Sheetfed Shop's 'Natural' Progression

Sheetfed printers facing continued growth and the need to bolster their press capacity frequently turn to a half-size web to accomplish their goals.

Creative Printing Services, Inc. (CPS) is no different. The 16-year-old shop, headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., northwest of Chicago, had continued to add a number of sheetfed presses, from a typical 40" size to the smaller 28" formats. Its Midwest clientele, happy with the high quality and fast turnaround, could easily feed more work to the firm.

Last November, CPS installed a new six-unit Komori System 20 web, the first installed in the Chicago area. At the same time, it added a six-color Lithrone 40" perfector, making the new machines the company's eighth and ninth presses from Komori America Corporation.

"The System 20 half-size web was a natural progression for our company as a sheetfed printer," says John Chesney, CPS president. "It gives us the ability to print longer runs than before and produce different types of work. With our sheetfed presses, we were able to print runs up to 150,000 to 200,000; now we're able to print run lengths in the millions."

Not only is the press able to print longer runs, but it is giving CPS the versatility to print different types of jobs. "We're now printing catalogs and high-end direct-mail pieces," says Chesney. "We're not only able to add new accounts that are bringing in eight-page web work but we're getting more work from our previous customers. In the past, they had to send that kind of work out to a different printer; now they can give us both sheetfed and web work."

An in-line folder equipped on the System 20 allows CPS to produce 14 different folding configurations. "Honestly, the folder was an appealing part of the press," says Chesney. "We've got other folders but they're off-line unit. This web with its in-line folder gives us the ability to print, fold, and glue, all in a continuous operation without an operator moving the job from press to postpress."

Prior to obtaining the half-size web, CPS had installed a 35"-wide eight-unit Goss book press. That web is designed to print softcover books that are either saddle-stitched or perfect bound.

The 160-employee firm occupies three buildings, accounting for 92,000 square feet, situated in one location. The sheetfeds are housed in a 24,000-square-foot facility and the webs in a 48,000-square-foot plant; the third, 20,000-square-foot facility houses a fullfillment center.

"We've experienced continued growth every year since founding the company," says Mike Halm, CPS's vice president and chief financial officer. "And we continue to fill every stage of added production capacity. Our customer base continues to expand, as does business from existing accounts. Today, as a 24-hour, seven-day operation, we're forecasting sales of $26 million in 2001. We totaled $21.5 million in sales last year."

Komori says the System 20, known for its user-friendly operation, accommodates even short runs with high-speed makeready and profitable operation. With its high-speed, programmable automatic folder, the company says, the system is ideal for short- to medium-run signature work.

It was designed and engineered for stable, high-quality production at up to 1,450 feet per minute, or 45,000 impressions per hour. With a 23" cutoff, the 20"-wide press, featuring narrow blanket gaps and long-grain orientation, allows for full-bleed, 11" folded and trimmed products.

In five months of operation, CPS quickly filled a 12-hour shift on the System 20, and plans to add accounts to fill another 12-hour shift on the press.

"Along with folder versatility, running speed was a feature that appealed to us," says Chesney. "We run the press at 45,000 iph, the full rated speed. The web is much faster than our sheetfeds but we think it produces exactly the same quality."

Four partners founded Creative Printing Services in 1985: John Chesney, president; Mike Halm, vice president and chief financial officer; Frank Kupiec, vice president of manufacturing; and Frank LaMontagna, vice president and treasurer.

The first two presses were 40" Komoris, a two-color and a four-color. After posting $3 million in sales, CPS moved to a larger facility in 1989 and acquired its third Komori sheetfed, a six-color 40" Lithrone with in-line coater.

By 1991, CPS had made a reputation as one of the top printers in the metropolitan Chicago region. It acquired two more 40" presses, a six-color with coater and a five-color with coater and RP (reverse printing) unit. The year 1996 was a time for expansion into the 28" size; CPS acquired a six-color plus coater and a two-color.

Installing the System 20 was no different than installing any Komori press. "It was a turnkey installation," reports Chesney. "We began putting in the press in late November and had it operational in mid-December. We moved our sheetfed operator over to the half-size web. Space was not a problem and the press is a great fit in our web plant."

CPS also installed a Lithrone 640 perfector with in-line coater; the two-over-four press features the Komori Management System and Print Quality Control console, which provide the "console-driven makeready" functions, plus it has a plate changing system.

On the Lithrone perfector, a single cylinder of the same double-diameter design as the press's impression and transfer cylinders performs all the perfecting functions, minimizing gripper changes. Because the sheet is transferred directly from the impression cylinder to the perfecting cylinder, front-to-back registration accuracy is said to be extremely high.

The changeover from single-sided printing to perfecting is fully automated, and the entire operation takes under three minutes, according to Komori.

"Our management team believes very much in maintaining loyalty," says Chesney. "As we've grown, we've continued our relationships with the same banker, attorney, and accountant we began working with from the very beginning. The same is true of our partnership with Komori, which has taken genuine interest in the success of our company and we think continues to offer innovative printing systems that meet our high standard for quality and profitable production."

Chesney concludes, "With all of this press equipment, there's not many jobs that we can't do."