Carlson Print Group Makes Advancements in Premium Packaging Market with Koenig & Bauer

During the past year, consumer brand packaging designers have worked harder than ever to design packaging that is immediately recognizable, impossible to ignore, and engages with their customers. These designers have tapped into the expert knowledge and productivity at the Carlson Print Group, a pioneer of specialty print products, packaging solutions, and finishing technologies headquartered at its 74,000-sqft facility in Eden Prairie, south of Minneapolis. It is utilizing its new Koenig & Bauer (Booth N2443) Rapida 105 PRO press as its centerpiece work-horse machine, providing its exceptional customers with the definitive advantage of high quality, color consistency, embellishments, speed, and quick changeovers. 

“For decades, we’ve cemented our reputation as an elite printer for the most recognizable brands,” says Darren Carlson, CEO, Carlson Print Group. “Now we are taking that experience and moving quickly into the premium packaging market. Equipped with our new Rapida 105 PRO, we’re partnering with the finest brands around the world that have the highest expectations. The press, which is exceeding our requirements and displaying its many unique capabilities, is being specifically used for its efficiency and productivity, allowing our customers to get their high-end packaging jobs completed quickly to market.”

Internally, Carlson is quite pleased with its press data that quantifies the benefits its customers have received. “We’ve gained 35% more capacity with our Rapida 105 PRO,” says Earl Guinter, Carlson’s sales manager, “and 30% productivity gains. We’re also seeing a minimum 25% reduction in makeready time as compared to our prior press.”

The Rapida 105 PRO press is playing a key role in producing these attention-grabbing and inventive packages. Carlson Print Group is a trusted advisor to these well-known brands, ensuring that their package printing is delivered quickly to market with more customized messaging, and solving their unique packaging challenges with expert solutions. “We’re finding that the Rapida 105 PRO is opening doors to even more high-end packaging opportunities and expanding our high value print products for all of our customers’ brand marketing,” says Guinter.

To market its growing services, Carlson designed a Specialty Print Kit to inspire package designers and highlight its numerous capabilities. Its outer box displays Carlson’s Color Foil treatment with matte varnish and UV spot gloss coating. Inside are six tools: foil board, MotionCoat, recycled plastic-PE, Cast & Cure, soft touch, and color foil. Each one displays the amazing capabilities offered by Carlson and its Rapida press. 

Carlson is using its “game-changing” Rapida press to produce true color and brand consistency for its customers. It has the capability to create and print on a variety of high-end, food-safe boxes, using eight specialty print techniques. These include holographic effects and lenticular graphics, which give an impression of depth and movement, or metallic foils, which add a knockout element to every color on an image. Coatings and varnishes have a universal appeal in print and packaging. Coatings create a tactile experience, and some can convey specific sensations. 

Carlson purposely equipped the press with a trio of superior color control systems — ErgoTronic Color Control, ErgoTronic LAB, QualiTronic Color Control — to ensure superior color consistency from the beginning of their production run to the end. These systems also give Carlson the ability to measure print quality and execute automatic color correction with QualiTronic ColorControl in-line measuring equipment. This new holistic color control is ideal for ensuring perfect customer press checks.

“Our new Rapida 105 PRO press is playing a key role as we move deeper into the packaging market,” says Carlson. “We’re excited to see what designers and brands will bring us to produce their bold, unique printed packages.”