(Left to right) Mark Kagan, Chief Growth Officer; Al Kagan, the firm’s founder; and David Kagan, CEO; are excited to welcome their new Koenig & Bauer Rapida 145 seven-color large format this summer.

Provider of folding cartons for store brand food and consumer products estimates a 50 % increase in manufacturing capacity

• Private label folding carton growth necessitates a faster, more automated press
• Massachusetts firm differentiates itself by offering both domestic and internationally procured paperboard
• Koenig & Bauer Rapida 145 was chosen as a proven, market-leading asset that will support its fast growth

As the folding carton market continues to grow, it is experiencing significant positive changes. These include new client requests for designs and substrates, the explosion of SKU proliferation in the retail landscape, and the immense expansion of the private label market. Century Box, a leading provider of folding cartons for store brand food and consumer products, clearly understands these opportunities. Its goal is to be a strategic partner for its clients and to produce their folding carton products with the highest quality and in the most efficient manner.

“Being a true packaging partner for our clients is the foremost responsibility for any folding carton manufacturer including our firm,” says David Kagan, CEO of Century Box, who oversees the company along with his brother Mark Kagan, Chief Growth Officer. “We have garnered a best-in-class reputation since we were established in 1978 to offer our clients the full array of both domestic and internationally procured paperboard for their folding carton jobs. To continue as leaders in our market, our management team decided to pursue a new fully automated updated press last year and we are excited to welcome our new Koenig & Bauer Rapida 145 seven-color large format this summer.”

The new press, which will replace an existing Koenig & Bauer press, offers state-of-the-art upgrades both from a technology and manufacturing perspective. Top of the list is speed, quality and automation. The new Rapida 145 will be significantly faster and will more than double Century’s large format manufacturing capacity.

As client requests have grown to include a variety of different paperboard, Century looks forward to its new Rapida in using its unique capability of supporting these various substrates in an efficient and optimum manner. Century prides itself on being able to fit the specific needs of its clients with whatever board drives their vision.

As for press automation, Century’s customers will appreciate its high-quality inspection systems, in which the press scans each and every sheet. This is especially important as Century has seen the proliferation of private label packaging. A single branded SKU that ran five to 10 years ago has now exploded into 20-30 SKUs in today's marketplace. Century’s ability to manage and quickly produce jobs with proliferated SKUs has driven its growth over the past five years.

Kagan and his team were highly impressed with the Koenig & Bauer press automation and maintenance of the press. “They have spent a great deal of attention when it comes to maintaining the high-quality of the press,” he says. The automated systems and tools that the press monitors make sure that those required maintenance blocks are being performed properly. The washup and mounting plates on press are extremely fast and highly efficient. This promotes less downtime and more production.”

The new press will be a key addition to the firm’s comprehensive portfolio of printing, converting and finishing capabilities across a range of paperboard grades, with a particular expertise in the replacement of single-use plastic packaging with high visibility, recycled paperboard packaging. Century operates out of two facilities in northeastern Massachusetts, including a recently expanded 120,000 sq. ft. primary production facility and a converting center with an additional 30,000 sq. ft. and employing 150.

“Choosing the Koenig & Bauer Rapida press was an easy choice,” says Kagan. “We personally feel they are the best large format press on the market. We’ve been operating our Koenig & Bauer press for 20 years and it is an excellent piece of equipment. Its team is very easy to work with and extremely helpful given there’s a lot of new technology on this press.”