North Carolina printer reaches average speeds of 18,964 iph on 127,625 sheets in less than seven hours on its KBA Rapida 106

KBA North America salutes its respected customer Winston Packaging, a fourth-generation family-owned printed paperboard packaging company located in Winston-Salem, NC, for its record-breaking world job production record on its KBA Rapida 106 41-inch six-color press. The record-breaking world job production record took place on August 11, 2014.

“We were pleased to congratulate our employees for their record-setting performance on the KBA Rapida 106, which ran 127,625 sheets of 29.5 x 41.5 inch paperboard in less than seven hours with an average speed of 18,964 iph on 8pt C1S board,” says James Gordon, president and CEO of Winston Packaging. “We are proud to be operating this high-performance KBA Rapida press at our facility. This amazing record reinforces our purchase decision to go with a KBA and clearly shows that we have the most productive press in the 102-106 size on the market.”

Several factors helped to determine the final result of this new world job production record at Winston Packaging starting with a truckload of paperboard that ran well on the press and the firm’s best press crew working that day. “We’ve run this same product many times previously but never achieved much higher than 17,500 iph average run speed for an entire shift,” says Gordon. “We weren’t sure if we could achieve average run speeds this high for an entire eight to ten hour shift but our talented press operators made it happen using all of the tools available to them on the press.”

Not only did Winston produce its record-breaking world job production record on its KBA Rapida 106 41-inch six-color press in August 2014, but the company was also recognized by the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) for achieving a major milestone for safety as it reached 500,000 hours without incident (lost time accident). “We have consistently ranked in the PPC Chairman’s Top Ten list of safest plants coming in at #7 nationally for the month of August,” says Gordon. “We’re quite proud of that safety recognition as well.”

The KBA Rapida 106 41-inch six-color press, which was installed in late 2012, has been Winston’s flagship press since it came on-line in January 2013 especially due to its larger format of 106 cm. “I’m very impressed with our Rapida 106,” says Gordon. “This press combines the best of both worlds in that it has very fast set-ups and best-in-class run-speeds of 20,000 iph.”

When Gordon and his team began seeking a new press for their facility two years ago, the goal was to find a press that would provide them with faster changeovers and faster run speeds along with advanced color management to provide their customers with the best performing folding cartons possible. Gordon and his team chose a KBA model, their first, over competitor press models for many reasons. One of the decisive reasons was several key features on the Rapida 106, such as its advanced feeder for the continuous running of board stock and its 20,000 iph press speed. These were significant differences over the firm’s former press manufacturer that drove their selection to the KBA. They were also impressed with the complete automation package from KBA.

Since its installation, Winston’s press crew has praised the KBA press for its unique automation that is much more advanced than their previous press. “Our press operators really like the Rapida 106,” says Gordon. “After receiving sufficient training on the press, they’ve been able to use all of the bells and whistles that they didn’t have before. Our customers who visit our facility are also quite impressed with the Rapida as well.”

Gordon and his entire family of employees at Winston Packaging could not be more proud of their world record. “Being a third-generation owner of a 103-year-old family business, I can say with confidence that this is the first world record we have ever achieved, at least during my 36 years of service,” says Gordon.

Winston Packaging is a fourth-generation family-owned printed-paperboard packaging company founded in 1911 in downtown Winston-Salem, NC. Alexander G. Gordon established the firm as a commercial printing shop. He was a journeyman bookbinder and entrepreneur who promoted the use of color in the printing industry. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. became one of the company's largest customers after its inception and remained so for 82 years. John R. Gordon succeeded his father as company president in 1953. His experience as an industrial engineer and his electronics and military experience in the Air Force during World War II and Korea helped bring new technologies to the company. He added offset printing presses and improved the workflow processes and management techniques. Over the years, Winston Printing shifted its operation from commercial printing to printed-paperboard packaging, and, since 1999, has done business as Winston Packaging. The company designs and makes paperboard packages for consumer products ranging from cigarettes to photo envelopes for a wide range of industries nationally and in Canada. Today, the company has 46 regular employees operating in an 80,000 square ft facility in Winston-Salem, NC.