Imagine! Print Solutions Selects KBA Rapida

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—KBA North America, a leading press manufacturer based in Williston, Vt., announced that Imagine! Print Solutions—a fast-growing printer serving seven national print segments—has installed a KBA Rapida 105 Universal 41-inch sheetfed press this summer. With the installation of the six-color perfector with UV capability in June 2007, Imagine!’s total number of KBA sheetfed presses now numbers six. The new press is equipped with full automation packages, including auto plate loaders, auto wash-up and a scanning spectrophotometer.

“Our philosophy is to maintain a high level of service and print quality for our customers,” said Bob Lothenbach, Imagine!’s founder and president. “That means having the capacity to print their jobs in an efficient and high-quality manner. Our five KBA presses already installed have been giving us this superb ability. We’ve been very impressed with the 18,000 sph speed of our Rapida 105 presses but we are also impressed by its ability to run everything from onionskin paper to board. The Rapida 105 holds color incredibly well and makereadies are phenomenal.”

In its new 400,000-square-foot facility, outside of Minneapolis in Shakopee, the firm is equipped with two seven-color 64-inch KBA Rapida 162 presses with coaters (installed in 2001), a giant six-color 81-inch KBA Rapida 205 press, installed in February 2005, equipped with UV capabilities, and a pair of KBA Rapida 105 41-inch sheetfed presses. The new KBA Rapida 105 sheetfed press installed in June 2007 is equipped with aqueous coating towers as well as the popular KBA Densitronic S closed-loop scanning densitometer system that provides both density and color measuring for quality control both during and after printing.

“The new press gives us increased internal efficiency,” said Lothenbach. “We already have this style of Rapida 105 sheetfed press. By adding another press of the same model, we’ll be able to save time by transferring plates between the presses and this will contribute to faster service for our customers. The addition of this new press is part of our ongoing commitment to provide our customers with the fastest turnaround times possible. We don’t like to say no, so we employ an investment strategy that ensures we never have to.” The company has invested over $55 million in capital expenditures since the year 2000.

Imagine! Print Solutions continues to grow and add new capabilities. In the December 2006 issue of Printing Impressions, a nationally respected industry publication, Imagine! was ranked #65 among printers in the United States and Canada in its annual “Top 400”. The firm expanded its product mix and invested in its equipment offering, adding digital printing in August ’06, and screen printing in January ’07. Overall, Imagine! has invested $38.6 million in new equipment purchases over the past 5 years. The anchor of the Imagine! pressroom is a large format, 81˝ KBA 6-color press, billed as the first of its kind in North America.

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Imagine! will celebrate its 19th year in business in 2007, and is a $110 million company serving seven national print segments: point-of-purchase, packaging, uv print, commercial, flexography, digital, and screen printing. Imagine! sets the pace in its core markets for service, capacity, flexibility and on-time deliveries. Imagine!’s capabilities and services include: temporary display design; folding carton design; electronic pre-press; 1-7 color sheetfed and UV printing; 1-10 color Flexography; complete finishing and carton converting; personalization and mailing; kitting and fulfillment and fully integrated eCommerce services—including on-line product ordering, inventory reporting and job tracking tools.