As a third-generation family owner, recently appointed CEO, Tamara Watkins Green, has embarked on major technology and automation improvements that include moving Watkins Printing into the commercial print market.  This paradigm shift is best illustrated by their investment in a state-of-the-art RMGT 9 Series offset press that is loaded with technology including RMGT’s Insta.Color makeready technology, LED-UV curing and most importantly a one and done 4 over 4 configuration. 

“Moving into the commercial print market made strategic sense for our company,” states Tamara Watkins Green. “There are many factors that come to bear in keeping a business alive and thriving for 98 years. Recently, Watkins Printing was proud to become a WBE and a certified partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). From automation improvements in our web-to-print MIS system to major enhancements in the pressroom and bindery, it’s an exciting moment in our company’s history.”

“As we approach our 100th anniversary, we are determined to build on our legacy by pursuing new market opportunities and expand our service offerings,” states William Green, President of Watkins Printing. “The 8-color RMGT 9 Series Long Perfector with LED-UV curing instantly puts us in a leadership position in the commercial print market. One-pass printing coupled with instant curing lets us go right to bindery and then on to mailing. It’s a huge game changer.”
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Due to the RMGT’s very compact footprint, incredibly user-friendly automation, low maintenance requirements and single pass printing 85% of these presses are running with a single pressman. This factor alone reduces an RMGT Printer’s annual overhead cost per shift while still maintaining an extremely high level of productivity.

“One advantage to working with The Watkins Printing Company is that we are large enough to provide full service and small enough to provide individual attention,” concludes William Green. “My wife and I deal directly with the majority of our clients. That's not something you necessarily get from a company with the breadth of our services. We know our customers personally. We enjoy that interaction and because of that, we have a lot of loyal customers.  When we decided to make this next step in our evolution, we were determined to bring in the latest technology that provided the highest quality for our extremely particular client base, so working with Graphco and RMGT made us feel very comfortable.”

With the purchase of a new RMGT 9 Series 10-Color Long Perfector, Advertisers Printing Company is investing in themselves to be Ready to Rebound now and in the future .
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Advertisers Printing, based in St. Louis, has installed their new fully automated RMGT 10-Color Long Perfector equipped with LED-UV curing and is already reaping the benefits from its state of the art technology.

This three part video series has taken us from the RMGT Factory to Advertisers’ pressroom floor. In this episode we will share the versatility and efficiency of our LED-UV curing process and then you will learn directly from our friends at Advertisers Printing why they invested in a fully automated 9 Series press from RMGT and Graphco. 
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Part 3 shows the end of the installation, with the press up and running and jobs getting ready to go out the door!

View Part 1: The journey from the manufacturing plant in Fukuyama, Japan all the way to St. Louis.

View Part 2: The RMGT press assembly on site

PLYMOUTH, MI – November 13, 2020 — Hatteras, Inc. is a member of the WBENC, the largest certifier of women-owned businesses in the U.S. and a full-service communication delivery company founded in 1977. Based in greater Detroit, MI, they are celebrating their 43rd year anniversary serving corporate communication clients in the automotive, creative, financial and education sectors of the national economy. To maintain their leadership role in offset print, they have recently replaced legacy presses with a fully automated six-color RMGT 940 Series press that is equipped with LED-UV curing, in-line coating and RMGT’s Insta.Color make-ready automation.

“Over the years, my sister Becky and I have grown Hatteras in a conservatively aggressive fashion,” states James Nesbitt, CEO, Hatteras, Inc. “We bought seven different companies along the way allowing us to grow into services that would have been difficult to build from scratch. About eight years ago we got into the full size 40” print market with a used six color Heidelberg. While that greatly expanded our service offerings, the press was costly to maintain and slow to set up and run. So, a couple of years ago we started looking at the RMGT and what it could offer us. This investment coincided with a move to our new 90,000 square foot headquarters and production facility in Plymouth MI.  We are proud to occupy the historic Burroughs complex where adding machines, calculators and early mainframe computers were manufactured for many decades.”​

Hatteras, Inc. has a target market of high-end print and distribution for ad agencies, managing outsourced print for large companies, financial and healthcare statement printing, and book manufacturing. “With an aging 40” Heidelberg, we realized we were spending half of the cost of the payment on a new press just in repairs,” states Nesbitt. “We needed a press to produce high end color, and the legacy press was just getting too expensive to maintain. We had to decide if we wanted to stay in the high-quality color market… we either needed to get in or get out. We decided to get in and purchased the six color RMGT 9 Series with LED-UV curing and had it installed in our new facility.”

“The short run book manufacturing market is new for us,” states Nesbitt. “The RMGT 9 Series is a perfect complement to the HP T240 that we installed. We print the covers on the RMGT and the HP prints the text pages of the books. We have two really cutting-edge pieces of equipment to produce short run books for publishers around the country and their response has been incredible.”​

“Another part of our regular business is printing on low tac adhesive window clings. This was frequently a disaster before the RMGT. Jobs would lay spread out around the shop for days to dry. Sometimes they’d never dry regardless of the different ink mixes we tried. Successfully producing these window clings and printing plastic license plates on styrene are now a complete non-factor. They run through our press just like any other job.”

“We are consistently running jobs at run speeds that are 50% faster than the legacy press,” comments Nesbitt. “We typically ran it at 8,000 sheets per hour. Many of our jobs now run at 12-15,000 sheets per hour with no loss of quality or register. We’re driving our set-up times and make-ready sheets lower and lower. Both factors have allowed us to charge a much higher hourly rate and still hit the estimated production targets for the job.”​

“We are inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit of family-owned businesses like Hatteras. Becky and James’ parents started Hatteras in 1977 and my Dad started Graphco in 1976 so both companies have thrived over many years in business.” states Chris Manley, President of Graphco, Midwest and Southeast Distributor for RMGT. “Their determination to not only survive but to succeed during the challenging times since their press came on-line testifies to the wisdom of strategic investment in offset.” Offset still drives the vast majority of revenue for commercial printers, and dramatically improving the profitability of their largest revenue source provides the greatest impact on the bottom line.  As our industry rebounds we believe companies like Hatteras who have the right platform for their offset print will continue to enjoy an Unfair Advantage.”

About RMGT North America
​RMGT (RYOBI HMI Graphic Technology Ltd.), a global leader in LED-UV sheetfed offset presses, is represented by a group of four authorized sales and service centers that serve commercial printers, offset packaging converters and in-plant printers in the United States and Canada. Covering the Northeast US is G.E. Richards, Midwest and Southeast US is serviced by Graphco, the Western US is serviced by Print & Finishing Solutions and covering Canada along with the RMGT 10 Series distribution in the US for legacy Mitsubishi customers is RM Machinery. This network constitutes the single largest offset press sales and service team in North America. As innovators of the first LED-UV printing system for sheet-fed offset printing in 2008. RMGT continues to apply their technological expertise and creativity for constant innovation, providing the printing industry with meaningful products and services while building bonds of trust and respecting diverse values. Learn more about RMGT North America at www.ryobimhi.com

The ability to staff a highly automated RMGT 8-UP+ press with a single pressman was important for profitability and flexibility prior to March of 2020. However, as the printing industry recovers from the economic results of COVID-19, reducing per shift staffing costs will bring greater viability to pressrooms who take the 9 Series approach to manufacturing. Even before the release of ASAP, over 80% of RMGT 9 Series presses running in North America are manned with a single pressman. Depending on the local labor market and how many shifts an RMGT 9 Series printing company runs per week, the savings from the single pressman approach ranges from $45,000 to $180,000 annually. ​

RMGT was the first sheetfed offset press manufacturer to commercially develop LED-UV curing technology, releasing this at drupa in 2008.  LED-UV lamps dry printed sheets instantly, offering impressive energy savings over other curing technologies. An added benefit in the print and finishing workflow is that LED-UV curing eliminates the need for powder. This powderless press environment allows offset printed sheets to move to either to a digital overprint scenario or directly to finishing without impacting the performance of these devices.​

“RMGT’s launch of the new 970 is a key step forward in our continuing leadership of the 8-UP market,” states Kian Hemmen. “Equipping the RMGT 970 with our new ASAP technology and expanding into a 25" x 38” press sheet makes the value proposition of the RMGT 9 Series even more impressive. Single pressman operation is inherent to the 9 Series which is why we say that we’ve been practicing ‘social distancing’ since 2014. The decision to launch is a welcomed step and we can’t wait to see the RMGT 970 landing stateside.”

ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 — For over 97 years, Advertisers Printing has evolved as a leading commercial printer in the Midwest. Founded by Claude Fechner, the current fourth-generation Fechner management team continues a tradition of innovation by announcing the installation of a fully automated 10-color RMGT 9 Series perfecting press with LED-UV curing technology. The investment in this offset press is in line with their company philosophy of “Conscious Capitalism” and whose on-going sustainability practices are certified by SGP.

“Conscious Capitalism shapes the way we treat each and every customer,” states William Fechner, President, Advertisers Printing. “As part of our core philosophy, our ultimate goal is to enrich the lives of everyone connected with us, clients, employees, suppliers, shareholders and the community. It may not be conventional capitalism, or even business as usual, but we strongly feel it should be.” The economic impact of events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can challenge core principles as they relate to investment.

“A lot of customers have asked us why we're investing in this new press now,” states Alex Fechner, Business Development, and fourth-generation member at Advertisers Printing. “True to our core, Advertisers has always been passionate about going above and beyond for our customers. Second, we don't have a company without our team members. We want to do everything we can to make sure that we have a future for all our team members and their families. A third reason is the environmental angle. Investing in the 10-color RMGT 9 Series perfecting press improves our print quality and speed to market with products that offer the lowest carbon footprint.”  

The acquisition of the 10-color RMGT 9 Series perfecting press allows Advertisers to eliminate three offset presses while increasing capacity at the same time. “Our equipment mix in the past has not been one-size-fits-all,” continues William Fechner, “It’s been smaller projects go on the smaller press, medium sized projects on the medium sized press, full size projects on the full size press. The RMGT allows us to cover all of that with one super automated, quick machine. We've been able to eliminate quarter-sized machines, half-sized machines, and three-quarter sized machines with this one press. It's a beautiful thing.”

Advertisers Printing follows a national trend in using a hybrid mix of offset and digital print production, with approximately 65% of their revenue still generated by offset print and 35% by digital print. Advertisers recently invested in their digital pressroom by adding a larger format HP 10000 digital press. “What the RMGT does is help to fill the capacity throughout our shop, including our digital area,” observes Alex Fechner. “This has been a really good synergistic situation. Because the 10-color RMGT 9 Series press is equipped with LED-UV curing technology, we have more flexibility to print shells LED offset and then run those shells on our HP 10000 to handle large variable data runs.”

The investment in digital machines coincides with the urgency of how quickly print work needs to be turned around in today’s print market. “Everyone always wants to hear about the printing jargon,” states William Fechner. “To put this in the simplest of terms, on our older presses, we had to print one side of a smaller sheet in one pass and then flip it over and print the other side of the sheet in another pass. With our 10-color RMGT 9 Series perfecting press, we can print a larger sheet five over five colors in one pass. Then, when you add the LED-UV curing, the sheet is instantly dry, ready to finish. This translates to more than doubling our capacity on the pressroom floor.”  The new 920PF-10+CC is equipped to produce 5/5 plus in line coating and features Insta.Color makeready automation and fully automated plate-changing. This automation package plus the very compact press footprint allows Advertisers to efficiently operate their new press using one pressman.

“We are an SGP certified company,” continues William Fechner. “One of only about 50 in the world, as far as sheetfed offset and digital printers are concerned. The RMGT 9 Series is right in the wheelhouse of being environmentally friendly. Due to LED-UV curing, it has much lower energy usage. It's really ‘green’, with no VOCs. This better supports the health of our team and, as a result, the future of this company. Additionally, LED curing is so much faster in processing the product, helping us to serve our clients better.”  

Advertisers invested in the latest GEW LeoLED-UV MLA (Modular Lamp Array) curing technology so they enjoy the ultimate in curing capabilities, flexibility and gloss level.  Through a process known as “dry-trapping”, high gloss coating projects will enjoy a 10-15% higher gloss level than projects using the “wet-trap” process.  When processing special projects like chemical emboss finishes, static clings and plastics the abundance of LeoLED-UV curing modules means   

“In recent years, Advertisers has been competing by using our variety of smaller presses,” concludes Fechner. “In a way, we’ve been showing up to a gunfight with a knife. That put us at an unfair disadvantage, but we’ve still done well. Now with the addition of the 10-color RMGT 9 Series perfecting press, we've got the unfair advantage. We're feeling confident that we're going to be very competitive in some of these larger projects and be able to deliver faster, with higher quality, and in a shorter time. We don't have a knife anymore… Now we've got a cruise missile.”

“We are very proud to work with Bill, Alex and the Advertisers Printing Team on this exciting next step in their impressive 97-year history.” states Chris Manley, President, Graphco, Distributor for RMGT in the Midwest and Southeast.  “It’s a true honor to partner with such a great family business and for our industry a 10-color configuration is a very special press.  As our industry continues to rebound from the low point of the V we are so proud to be aligned with a rugged company like Advertisers Printing.”  ​

“It’s been our position since 2014 that an investment in RMGT technology dramatically improves the profitability of our customer’s offset and digital revenue stream.” continues Manley, “When we impact 65-75% of a company’s turnover the whipsaw in profit is much greater than other investments.  Much better profitability from offset is extremely important, and reverse cannibalizing digital to improve margins helps immensely as well. We can hardly wait to see the benefit that Advertisers Printing will enjoy through this powerful investment.”

About Graphco
Graphco is the industry’s leading provider of offset, digital, and print finishing solutions. We proudly import the RMGT line of new offset printing presses featuring market-leading LED-UV curing technology, Smart Insta.Color automated make-ready, and our popular Packaging Edition presses. All RMGT presses offer best-in-class reliability and durability. The Graphco Technical Service Team stands behind every RMGT press and Graphco’s reputation for top-notch service is second to none. Since 1976, Graphco has thrived in an ever-changing market place by loyally adhering to our original model for success: Providing best-in-class print production equipment along with reliable and assured technical service. Learn more about Graphco at www.graphco.com​

About RMGT North America
RMGT (RYOBI HMI Graphic Technology Ltd.), a global leader in LED-UV sheetfed offset presses, is represented by a group of four authorized sales and service centers that serve commercial printers, offset packaging converters and in-plant printers in the United States and Canada. This network constitutes the single largest offset press sales and service team in North America. As innovators of the first LED-UV printing system for sheet-fed offset printing in 2008. RMGT continues to apply their technological expertise and creativity for constant innovation, providing the printing industry with meaningful products and services while building bonds of trust and respecting diverse values. Learn more about RMGT North America at www.ryobimhi.com

25” x 38” Format and ASAP (Automated Smart Assist Printing) System

PLACENTIA, CA – August 11, 2020 — RMGT, manufacturer of the leading 8-up sheetfed offset press in North America, has announced the launch of the RMGT 970 offset press. The 970 is the newest member to the RMGT 9 Series family of presses that boasts over 80 new installations in North America over the last 6 years. This game changing new press further consolidates RMGT’s strength in the 8-up market sector that was created in 2005 with the introduction of the Ryobi 920 press.  The new 8-UP+ (25” x 38”) RMGT 970 was set to debut as part of RMGT’s Assisting Your Potential drupa exhibition along with significant enhancements to the RMGT 10 Series press capabilities. 

“The entire industry suffered a loss when drupa was cancelled,” states Kian Hemmen, Director of Sales for Print & Finishing Solutions. “RMGT’s planned launch of the new 970 was a key step forward in our continuing leadership of the 8-UP market. The decision to launch now without the drupa push is a welcomed step and we can’t wait to see the RMGT 970 landing stateside. Growing our sheet size to the popular 25” x 38” format and adding RMGT’s new ASAP System will set the 970 apart from other players in this market segment.  As we have since 2008, LED-UV curing will continue to play a major role in our customer’s success.”

Smart Insta.Color technology has proven itself with fast makeready times for many years, and the release of the ASAP (Automated Smart Assist Printing) system allows pressmen to enjoy an entirely new level of automation and autonomous press operation in the 8-UP press format.  With ASAP, the pressman touches one button and the entire printing process—from ink and paper presetting, blanket and impression cleaning, and plate changing through verification of test printing, register adjustment, ink density adjustment, and full sheet inspection are all autonomously processed without even pulling a sheet. 
 
Within the ASAP system, once CCD scanners verify that all print quality control parameters have been met, the RMGT 970 flags the first OK’d sheet and begins the production run at up to 16,000 SPH.  ASAP will then assist the RMGT pressman to ensure flawless print quality from start to finish by monitoring every sheet and flagging any non-compliant sheets without stopping production. The result is a much higher press operating rate, lowered makeready time and confirmed print quality control enabling profitable production of continuous short-run printing that requires frequent job changeover. RMGT now offers four different in-press scanning solutions which can be ordered ala carte depending on each customer’s specific needs. 
 
“We recognize that some printers can fully benefit from an affordable print platform that provides five-minute make-readies while running 5 over 5 work,” states Chris Manley, President of Graphco. “Others gain an advantage from sheet to sheet print quality confirmation on long run packaging. There are companies that may benefit most from only one module of our ASAP system and still others will benefit most from an even more affordable press that uses the tried and true Insta.Color system.  The great thing about ASAP is how modular and flexible the system is and how seamlessly RMGT integrates ASAP into our press. With the complete ASAP system our customers can now fully automate all the manual steps in the job changeover process that have slowed production in the past.  A full ASAP system provides autonomous production overseen by an RMGT pressman.  RMGT’s theme of Assisting Your Potential is fully embodied in the new ASAP system.”  

Since 2005 the RMGT 9 Series press has defined and developed the 8-UP market as a perfect bridge between small and expensive to run digital devices and 40” presses that seldom run a full-sized sheet in commercial applications like direct mail, 16-page signatures, and short-run packaging.  The new 8-UP+ RMGT 970 will now produce jobs like 9” x 12” booklets, and many other applications, on the same size sheet that a 40” press would run.  
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“Printers asked for easier access to the cover weight stocks that many domestic paper merchants inventoried in 25” x 38” sheets, so RMGT addressed the North American market directly with the new 970’s larger size.”states Kian Hemmen.  “Many of our customers told us that their 9 Series presses handled at least 80% of their parent sheet sizes at a much lower manufacturing cost, so the new 8-UP+ format will increase that range.  Adding 9” x 12” booklets to the mix will be a plus in further bridging the gap between copiers and 40” presses.  Our customers found a perfect space in the market with the 9 Series and now the 970’s 8-UP+ size will capture one more parent sheet that comes straight from the paper house.”

Over 80% of RMGT 9 Series presses running in North America are manned with a single pressman.  Based on the rapid growth and great profitability that these companies have experienced this approach has been successful in over 1,300 shops worldwide.  “Many of our customers have found that running their 9 Series with a single pressman has allowed them to run two shifts for just a bit more labor cost than running one shift with a first and second pressman.” states Kian Hemmen.  “The RMGT 970 now offers this exceptional cost performance with even higher productivity, flexibility and the ASAP system that raises the single pressman’s throughput by further assisting his operation of the press.”​

The ability to staff a highly automated RMGT 8-UP press with a single pressman was important for profitability and flexibility prior to March of 2020, but as the printing industry recovers from the economic results of COVID-19 reducing per shift staffing costs will bring greater viability to pressrooms who take the 9 Series approach to manufacturing.  “The new 970 long perfector runs at 15,000 SPH and with the ASAP system one pressman will easily maintain a highly productive workday as the automation assists his potential,” says Kian Hemmen. “Our one and done approach will grow even stronger with the major innovations of the new press.”

The RMGT 970 will be unveiled toward the end of August 2020 with an open house event being held at the RMGT demonstration center in Fukuyama Japan. The open house will feature an 8-color RMGT 970 long perfector running an LED-UV cured 9” x 12” signatures and a 5-color RMGT 970 with coater producing high value-add print using LED-UV curing.  “Orders have been accepted by the factory since June and the RMGT 970 will be commercially available starting in Q1 of 2021,” states Chris Manley. “We are thrilled with the leadership position RMGT has taken in the 8-UP press market in North America. The new RMGT 970 is the right press at the right time for our industry.”  ​

About RMGT North America
RMGT (RYOBI HMI Graphic Technology Ltd.), a global leader in LED-UV sheetfed offset presses, is represented by a group of four authorized sales and service centers that serve commercial printers, offset packaging converters and in-plant printers in the United States and Canada. This network constitutes the single largest offset press sales and service team in North America. As innovators of the first LED-UV printing system for sheet-fed offset printing in 2008. RMGT continues to apply their technological expertise and creativity for constant innovation, providing the printing industry with meaningful products and services while building bonds of trust and respecting diverse values. Learn more about RMGT North America at www.ryobimhi.com

 
COLUMBIA, MO – July 27, 2020 — The University of Missouri Print & Mail Services is ranked by In-plant Impression​s as the 10th largest University In-plant in the United States, with more than $7 million annual sales.  More than 70% of this revenue comes from offset printing as they produce recruitment, promotional and other outreach materials for their 30,000 students in run lengths and sheet formats that aren’t practical for digital.  In order to meet the University’s goal of improving the print quality of their materials, reducing manufacturing costs and eliminating equipment breakdowns, the University of Missouri recently installed a new RMGT 9 Series press to replace their Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 6-Color and MOZP 2-Color presses.

The new fully loaded 940ST-5+CC+LED-UV five-color with coater features RMGT’s Smart Insta.Color makeready technology and Fully Automatic Plate Changing along with GEW’s LeoLED-UV curing for both coated and non-coated work.  This suite of automation technology is already impacting the print quality, job costs and reliability of the University’s Print & Mail Services even during the first few months of operation.

One of the biggest advantages the upgraded press provides is newfound flexibility. “At MU, digital and offset can now work side by side symbiotically,” explains Jeff McNeeley, Director, University of Missouri Print & Mail Services. “If I've got a surplus of work in my digital area, I will move some of that to the offset area, and vice versa. If I've got a ton of small jobs all scheduled to run digital, we'll gang them up and move them over to the new press. This option wasn’t possible on our previous Heidelberg. The flexibility saves not only time but expense. I'll move from digital to offset a lot easier and quicker now than ever. It's definitely cheaper to get started on this device than it was on our old device, hands down.”
 
In bringing LED-UV curing technology to their in-plant, MU Print & Mail Services has seen a great increase in efficiency, a welcome surprise to McNeeley. “Initially, LED-UV was the furthest thing from my mind. I didn't think it was even an option,” he states. However, after much research, MU chose to equip their RMGT 9 Series with GEW’s new LeoLED-UV curing system and they are seeing the benefits in action. 
 
Jobs that would previously run at slower press speeds and needed to wait before proceeding are moving immediately into finishing thanks to the RMGT 9 Series 15,000 SPH speed and the ability to instantly cure inks and coatings on press. McNeeley cites one specific example of the LED-UV curing recently proving its true value. MU had a large job that needed to get done in a very short timeframe, consisting of several 30,000 16-page signatures printed in reflex blue. “As many in the industry know, reflex blue simply doesn’t dry, making the sheets difficult for the bindery to handle,” observes McNeeley. But after ordering LED-UV reflex blue for their RMGT press, they saw incredible results. “As soon as the sheets came out of the press, we started folding them. We were printing, folding and stitching all at the same time. That just would not have been possible with our legacy presses.” ​

 
About Graphco
Graphco is the industry’s leading provider of offset, digital, and print finishing solutions. We proudly import the RMGT line of new offset printing presses featuring market-leading LED-UV curing technology, Smart Insta.Color automated make-ready, and our popular Packaging Edition presses. All RMGT presses offer best-in-class reliability and durability. The Graphco Technical Service Team stands behind every RMGT press and Graphco’s reputation for top-notch service is second to none. Since 1976, Graphco has thrived in an ever-changing market place by loyally adhering to our original model for success: Providing best-in-class print production equipment along with reliable and assured technical service. Learn more about Graphco at www.graphco.com
 
About RMGT North America 
RMGT (RYOBI HMI Graphic Technology Ltd.), a global leader in LED-UV sheetfed offset presses, is represented by a group of three authorized sales and service centers that serve commercial printers, offset packaging converters and in-plant printers in the United States. This network constitutes the single largest offset press sales and service team in North America. As innovators of the first LED-UV printing system for sheet-fed offset printing in 2008. RMGT continues to apply their technological expertise and creativity for constant innovation, providing the printing industry with meaningful products and services while building bonds of trust and respecting diverse values. Learn more about RMGT North America at www.ryobimhi.com

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With the purchase of a new RMGT 9 Series 10-Color Long Perfector, Advertisers Printing Company is investing in themselves to be Ready to Rebound now and in the future .
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During a time when many companies are pulling in the reins, Advertisers Printing, based in St. Louis, will install their new fully automated RMGT 10-Color Long Perfector equipped with LED-UV curing in August. 
This three part video series takes us from the RMGT Factory to Advertisers’ pressroom floor. We will share the speed and efficiency of our installation process and then you will learn directly from our friends at Advertisers Printing why they invested in a fully automated 9 Series press from RMGT and Graphco. 
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Part 1 shows the beginning of the journey from the manufacturing plant in Fukuyama, Japan all the way to St. Louis.

​ADDISON, IL – June 30, 2020 — RMGT is proud to announce the successful installation of the RMGT 9 Series press in early June 2020, at VISOgraphic, a leading commercial printer based in the greater Chicago, IL area. In spite of the recent economic downturn, VISOgraphic took delivery of the RMGT 9 Series 5-color press with coater and LED-UV curing technology as part of their strategic plan tuned for growth. The press was installed by Graphco, the Distributor of RMGT offset presses in the Midwest and Southeastern US.

“People have asked us why we continued on with our investment in this kind of climate,” states Robert Dahlke, Jr., Business Development, VISOgraphic. “Talking to my brother, my father and my industry peers, we believe that short-term problems in the economy or problems caused by COVID-19 should not affect our long-term strategies. Was there an opportunity for us to walk away from the install? Probably. However, we decided that now's the time to lead and not step back. I think that companies that have invested wisely in their equipment, and the ones that are customer centric, are going to see the benefit in the back half of this year. We think that investing now is going to pay dividends, not only at the end of this year, but going into 2021 and beyond.” The observations of the Dahlke’s are available on video above.

The strategic decision of the VISOgraphic management team to upgrade aging offset equipment had its genesis from feedback from their nationwide peer group. “One of the biggest things that we do is interact with a peer group,” continues Dahlke. “Our peer group came into our plant about four years ago and they said we had great machinery, but it was older and inefficient. So, we took a really hard look at the offset market and we decided that LED-UV and RMGT was the way to go. Our first investment was an RMGT 10 Series 40-inch press. Two and a half years and over 81 million impressions later, the feedback from the peer group was validated. As we've been expanding the last few years, we wanted to make our arsenal more redundant and wanted to expand capacity, so the RMGT 9 Series was the perfect choice in this environment.”

VISOgraphic continues a growing trend of commercial printers who leverage offset lithography as a cost-effective print production process for short-run static jobs. The RMGT 9 Series press fits a unique space between the 40-inch press and conventional digital printing. “The RMGT 9 Series was the perfect fit for our company because we could put 65% of our existing work from the 40-inch press and put it on the 9 Series at a cheaper cost per sheet,” comments John Dahlke, Chief Operating Officer. VISOgraphic is seeing that longer runs are printed on the RMGT 10 Series 40-inch press. However, more and more of the shorter run, non-personalized printing is transferring from digital back to offset and run more economically and with greater flexibility on the RMGT 9 Series press.

“The reason why we're moving more short-run static jobs to offset is because the efficiency of these RMGT presses is so amazing,” observes Bob Dahlke, Jr. “The LED-UV curing has the sheets ready to go from a converting and bindery perspective as soon as they're done. For VISOgraphic, we look at the offset and digital complementing each other. We are definitely not a company that says offset is here and digital is there. For us, the crossover is very close now and we marry them up very closely. At the end of the day, our offset versus digital decisions are based on client needs --- whatever will benefit them the most. The RMGT 9 Series press with LED-UV gives us more flexibility to print more jobs in the offset environment at a unique price point. Successful companies our size must have great synergies between their digital and offset presses. The 9 Series press will actually create more offset AND digital work for us.” 

LED-UV curing technology has widened the product offering for many commercial printers, allowing them to print on different substrates. “One of the great things about RMGT LED-UV and our relationship with Graphco is that it has gotten us to new products and offerings,” observes Dahlke. “We're printing things now that three years ago, there's no way we could have printed. Anywhere from static window clings, to 30 mil PVC, to all different kinds of synthetics and plastics for maps and many other uses. I was talking to my brother a couple of months ago and he said thank goodness we went with RMGT and we went LED-UV. We're getting a lot of jobs that we would not have gotten if we continued printing traditional offset with an IR dryer. It's been a game changer for new products.”

“We are particularly proud that VISOgraphic has become the first commercial shop in North America with both the RMGT 10 Series and RMGT 9 Series press,” states Derek Gordon, Graphco’s Midwest Regional Manager. “The Midwest market is very competitive for Chicago-based commercial printers, and we are proud to be aligned with VISOgraphic, who we consider a strategic partner.”

About Graphco
Graphco is the industry’s leading provider of offset, digital, and print finishing solutions. We proudly import the RMGT line of new offset printing presses featuring market-leading LED-UV curing technology, Smart Insta.Color automated make-ready, and our popular Packaging Edition presses. All RMGT presses offer best-in-class reliability and durability. The Graphco Technical Service Team stands behind every RMGT press and Graphco’s reputation for top-notch service is second to none. Since 1976, Graphco has thrived in an ever-changing market place by loyally adhering to our original model for success: Providing best-in-class print production equipment along with reliable and assured technical service. Learn more about Graphco at www.graphco.com
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 About RMGT North America 
RMGT (RYOBI HMI Graphic Technology Ltd.), a global leader in LED-UV sheetfed offset presses, is represented by a group of three authorized sales and service centers that serve commercial printers, offset packaging converters and in-plant printers in the United States. This network constitutes the single largest offset press sales and service team in North America. As innovators of the first LED-UV printing system for sheet-fed offset printing in 2008. RMGT continues to apply their technological expertise and creativity for constant innovation, providing the printing industry with meaningful products and services while building bonds of trust and respecting diverse values. Learn more about GSNA at www.ryobimhi.com

​LANDISVILLE, PA – JUNE 17, 2020 — As part of a strategy to strengthen their hybrid print capabilities, Mt. Royal Printing Co. recently purchased an RMGT 5 Series 6-color press with coater and AQ/UV coating. Founded in 1946, Mount Royal Printing Co. is led by Gary Cayce, the third generation to take the helm of this privately-owned commercial printer. Based in Baltimore, MD this Printing Impressions Top 400 printer services the greater Washington, DC market. Mt. Royal Printing has experienced a 27% growth in the last five years, with 85% of their revenue coming from offset printing, 15% from digital and wide-format.
 
“We have driven the offset side of our business in the 40-inch market for pretty much the history of the company,” said Gary Cayce, President of Mount Royal Printing. “At the current time we have two 40-inch presses including an 8-color UV press. Our intent with this investment was to fill the void between the 40-inch market and our digital market. This will help our client base tremendously. We have a lot of small work that doesn't really fit a 40-inch competitively but requires higher quality than you can get on digital.”
 
A key element of the investment in the RMGT 5 Series press was the fact that it was outfitted with UV curing technology. Mt. Royal Printing has been running with UV curing for the past six years and has become well versed in the advantages of what UV curing brings to offset printing. “What drew us to the press was the fact that it was a full conventional UV interdeck press with five lamps,” states Tom Dieter, General Manager, Mt. Royal Printing. “This will enable us to produce a lot of specialty effects with the three interdecks(after 2nd, 4th, and 6th units) and AQ/UV coater.”

states Cayce. “If a job fits this format size, it's going to be much easier for our salesforce to sell a six-color job with reticulating varnishes and special effects. If the same job were printed on a 40-inch press, it would put a lot of customers out of their budget. With this press we can do smaller, high-end stationary packages and projects with tricky effects at a much more affordable price point.” 
 
Another factor in a more efficient print production workflow is that UV curing contributes to a faster turnaround of jobs. “We'll run 300 books on an offset press because of the turnaround time,” declares Cayce. “It's tremendously different. You would think that digital would be faster, but it's not.” He cites reduced makeready times coupled with instant drying due to UV curing as factors that tip the print manufacturing scales in favor of offset printing. By having five UV lamps placed on the RMGT 5 Series press allows Mt. Royal Printing to dry trap, which makes the quality of the printing look dramatically sharper. It will allow them to do some special effects, such as putting down opaque whites and then printing on top of them in the same pass.
 
Another example of the smaller format offset press filling a gap between a 40-inch press and a digital press is seen with high quality booklets. “It would be a pain to break down a 40-inch eight-color perfector to run a cover,” continues Dieter, “but we had to run it there because it had to match the rest of the book. So now with the RMGT 5 Series press, we have an opportunity to produce covers more economically and still match the quality of the eight color UV press.” 
 
In a hybrid print manufacturing plant, with both offset and digital presses, decisions have to be made regarding whether a job is produced offset or digital. Typically, these decisions are driven by quantity. “I mean, if it's a book block job or a job with variable data, it's going to go on digital,” states Dieter. “However, the majority of our digital work has been static, so we're looking for the higher margin work that fits offset far better. You also have to look at the costs with digital versus offset. It's not hard to figure out when you're paying a monthly digital press payment, a service contract, and then there's a click charge.”
“We share the enthusiasm of Mt. Royal Printing after investing in the RMGT series 5 press with UV curing technology, and look forward to continuing to work with Mt. Royal Printing” states Jim Lundy, G.E. Richards, the northeast importer/distributor for RMGT in the United States. “With the capabilities to run on plastic and other substrates on a smaller sheet it opens up a big window for Mt. Royal to expand their business even further.”
 
ABOUT G.E. RICHARDS
Founded in 1972, G.E. Richards Graphic Supplies has grown to 10 branches and over 70 million in sales. G.E. Richards has become the fourth largest graphic arts dealer in the country by keeping in touch with the ever-changing needs of our customers and the printing and graphic arts industries. We offer a large variety of products from printing plates, presses and ink, to film, computers, printers, scanners, imagesetters and platesetters.

About RMGT North America
RMGT (RYOBI HMI Graphic Technology Ltd.), a global leader in LED-UV sheetfed offset presses, is represented by a group of four authorized sales and service centers that serve commercial printers, offset packaging converters and in-plant printers in the United States. This network constitutes the single largest offset press sales and service team in North America. As innovators of the first LED-UV printing system for sheet-fed offset printing in 2008. RMGT continues to apply their technological expertise and creativity for constant innovation, providing the printing industry with meaningful products and services while building bonds of trust and respecting diverse values. Learn more about GSNA at www.ryobimhi.com