KBA North America, a leading sheetfed offset press manufacturer based in Williston, Vt., is announcing that Johnson Printing & Packaging Corporation, a Minneapolis-based award-winning nationally-recognized commercial printing and packaging firm, has installed a KBA Rapida 105 41-inch seven-color sheetfed press with inline spot UV coating capabilities in September 2004. “Our niche is to provide high-end value-added jobs to our nationwide customer clientele,” says Stuart Weitzman and Charles Silverman, owners of Johnson Printing & Packaging Corporation. “Our new Rapida 105 seven-color press is providing us with more color, higher speeds, better color control, and inline UV spot coating for the high-end folding cartons, point-of-purchase displays, commercial printing, preloaded inserts, and carded packaging that we produce.” Johnson Printing & Packaging replaced a competitor’s five-color sheetfed press with coater with the new KBA Rapida 105 seven-color press with inline spot UV coating. Completely automated, the KBA Rapida 105 is equipped with the Closed Loop Color Management system. Once a press sheet has been approved, that same press sheet is read by a spectrophotometer, which records the varying ink densities across the sheet. Throughout the press run, sheets are scanned by the spectrophotometer and the computer automatically adjusts the press to run to the approved sheet. “The Closed Loop Color Management system is terrific,” says Weitzman. “Color consistency from start to finish is guaranteed! This is especially important for our cosmetic packaging jobs in which color consistency is critical.”  Growing trend: Inline spot UV coating  The firm was also tracking a growing development in its market. “We believe that UV coating is a growing market for our company,” says Weitzman. “To this end, we wanted a press that provided inline spot UV coating capabilities to make us more efficient and give us higher speeds and much more throughput than we’ve ever had before. The new KBA Rapida 105 41-inch press is the solution for us.” When the new KBA Rapida 105 seven-color press was being installed, Johnson Printing & Packaging prepared a unique self-promotion piece to introduce the new press to its customers. The firm sent pop-up birth announcement to its customers using the firm’s printing, die-cutting, and gluing techniques to grab attention. More recently, the firm has produced a planning cover using special effect varnish techniques to produce a high-gloss pattern and texture to display the Rapida’s inline UV spot coating ability. Johnson Printing Company was established in 1921 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The company’s goal was to only deliver products and provide services that exceed customer expectations, are best in value and are constantly improving. By the late 1920s, with the company’s name was synonymous with quality, the firm found that it needed to move to larger quarters in downtown Minneapolis. Wanting to serve all of its customer's needs, the firm expanded into point of purchase displays, folding cartons and carded packaging. Almost overnight, packaging became more than 50% of its business. In 1982, to better reflect its entire business, the firm became Johnson Printing & Packaging. In 1984, the firm constructed a new 130,000 sq ft facility in Fridley, Minnesota, to continue its growth. Today the firm features presses ranging from 14 x 20-inch to 38 x 50-inch with the ability to print on a wide array of substrates includinglight weight fine printing papers, Tyvac and plastics, SBS and recycled substrates, foil, litho-label stock, and micro flute. Over the years, Johnson Printing & Packaging has been presented with unique challenges that have led the company to develop customized solutions. The firm’s novel approach has earned them the recognition of the National Paperbox Association: • NPA Gold Award - Kuryakyn Holdings-Motorcycle Accessory Kit • NPA Excellence - Award-Estee Lauder/Aveda - Holiday Gift Cartons • NPA Gold Award - Graham Webb International - Gift Sets • NPA Excellence Award - Prince Golf International - Nitro Golf Ball Cartons