Edison Litho Expands Large-Format Capabilities with Second KBA Rapida 205

WILLISTON, Vt.—KBA North America announced that Edison Litho & Printing, one of the largest large-format litho printers in the Northeast, has purchased its second KBA Rapida 205 81-inch—a six-color sheetfed press with coater and custom plastics package—making it the only printer in North America to operate two of the largest presses in the world in the same facility. In addition, Edison is also operating a KBA Rapida 162 64-inch six-color sheetfed press with aqueous coater, which was installed in January 2007. The newest KBA Rapida 205 81-inch press will be delivered to Edison’s facility in spring 2008.

“Our sales growth has been nothing short of phenomenal,” says George Gross, Edison’s president, “and we couldn’t have done it without our KBA presses. In the two years since word has got out that Edison has the KBA 81˝ and 64˝ presses the demand for large format printing has increased tremendously. We were not able to keep up with the demand. As a result we came to the decision that we needed another press.”

The new KBA Rapida 205 being installed at Edison Litho will be equipped with a special plastics option that allows the press to print on plastics and styrene substrates. “The Rapida 205 enhances the speed and quality of this specialized type of printing,” says Gross. “Having the additional capability of printing on substrates like plastic, vinyl, and styrene really rounds out our ability to service our customers with their entire large format printing needs. We’ve found that there are very few printers who have this ability, thus differentiating us from our competition.”

Setting Edison apart from its competition

“Having two of the largest presses in the world under our roof propels our reputation above all of our competitors,” says Joe Ostreicher, Edison’s vice president. “Our quality, turnaround, and service already differentiate us from our competitors but having this third press will give us the ability to service the entire large-format market.”

Since the installation of the first Rapida 205 81-inch sheetfed press, Edison has had the press on a 24-hour shift producing commercial printing, point-of-purchase, packaging, poster, retail signage, and other high quality jobs for both existing and new customers. This press has helped Edison grow its business.

More productivity, fast ROI

Edison Litho & Printing Corp. was attracted to the Rapida 205 for a number of reasons. First, the super large-format press allows the firm to produce extra-large-format jobs with high print quality and low makeready times in a highly-automated 81-inch press format. Second, since the press is equal to running four 40-inch presses, the Rapida 205 can print one sheet in the same amount of time with less manpower and greater productivity thus providing a fast ROI. Third, its high degree of automation brings increased efficiencies in overall makeready time allowing Edison Litho to produce more jobs faster with higher throughput.

The KBA Rapida 205 81-inch six-color press features a maximum sheet size of 59.5 x 81-inches running at a speed of 9,000 sph. It gives Edison the ability to run paper and board stock ranging from 80 lb. to 48 pt. Plus, it offers a wide range of features such as a fully-automatic plate changer, automatic blanket and impression cylinder washing systems, inline anilox coating system and drying options such as IR, UV, or hybrid. New technology and automation also includes KBA’s Densitronic quality control system, and inline perforating and slitting to the press. An automatic camera register control system provides an extremely efficient system for fast color registration on a press of this size.

Founded in 1958 in New York City, Edison Litho & Printing Corporation has grown to become a leading large format printer specializing in point-of-purchase displays and retail signage. The firm has an extensive client list of leading corporations and retailers who require point-of-purchase displays, in-store signage, brand marketing products, and custom, permanent retail displays and fixtures.

In 1989, Edison Litho moved its headquarters to a new state-of-the-art 40,000 sq ft facility in North Bergen, NJ. The firm operates large sheetfed presses, including 54 x 79-inch and 40-inch six-color presses plus inline UV and aqueous coaters. The KBA Rapida 205 81-inch press and KBA Rapida 162 64-inch six-color press are Edison’s latest additions. Edison Litho expanded its New Jersey plant in 2005 to a total of 80,000 sq. ft. and installed a new web press.