Lewisburg, Tennessee, USA - With an unsurpassed reputation as the largest best in class litho label and top sheet supplier in North America, the management team at Lewisburg Printing Co. (LPC) is cementing that status with a new Koenig & Bauer Rapida 145 57-inch seven-color press. It will be delivered to the firm’s 141,000-square-foot Lewisburg, TN facility later this year.

“The reason why we turned to Koenig & Bauer once again to supply our newest press asset is because, as the leader in speed-to-market, we determined that this new 57-inch press will provide us with the latest unique technology and more flexibility to turn jobs quicker and meet our clients’ demands,” says Tonya Kowa-Morelli, Lewisburg’s chief operating officer (pictured above). “This significant capital investment – our ninth offset press – allows us to remain ahead of our competition and deliver high quality consistent projects in a timely fashion in this on-demand world.”

Kowa-Morelli did her careful due diligence in crunching the numbers, in which the new Koenig & Bauer 57-inch model is replacing two legacy presses in its fleet to produce the majority of its workload. She specified that the new press be equipped with the latest quality control systems to deliver unmatched eye-catching brand and shelf presence for its retail clients. For additional speed and quick makeready, the new 145 model is equipped with every automated feature to address the need for shorter runs, highest quality output, and fastest turnaround times.

Lewisburg’s press operators and management team will be assisted by two new Koenig & Bauer systems. An instant, up-to-date analysis of the performance of the new Rapida 145 on the shop floor will be supplied due to Koenig & Bauer’s PressWatch system. To identify untapped performance potential on press, dramatically assisting operators in ensuring maximum up throughput, and significantly increasing the pressroom’s overall equipment efficiency (OEE) rate by implementing Koenig & Bauer’s SpeedWatch system.

To offer its clients higher end finishing and unique special effects, the new Rapida 145 is equipped with a tower coater for water based and a Koenig & Bauer VariDry drying system.

“Having UV technology on the new press allows us to offer a variety of different effects using various coating techniques that will drive unique value-added looks for our clients,” says Joseph Morelli, Lewisburg Printing and Huston Patterson’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. “It is essential to offer our clients total flexibility to produce an array of unique litho labels and top sheets.”

CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS ARE COMING, TOO.