KBA North America, a leading press manufacturer based in Williston, Vt., is announcing that Edison Litho & Printing, one of the largest large-format litho printers in the Northeast, has agreed to purchase its second KBA large format press in less than two years. Edison will be taking delivery of a Rapida 162 64-inch six-color sheetfed press with aqueous coater in January 2007, nearly two years after the firm installed its Rapida 205 81-inch six-color sheetfed press. "The success that we've encountered with the Rapida 205 81-inch press prompted us to purchase another amazing press from KBA---the KBA Rapida 162 64-inch six-color sheetfed press," explains George Gross, president of Edison Litho & Printing Corp. "As a leading large format printer, we continue to grow our business and seek out the best equipment to accomplish that goal. KBA presses are the answer to that quest." "We're very proud that Edison Litho bought a second KBA large format press so quickly after the first one was installed," says Ed Heffernan, KBA district sales manager. "This is a true success story and shows once again that KBA delivers presses to fit a customer's real needs and helps them to differentiate themselves from the competition." Since the installation of the Rapida 205 81-inch sheetfed press, the world's largest press and the winner of the prestigious GATF InterTech Award, Edison has had the press on a 24 hour shift producing point-of-purchase, packaging, poster, retail signage, and other large format jobs for both existing and new customers. This press has helped Edison grow its business. The KBA Rapida 205 81-inch six-color press features a maximum sheet size of 59.5 x 81-inches running at a speed of 9,000 sph. It gives Edison the ability to run paper and board stock ranging from 80 lb to 48 pt. Plus, it is the first press of this size to offer a wide range of features such as a fully-automatic plate changer, automatic blanket and impression cylinder washing systems, inline anilox coating system and drying options such as IR, UV, or hybrid. New technology and automation also includes KBA's Densitronic quality control system, and inline perforating and slitting to the press. An automatic camera register control system provides an extremely efficient system for fast color registration on a press of this size. High print quality, greater productivity, and fast ROI Edison Litho & Printing Corp. was attracted to the Rapida 205 for a number of reasons. First, the super large-format press allows the firm to produce extra large format jobs with extremely high print quality and low makeready times in a highly-automated 81-inch press format. Second, since the press is equal to running four 40-inch presses, the Rapida 205 can print one sheet in the same amount of time with less manpower and greater productivity thus providing a fast ROI. Third, its high degree of automation brings massive efficiencies in overall makeready time allowing Edison Litho to produce more jobs faster with higher throughput. Due to that success, Edison decided to purchase another KBA large format press to complete its arsenal. "We quickly saw the benefits of having a new high-tech piece of equipment," says Gross, referring to the Rapida 205. "The KBA Rapida 205 is a revolutionary and unique piece of technology that differentiates Edison Litho from the rest of our competitors. Fast growth on the Rapida 205 prompted us to take the burden off of the Rapida 205 by installing a Rapida 162 64-inch six-color press." Flexible and competitive The new Rapida 162 64-inch six-color press, while still a large-format model, provides a different set of features from the Rapida 205 that gives Edison Litho further flexibility. "On the new press, we can use smaller sheet sizes and still be competitive yet flexible for our customers," says Joe Ostreicher, Edison Litho's vice president. "The Rapida 162 prints a minimum sheet size of 25 x 38-inches allowing us to be competitive on any 40-inch job. But the Rapida 162 offers the same high quality and the same high degree of automation such as auto plate changing, as the Rapida 205. We contemplated other press sizes but we agreed that the Rapida 162 64-inch press would give our customers the best printed sheet available." Founded in 1958 in New York City, Edison Litho & Printing Corporation has grown to become a leading large format printer specializing in point-of-purchase displays and retail signage. The firm has an extensive client list of leading corporations and retailers who require point-of-purchase displays, in-store signage, brand marketing products, and custom, permanent retail displays and fixtures. The firm's name has become synonymous with excellence in printing. In 1989, Edison Litho moved its headquarters to a new state-of-the-art 40,000 sq ft facility in North Bergen, NJ. The firm operates more than 12 large sheetfed presses, including two 54 x 77-inch and six 43 x 60-inch seven-color presses plus inline UV and aqueous coaters. The KBA Rapida 205 81-inch press became Edison's thirteenth sheetfed press and the keystone for its future growth. The KBA Rapida 162 64-inch six-color press will be Edison's fourteenth sheetfed press; two older presses will be retired to make room for the new press. In addition, Edison Litho expanded its New Jersey plant in 2005 to a total of 80,000 sq ft and installed a brand new web press in June.