SOLON, OH - January 1, 2014, was a pivotal date for the offset printing equipment industry as two global manufacturing giants, Ryobi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, formed a joint venture company called Ryobi MHI Graphic Technology Ltd. which is now known as RMGT. 2014 also marked the first full year of Graphco’s factory direct distribution, within the Midwest, of the newly rebranded RMGT printing machinery manufactured in the state-of-the-art Ryobi Ltd. factory in Fukuyama Japan.

One sure constant during this very complicated decade highlighted by a global pandemic, the eclipse of digital print equipment sales, and a shrinking skilled labor pool has been the rapid switch from a classic 40” offset printing platform to the new 8-UP and 8-UP+ formats championed by Graphco and RMGT. This new sheet format takes full advantage of the efficiency needed in the extremely competitive PRINT marketplace that has evolved during the past 10 years, and the adoption of this format has been widespread and deep.

Success Breeds Success
RMGT 920 and 970 Series presses are now running strong in over 125 printing operations around North America, and Graphco has placed 51 of these super-efficient producers in the Midwest and Southeastern US. The success of this brand-new format was never a forgone conclusion, but as print providers continued to focus on efficiency over square inches, and technological advances like LED curing became mainstream, the RMGT 9 Series has evolved into the go to press for print providers with a keen focus on their bottom lines.

“When we began selling this new size press the challenges were tremendous given the fact that for almost 30 years as prints grew, they just bought another 640 with coater,” states Graphco’s Chris Manley. “But in time, more and more of our customers began to see that producing a 15% or 20% smaller sheet on a press that cost 35% to 40% less, and has much lower operating costs, provides the market price for their PRINT output that they need to be competitive and profitable.”

Long Perfector Makes Comeback
The other significant shift that the RMGT 9 Series brought was a refreshing of the long perfector market segment. Graphco has placed fourteen (14) RMGT 9 Series Long Perfectors in their customer’s shops. Technology advances like LED curing (invented for the sheetfed market by Ryobi Graphic Systems in 2008), a much smaller footprint, much lower staffing requirements, and very importantly a nearly a $1,000,000 lower Capex (depending on press configuration) are some of the key factors that the RMGT 9 Series Long Perfectors addressed to spur this rapid adoption.

“In the early part of the 21st century no one could dispute the efficiencies of a 40” Long Perfector,” explains Manley. “However, at $3-4 million a copy, nearly 100 running feet of valuable floor space required, huge electrical usage, and a minimum of 2 highly paid pressmen to run these behemoths, the ROI on those investments were often very tough to realize. Especially when printers also had pressure to address other areas of their business like digital, wide format, finishing and other capex pressures.”

“In today’s market our solutions are extremely appealing, which in many cases can cost $1 million less than a 40-inch version,” continues Manley. “The efficiency of the RMGT 9 Series provides the lowest price per piece in the industry. Justifying an additional $180,000 to $200,000 annual debt burden for a 40” press while running a sheet that’s only 15-20% larger is problematic. Many of our RMGT Long Perfector users have been able to improve their finishing departments by using that $15,000/month on a new binder, cutting system or other important upgrades. At the end of the day the price per piece is the only thing that really counts, and the RMGT 9 Series Long Perfector cannot be touched in this regard.”

Market Share Growth
Based on the tremendous market share grab in Graphco’s original Midwest territory, during 2019 RMGT extended Graphco’s reach from the 13 midwestern states through the southeastern United States all the way to Key West, Florida. Then during summer of 2023, the decision was made that all 970, 920, 790, 760, 520, and 340 Series RMGT presses sold in the midwest and southeastern US market area would come exclusively through Graphco.

“This move allows us to provide the professional sales and highly responsive technical support that these extremely sophisticated and precision-engineered machines require and deserve,” states Derek Gordon, Graphco Midwest Regional Manager. “As we all know there’s no room for an unhappy customer, and Graphco’s highly regarded Technical Engineering Group’s reputation for 100% customer satisfaction is untouched. RMGT users throughout our area know they can count on Graphco’s Team to support their investments.”

Market share is often used as a gauge of brand success, and in addition to the sixty-one RMGT 9 and 7 Series presses placed by Graphco over the past decade, seventy-three “other brand” presses also left those plants as trade-ins during these transactions. “To date thirty-seven German and thirty-six Japanese “other brands” headed out of the USA to make room for better profitability of our customers.” comments Manley. “81% of these placements were brand new customers to Graphco and RMGT, which must say something about the impact we’ve made during our nearly 50 years in the printing industry.”

“When I made the move to Graphco in the early days of the RMGT project I was leaving a brand that could basically count on about a third of the press transactions in each sales season,” comments Gordon. “So this move was no slam dunk for me. But I believed in the Ryobi MHI Graphic Technology product, and the RMGT 9 Series platform. Honestly speaking, offering a completely new brand, with a 4-initial name to my established customers was the biggest challenge of my career. However, with so many successful printers running our machines every day I’m tremendously excited about the next decade for RMGT.”

“We appreciate the confidence that our highly valued customers, and RMGT’s management team, have placed in Graphco during this first decade,” concludes Manley. “Our whole team is keenly focused on making sure every RMGT customer is completely happy with their investments so their businesses grow. The reliability, durability, and quality of the RMGT brand is unrivaled, and I feel that in combination with Graphco’s commitment to distribution excellence our customers will continue to enjoy “The Unfair Advantage” every day.”