Pioneering UV Printer Stays with RMGT and GEW for LED-UV Upgrade: 8-Up Format Improves Productivity, Quality, and Profitability.

Champaign, Ill. – Martin One Source was founded 30 years ago as a forms distributor and print broker specializing in fully integrated business forms and high-quality print projects. As business quickly grew, President and CEO, Chuck Martin realized it would be more profitable to bring his print work in house, adding his first press to the operation in 2005. By 2007, Martin One Source added a fully automated 6-Up Ryobi 755XL equipped with state-of-the-art UV curing and the company quickly established itself as the leading high value add printer in Central Illinois.

Having enjoyed over eleven years of Ryobi print quality, durability and reliability, when Martin One Source knew it was time to add an 8-Up press the RMGT 940 was really the only press they considered. “With our first Ryobi’s track record it was hard to look elsewhere.” says Chuck Martin. “I do wish I had gone with this size press to begin with, but it wasn't available at the time,” Martin continued. “In 2007, we put in a 31-inch press, and we could do a 12-pager with a Dutch cut, but the RMGT 940 is a 37-inch press. It increased our output by a third. Since it allows for 8-up signatures, we save on paper costs, reducing our waste. Plus, our GEW Leo-LED-UV system is saving a ton of power over the conventional UV we replaced.”

Martin One Source continues to focus on serving the business needs of its customers, printing everything from corporate identity jobs to providing corporate apparel, and high value add print so that their clients can differentiate themselves in their vertical markets. “We do a little of everything, and we have a wide range of equipment now,” notes Martin. The RMGT 940 is currently running around the clock with multiple shifts, but Martin says there is still room for growth. The next phase of growth in the short term, will be moving some short-run digital work back to offset.

“We plan on ganging some of those digital jobs and moving them to offset where it’s less expensive — no click charges, just plates and ink. And if we gang up a few 500-piece jobs, it’s more cost-effective. Our make-readies only take a few minutes and with LED-UV we can roll right into finishing quickly” states Martin. “And our customers love the special effects we provide like Chemical Embossing and high gloss UV coatings. As the first printer in Central Illinois with a UV press back in 2008, our Sales Team is very experienced at selling high quality finishes and making projects really stand out.”

The new RMGT press has also helped Martin One Source bring additional work back in house that had to be brokered to several web printers. “We’re more economical now, more competitive on the larger projects with this 8-up sheet size,” says Martin. In addition, he notes that the print quality is outstanding using LED-UV inks. “The original Ryobi printed great and our new RMGT 9 Series really lays down the ink too,” Martin notes. “We are extremely pleased with this press.”

Although the 9 Series press has been in for less than a year, Martin is already starting to look ahead. Eventually Martin would love to put in a 10-color long perfector. “We’ve already been talking to the RMGT guys. Everyone at RMGT, Graphco and GEW have been phenomenal to work with. They really step it up to make sure everything is good to go. Our 940 is doing almost twice the work we did on the 750, which was always a real workhorse, so adding the long perfector should allow us to quadruple our production in roughly the same spot where our 750 sits now. The throughput potential is amazing.”

“It has been great to work with Chuck and his Team. When Graphco became the RMGT Distributor, Martin One Source was one of my first visits. I wanted to thank Chuck for producing one of the most impressive Capabilities Guides I’ve ever seen. I got one of these books full of UV Special Effects and amazing graphics back in 2008 and it helped me sell lots of high specification RMGT presses through the years.” states Chris Manley, President of Graphco, the RMGT distributor for the region. “At our meeting in 2014, Chuck told me how much he loved his first Ryobi and that he’d be adding another one soon. He's been a man of his word and it’s been great to see how the super-efficient RMGT 9 Series press is helping Martin One Source continue their growth.”