Ink World staff10.16.20
Over the last several months, Foster Printing has witnessed continued high growth, especially in its food packaging niche as the current pandemic requires this essential need and is prompting robust demand.
A new Rapida 164 six-color 64-inch press has been delivered to Foster’s 46,000-square-foot facility where it will replace two older large-format presses and begin production this month.
“Our new Rapida 164 will certainly expand our production capabilities,” said Kris Blackburn, VP of sales for the company. “It will provide 50% more capacity along with new unique technology all at a maximum speed of 15,000 sph. While our business plan hasn’t pinpointed exact efficiency and productivity data, we know the press will deliver sizable robust numbers and will reduce our makeready times by 20%. We wouldn’t think of moving into a mid-size press range. Our Koenig & Bauer large-format press size has always been perfect for us.”
Indeed over the past decade, Foster has placed orders for Koenig & Bauer large format machines including the Rapida 205 81-inch press—the largest in the world.
Blackburn said that the company will continue to run the 205 in tandem with the new 164.
“The new 164 will allow us to be more efficient and give us fluid shift changes for our press crews,” Blackburn said. “We also configured the press for the first time to be raised, allowing us to do more packaging board work, which is our most vigorous growth area.
“We’ve differentiated ourselves from other southern California printers due to our ability to produce top-of-the-line work with one- to two-day turnaround and exceptional service along the way,” Blackburn added. “We can count on the quality of a Koenig & Bauer machine and the timely support that we receive."
