Ink World staff01.18.21
When Huston Patterson chose to specifically invest in a new eight-color Koenig & Bauer Rapida 164, its management team, led by Tonya Kowa-Morelli, saw the potential of being the only printer among its competitors with this specific large-format configuration.
The Illinois-based packaging printer gave its sales staff the unique advantage to sell jobs designed for a 64-inch eight-color press with the option of UV or AQ coating.
Since the installation at its 110,000-square-foot Decatur facility, the company is producing color critical packaging that can be found up and down the aisles of retailers such as a local grocery store, pharmacy, Walmart, and Amazon.
Operating 24/7, its new Rapida 64-inch press is in full production along with its Rapida 56-inch six-color press.
“These are our go-to presses,” said Kowa-Morelli, Huston Patterson’s president. “But the new Rapida 164 has the speed, automation, and color control features that can produce more efficiently for our higher-end color-critical work. Our internal tracking system tells us that the new Rapida is giving us 15% faster speeds and has reduced our makeready in half. In particular, Koenig & Bauer’s color management system with an internal camera allows us to excel at efficiently matching color and producing jobs built with five, six, seven or more PMS colors. We have to meet the demands of our clients and the Koenig & Bauer color management system ensures we exceed their expectations.”
Last year, Huston Patterson saw an increase in its consumable goods and pharmaceutical packaging, specifically the quick production of thousands of much-needed COVID-19 test kits.
“The start-up of this new Koenig & Bauer press was our most exciting,” Kowa-Morelli said. “We’ve had four previous Rapida press installations but you could just see the massive speed, all of its new technology, and computerization. Our new Rapida 164 has certainly surpassed our expectations. We’ve formed a strong alliance with Koenig & Bauer over the years, which has maximized our firm’s growth over the three generations of our family’s ownership of the business.”
