Edward Enterprises Expands Packaging Capabilities with Heidelberg Speedmaster
Edward Enterprises, like many printers in business for sixty-five years, has weathered innumerable challenges throughout its long history. Despite these challenges, the Honolulu based company continues to find new ways to reinvent itself and today is considered the largest commercial printer in Hawaii. Needing a press capable of expanding its burgeoning folding carton business, Edward Enterprises recently installed a Speedmaster CX 104 from HEIDELBERG. The new six-color press equipped with UV curing replaces two older presses and has drastically improved the plant’s throughput and efficiency.
More Output, Less Shifts
After fifty years of commercial printing, Edward Enterprises began producing its first folding cartons almost ten years ago when it installed a Varimatrix die cutter and Easygluer folder gluer – both from HEIDELBERG. While there was a slow learning curve at start-up, “HEIDELBERG was there for us every step of the way, educating and training us year after year,” said Alex Upton, Vice President of Operations for Edward Enterprises. Shifting more of its business from commercial to packaging printing was always part of the company’s long-term plan, but in 2020, the pandemic accelerated that shift even faster. Wanting to further improve its packaging capabilities and efficiency, Edward Enterprises installed a new Speedmaster CX 104-6+L in May to replace its twenty-five-year-old CD 102 and XL 75. Since installation, the press has cut the company’s maintenance costs and consumables usage in half.
“Our need for a new press was pure necessity,” said Upton. “We planned to purchase one earlier, but then the pandemic happened. Our CD 102 had over 350 million impressions, and its outdated UV and coating system limited our capabilities and the type of folding carton work we could run.”
Running at 15,000 sheets per hour, the new CX 104 has significantly increased the company’s print capacity. The new press is fully equipped with HEIDELBERG’s latest technology, which includes autonomous Push-to-Stop technology and a completely new operating philosophy, the HEIDELBERG User Experience (UX). Coupled with the patented Intellistart 3 and other assistance systems, HEIDELBERG UX ensures short makeready times and the best possible support for press operators throughout the press run. Edward Enterprises selected the CX 104 based on its speed and the types of jobs and quantities the company typically runs. According to Upton, “HEIDELBERG played a huge part in helping us determine the specs that would best serve our existing customers and our expected growth.” After running only a few months, the CX 104 produces more work in two 8-hour shifts than the company could produce with three 10-hour shifts on its two older presses.
Edward Enterprises has significantly reduced its production time and waste thanks to the press’s state-of-the-art UV curing system. The company, who produces many cartons for chocolates and candy sold throughout Hawaii, often runs these boxes with four colors plus UV with a strikethrough coating. With the outdated drying system on its older press, Edward’s team had to resort to multiple passes through the press to achieve the desired effect. “This presented a lot of its own issues,” said Upton. “Being able to do this in one pass on the CX is a game changer for us.”
Additionally, Prinect Axis Control, the fastest spectrophotometer in its class with a measuring speed of 200 mm/second (7.87 in/sec.), has reduced the makeready time at Edward Enterprises by at least 75% with the expectation to further reduce times as the operators continue to get more comfortable with the new technology. “We used to measure density the old-fashioned way with hand-held spectrophotometers. Now paper usage has reduced significantly – we use less makeready sheets and run fewer waste sheets. Hitting color in one to two pulls is just incredible,” said Upton.
In Good Hands
To further boost its efficiency, Edward Enterprises chooses to use HEIDELBERG’s Saphira Consumables and Prinect Production Manager. After using both workflow and plates from a competitive technology for the past twenty years, Edward Enterprises made the switch to Prinect six months prior to its press installation. “The undeniable advantages of Prinect are the color accuracy between proof and press and its seamless integration to the CX 104,” said Upton. Additionally, the majority of Edward Enterprise’s consumables including press chemistry and inks are all from HEIDELBERG. He said, “Running all HEIDELBERG consumables alleviated a lot of the issues we had on press for years.”
Edward Enterprises is also equipped with multiple Versafire digital presses and POLAR cutters. The company changed to Versafire from another digital provider, and since installation, has produced “the quality and stability we needed,” said Upton. It also plans to continue expanding the digital side of its business by upgrading its Versafires in the coming years. “All of our HEIDELBERG products have played a key role in our ability to grow our business’s capabilities over the years,” said Upton. “With HEIDELBERG, we always know we’re in good hands. They have unbeatable support and expertise. They’re all great people too.”
The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.
