our customers, which are mostly printers, come to us because we provide quality and service. We are working owners. When customers call us, they speak with us directly about their jobs. We don’t compete with the bigger finishers, which deal more in volume. We offer quality and service, and take good care of our customers.”

“Our printers tell us that ‘we are the best kept secret in finishing,’" he continues. "We attribute our success over these many years to the reliability and performance of our Bobst equipment, which keeps our customers happy and keeps us in business. Since 1968, with the purchase of our first Bobst, a SP 1080 E, Bobst service and reliability has stood the test of time and we continue to applaud Bobst for their superb service and personalized technical support. Year in and year out, Bobst has always been there for us, in a heartbeat, to service our equipment. We have had other brands of finishing equipment in our facility and they just did not have the durability, finishing capability, and technology as Bobst equipment. No one delivers service and technology like Bobst.”

George Esteva later confirmed that the job was successfully completed and picked up on time on Saturday, November 3rd. At 8:45 pm Saturday, they were grateful to report that power had been restored!

About Bobst
Bobst is the world’s leading supplier of machinery and services to packaging manufacturers in the folding carton, corrugated board and flexible material industries.

Founded in 1890 by Joseph Bobst in Lausanne, Switzerland, Bobst has a presence in more than 50 countries, runs 11 production facilities in eight countries and employs over 5,000 people around the world. The firm recorded a consolidated turnover of CHF 1,270 million for the year ended December 31st, 2011.

Source: Bobst.