SOLON, OH - Graphco, RMGT’s Exclusive Distributor for 9, 7, 5, & 3 Series Presses in the Midwest and Southeast, will install an RMGT 970ST-5+CC+LED (5 Color with Coater) press at BRD Printing in Lansing, Michigan. The award-winning commercial print firm employs more than 30 full-time employees who produce high-quality brochures, catalogs, and magazines in their 28,000-square-foot plant which operates 16-20 hours per day. RMGT’s fastest selling flagship 970 produces 25” X 38” sheets at 16,000 SPH, offers fully automated plate changing, Insta.Color make-ready technology, and LED curing that will allow BRD Printing to more than double their throughput versus the German brand 640 with coater they are replacing. BRD will shed a competitive Japanese brand 628 with coater as well.

This installation will mark the 50th RMGT 9 Series press provided and supported by Graphco in their first decade as RMGT’s leading offset press Distributor in the USA. BRD Printing’s machine will join two 10-color long perfectors, eleven 8-color long perfectors, and numerous other configurations that are running each day in highly productive printing houses throughout their exclusive 17 state territory. “Having gotten to know Dave Lee so well during this project I’m extremely excited that BRD Printing will be our partner in this very important next step in both company’s evolution,” comments Chris Manley, President of Graphco.

“Some 98% of what we do is standard, CMYK four-color process work,” explains Dave Lee, President and CEO. With make-readies happening 75% quicker on the incoming RMGT press, Lee expects ROI (return on investment) to come back in a big way, and fast. “We project to save $335,000 in paper and make-ready efficiencies over the next twelve months. Based on discussions with several of Graphco’s customers, we project our waste sheets will drop by 75%, maybe more.” He projects this $28,000 per month savings will reverse the current trend of eroding profit margins amid persistent raw materials inflation.

“I remember going through the RMGT 970 press details and helping develop a workplan for gathering the data during a virtual meeting we had back during corona,” states Chris Manley. “After Dave dug into the current make-ready cost information at BRD, he was blown away by the amount of paper spoilage they had in a year’s time. He was convinced that once his operators hung the four printing plates, there had to be a better, more efficient way to get up to color. We demonstrated that was with RMGT Insta.Color technology. Dave talked to owners and press operators who consistently reported make-ready waste reductions going from 800 to 1,000 sheets down to 100 sheets. Those numbers captured his attention.”

Lee looks forward to the new 8-UP+ RMGT 970 press helping to bring BRD back to its pre-COVID financial performance. He has run the numbers. “We printed 53 million pieces in 2019, which equates to more than 6,000,000 press sheets. Our sales five years ago were over $6.5 million,” adds Lee, who first began sweeping the shop floor of the company he would later own as a teenager back in 1984. He soon learned how to run the presses, estimate jobs, produce job layouts, and operate every piece of bindery equipment in the shop. Nine years later, Dave was named General Manager, and in 2014 he bought BRD Printing from Don Hough who founded the company in 1977.

Using MIS-generated numbers based on 2022 data, Lee projects an annual cost savings of $165,000 in paper waste alone. “That’s going to represent a lot of tonnage saved between now and next spring [2025],” he notes. Instead of needing 11,000 to 11,500 sheets for a 10,000-run job, BRD will need only 10,400 to 10,500. In a real-world example, one job last year consisted of printing fourteen 16-page signatures. “There were 800 sheets of make-ready per form,” Lee relates, and BRD amassed 11,200 sheets of waste. “On the new press, that number should be around 2,500 [waste] sheets. When you multiply that level of savings for every job, it adds up quickly,” he points out.

On top of that figure, he calculates saving an additional $170,000 or more on dramatically shorter make-ready times, which should compress down to 10-15 minutes from 45-60 minutes on the press that will be replaced. “Even if we save only 30 minutes per make-ready, the savings still are substantial,” Lee notes. With a total of $28,000 per month of savings, and with the 970’s extremely affordable cost of acquisition and operation, the new press brings a tremendous ROI from the first month.

The BRD team is also excited about the ability to expand into new market areas with the help of the RMGT 970ST-5+CC+LED. “We anticipate that we’ll be more competitive on existing work, and be able to go after stuff we don’t get today, such as bigger catalog runs with longer page counts as well as board work and packaging,” Lee says. “Since our other press could only handle 18-point board, we were turning away work. With the RMGT 9 Series, we can print on up to 24-point board which handles 90% of the folding carton jobs we quote. We have a lot of work in that sweet spot between 20- to 22-point board which covers 90%+ of all folding cartons.” And with the advantages of LED curing, BRD will soon muscle into the plastics and special effects market segment in both Midstate, Detroit Metro and Grand Rapids.

“It’s been a great pleasure working with Dave and his Team on this new press project,” states Derek Gordon, Graphco’s Midwest Regional Manager who works with BRD Printing. “We are honored to be in business with BRD Printing, and I can’t wait to see how much this new press, and its amazing capabilities, brings to Dave’s pressroom. 50 is a very special number for us, and it’s awesome that a great company like BRD Printing is our 50th RMGT 9 Series. Thanks to Dave for this opportunity.”