Something Special

One-time, from-the-ground-up press designs aren't package printers' only route to acquiring a unique'specialized' printing and converting system.

By Susan Friedman

It's a doozy of an order, a real profit-booster—hundreds of thousands of impressions and multiple reruns during the next few years, but nothing currently on the pressroom floor can print and convert it the way the customer has specified. Is this a signal to recruit a supplier to build a one-of-a-kind specialty press? Not always.

Chris Faust, marketing manager, Comco International, says specialty press purchases are indeed often motivated by the end-user's need to put a value-added, printed product on the shelf that draws attention and can't be duplicated by the competition.

Job descriptions for today's specialty presses are getting longer and longer. "There is no such thing as a typical job for a specialty press," says Mitch Dudek, director of sales, Propheteer International. "It may require marrying multiple webs, adhesive coating, applying fragrance or applying a booklet or product to the web."

Certain segments of package printing continue to harbor a higher frequency of specialty requests. At Kidder, for example, specialty projects are common for any package construction requiring multiple in-line processes, such as front- and back-side printing, coating or laminating, as well as processes unique to the customer, in various combinations, relates Cory Heiden, director of sales and service.

Nilpeter builds specialty presses most often for customers with large groups of similar labels, such as wine labels, coupons, or high-end health and beauty labels, reports President John Little, who adds that these presses typically can perform many processes on one platform.

Custom vs. specialty

The engineering capacity for one-time-design, specialty presses still resides at a number of manufacturers. Interestingly, however, suppliers appear to have formed a bigger fan club around building customized presses based on a proven, standard design.

"When you talk about specialization, you talk about risk," observes Little. "When you build something for the first time, you don't know if it's going to work. Lots of engineering and travel back and forth to the customer site is necessary."

It's also very expensive.

The extensive engineering time needed to manage these unique performance risks is the necessary evil that pushes specialty costs skyward. "These costs typically cannot be amortized in future machines, and have to be covered within the project," explains PCMC Marketing Strategist Tom Jacques.

A by-product of these costs and risks, Little relates, is that the line between customized and specialty presses is becoming ever-finer. Something slightly different is now done with every press built, and most project needs can be met with a "mild adaptation of an existing product."

At Comco, "we will try to steer customers away from a totally new design specialty press, and instead design a special press utilizing proven components to meet their needs," agrees Faust.

A similar approach to specialization can be found at Ko-Pack International, a press maker known for its highly specialized, highly engineered converting systems. Here, engineering efforts are concentrated in the development of a core group of specialized press designs and processes for particular market niches that can be uniquely combined, configured or added later to satisfy current or future applications.

The Ko-Pack UV rotary letterpress' central impression drum (CID) design, for example, has been specifically engineered to provide flexibility in narrow-web label printing jobs up to 15à. Ko-Pack's carton press achieves specialization by offering a laundry list of processes, including hot stamping, silicone-coating, hot-melting, numbering, wet and cold laminating, rotary and flatbed diecutting, sheeting, stacking, folding, bar coding and variable information positioning.

Specialization can also be viewed as a process, most often a steady progression of upgrades. Dudek says a good starting point is a modular press with an open web path—built-in flexibility features that will minimize custom engineering costs for specialized goals down the line.

Prep work

For those still in the market for a one-time design, the investment will include a careful search for the appropriate group of engineering minds.

Jeff Clifton, national sales manager for Allied Gear, St. Louis, suggests beginning with research of press suppliers from different market segments. "Once the field has been narrowed to a few suppliers, the final decision should be based on experience, engineering talent, manufacturing capability and willingness to accept the project," he advises.

Once the ideal creative team is located, be prepared to think and talk extensively with them. At Allied Gear, the specialty press development process typically begins with the review of a sample or a conceptual drawing of the product to be printed or converted, along with all the data that can be gathered on the product's construction, end-use and production volume. A converter-supplier brainstorming session may follow to flesh out feasibility from the standpoints of productivity and economics. Once feasibility is ascertained, the project progresses to the engineering department, where a conceptual drawing is developed and agreed upon, and a cost quotation is finalized.

Projecting returns

Overall, industry experts predict that the demand for specialty press projects will remain flat at best, and will most likely continue to diminish.

Heiden says 40 percent to 45 percent of Kidder's business has consisted of customized, multiple in-line process designs for the past several years, but he doesn't expect much additional growth from this segment. "Multiple in-line processes aren't for everyone. Factors such as product mix and run length must be considered to prevent excessive changeover downtime and poor production efficiencies."

"Some printing press manufacturers have become so standardized in organization and philosophy that they will not customize at all," notes Jacques. "However, a few press manufacturers offer specialty equipment for printers who can achieve a high return on investment."

But how high must ROI indications be to ensure a specialty press is indeed a viable solution? According to Little, the printer's customer base must be large enough to fill the press with premium, high-margin work. Dedicated specialty presses are more common in packaging than in labels, he believes, because shorter and shorter label runs make it tough for one job to fill a press.