As another new year commences at Allied Printing Services, there’s a new sophisticated high-performance model on the pressroom floor at the Manchester, CT facility: a new Rapida 106 X double coater UV perfector press, the first of this type of configuration in the U.S., which sits next to an array of Koenig & Bauer Rapida printing presses.
Left to right: John Sommers (President), Kevin Howard (VP Sheetfed, Web and Postpress), Gerry Dugan (Sheetfed Manager) and Jon Kaufman (SVP of Technology).
“We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality work, no matter what we print,” says John Sommers, President and CEO, Allied Printing Services. “This investment is a game changer for our business. It demonstrates the versatility, creativity, high quality, and speed-to-market that we can deliver to our customers.”
The new press is a specially configured eight-color four-over-four perfector operating at 18,000 sph that prints both conventional and UV inks. It is designed with four print units, plus coater, two drying towers, another four units, and another coater with a 12-ft delivery. It is fully automated with FAPC (Fully auto-plate changing), auto blanket/Impression cylinder washing, and sidelay free SIS system. The majority of its work is two-sided coated commercial work but it is also used for different combinations of packaging jobs in straight mode.
“Versatility for us is key,” says Sommers. “With any investment, we don’t buy equipment for one specific customer or project. You never know what’s around the corner, customer demand can change, and we have a very diverse customer base. Having the Rapida 106 X gives us redundancy in six-color UV, allows for preventative maintenance and scheduling, and much more versatility.”
Allied is networking its four Koenig & Bauer presses together with the latest version of LogoTronic software to provide more efficiency, scheduling, and maintenance reports. It allows managers to get up-to-the-minute data on press activity and OEE results. The new Rapida 106 X is networked to Allied’s Rapida 106 six-color double coater UV press, Rapida 106 eight-color conventional press, and Rapida 106 six-color conventional press; those current presses are operating at 20,000 sph. Now Allied has two UV presses and two conventional presses.
