Exponential reduction in makeready times and increased run speed

The Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul have long held a rich tradition of being the home to many well-known names in the printing industry. But among the leading printers in this crowded market space, one has decided to set seismic goals amid the competitive field in an effort to reap benefits for both its prized customers and its own 200 employee internal team. Bolger Vision Beyond Print, a commercial printer and customized technology solutions company led by CEO dik Bolger, has long needed a sister press to accompany its KBA Rapida 105 10-color long perfector press to provide its sales force with additional capacity for its growing sales volume. Later this summer, the pressroom will be accommodating that need with the installation of a new KBA Rapida 105 six-color press with UV and full automation.

“The new KBA Rapida 105 six-color press will become our key workhorse,” says Bolger. “Our clients love our existing KBA 10-color perfector but we’re selling out of hours on the press. Not only will the new press give us extra capacity but it will also help us expand our luxury and education markets, as well as custom packaging. Now that we’re moving into our busy season in late summer, we’re depending on the new Rapida 105 six-color with all of its automation to cut our makeready times in half and double our run speed, which will have a multi-million dollar impact to our top line sales.” 

Bolger has been deftly overseeing the firm’s diverse portfolio, purchasing new growth business, adopting new workflow techniques, and continuing to be a pioneer for the environment. Of the many markets it serves, Bolger drilled down on its health care clients, which make up 30% of its business, and the demand by its luxury market for a high level of service and quality. 

“Our goal is to go above and beyond our clients’ expectations and provide them with the highest level of service and quality,” says Bolger. “For example, our healthcare market continues to grow and our clients expect a high level of security. To that end, we have numerous audits during the year to inspect our security systems. Like our health care customers, our luxury market clients have very high quality expectations. Our combination of services---litho, digital, large format, assembly, and mailing---are perfectly in tune to produce the highest level of luxury products for our clients.”

Bolger says that his press operators are clearly anticipating the arrival of the new KBA press with its comprehensive kit of fully automated technology. In an effort to maximize sheet drying and boost throughput, Bolger had the new Rapida 105 equipped with the popular KBA VariDry system assuring drying at maximum press speeds. The firm included the KBA CleanTronic system, which allows its UV interdeck dryers to remain in standby mode during blanket washing and helps regain valuable production time. To add extra automated systems to advance its quality and color management control, Bolger added the KBA ErgoTronic ColorDrive automatic color measuring system and automatic camera register ACR measuring system onto the new Rapida 105. Bolger also selected to add UV to boost this capability for its clients, especially for its uncoated paper work. Unlike its competitors, Bolger employs inhouse application developers whose sole purpose is to make it easier for Bolger pressman to complete some of the industry’s most complex specialty coating jobs as recognized by the numerous Printing Industry of Minnesota awards recently received. The firm will now have two presses with UV capabilities.

Adding the new press is one piece of Bolger’s successful puzzle. But the firm can also include its recent acquisitions and its environmental friendly posture to its continued momentum. The acquisition of Western Graphics in 2016 bolstered Bolger’s reputation and culture even further. The St. Paul, Minnesota-based provider of commercial and digital print, wide-format graphics, variable data management, and literature and inventory fulfillment services had a lean manufacturing philosophy that Bolger admired and adopted. This process of instituting a cost-effective streamlined mindset allowed Bolger to begin competing with smaller shops. “We’ve gained more clients in the manufacturing segment preparing instruction manuals and booklets all with a significant reduction of operator touches in prepress and press,” says Bolger. “We believe the automation on our new upcoming Rapida 105 will continue to provide us with the most cost-efficient sheetfed printing process.”

Earlier this year, Bolger continued its environmental friendly goal by being named a certified printing facility by the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), the leading authority in sustainable printing certifications. “We are proud to be SGP certified,” says Bolger. “It has and will change the way we produce our work. We’ve also learned that having our environmental sustainability certification makes an impact on potential clients. We’ve asked them after we’ve made our request for proposal (RFP), why did you choose Bolger? Their answer is our passion for our work and our environmental stance. It’s a winning combination for everyone involved.”

“We just completed our ten year plan for the company,” says Bolger. “We want to continue to be a sustainable, independent leader posting $100 million in sales. The new KBA Rapida 105 press will be a key player in reaching that milestone. There’s lots of excitement among our customers and our employees relating to the installation of the new press. It’s a clear message that we’re investing in the future of our customers as well as our own business.”

Steve Korn, KBA’s Director of National and Key Accounts, adds, “This new KBA Rapida 105 press investment made by Bolger Vision Beyond Print signals that one of the top printers in the Twin Cities has elected to again invest with KBA to provide access to higher technology for its existing and increasing roster of clients. We at KBA are truly honored to be part of Bolger Vision Beyond Print’s strategic investment plan. This capital investment initiative will propel manufacturing efficiencies and the resulting impact will be an important increase in both top line volume and bottom line profitability.” 

He continues, “We at KBA appreciate the strong partnership that we have enjoyed Bolger Vision Beyond Print. We applaud dik Bolger and his entire team on what they’ve achieved, their extraordinary growth in sales both organically as well as by acquisitions.  We are positive that this new KBA Rapida 105 press will cost-effectively drive more volume through Bolger Vision Beyond Print’s manufacturing platform, provide continuing growth, and continue Bolger Vision Beyond Print’s high quality and on-time service for many years to come.”

For over 80 years, Bolger Vision Beyond Print, a family-owned business has been delivering results for its Minneapolis-St. Paul clients, as well as national customers. Bolger was a pioneer in integrating customized communication services into a seamless, integrated process and continues to work closely with customers to provide imaginative solutions for their communication needs, using the latest technology available in print. Bolger has implemented sophisticated tools to protect sensitive data for particularly the healthcare and financial industries, leading the industry in creating a secure environment and establishing secure practices for managing sensitive customer data.