Pioneer Press Installs RMGT 9 Series LED-UV Perfecting Press
Pioneer Press, a leading commercial printer in the greater Denver, CO, market is installing an eight-color RMGT (Booth N801) 9 Series perfecting press with LED-UV curing in 2022. Based in Greeley, CO, Pioneer Press has been in business for more than 45 years, with the current ownership in place since 1999. The installation of the eight-color RMGT perfecting press will upgrade their capabilities, producing an increase in production efficiency of 300%. This will be the first LED-UV press of this size in the state of Colorado.
“After my father and I purchased the company in 1999, I started by working directly with and for production so I could learn all the processes we were asking our employees to perform,” states Cris SoRelle, president, Pioneer Press. “As my role in the company evolved, this allowed me to realize that technological advances can significantly impact production capabilities. One of the skills I brought to the company was my understanding of analytics. I upgraded our estimating system so that we had a better understanding of our true costs. The knowledge gained from the new system allowed us to be more competitive, and we tripled our business. We have been fortunate to have a business that is very stable even during difficult economic times, and we have been able to grow through these times.”
Pioneer Press has been able to leverage technology to create efficiencies for its customers. “We won’t always be the first company over the wall, but we sure won’t be far behind!” states Bob Shoemate, vice president of operations. “As soon as a technology proves itself, we are right there, from automating prepress, online storefronts that implement Web-to-print, and even our digital printing capabilities. When it came time to buy a new press, we went with the most current and proven technology that offers the greatest rewards to both our production team and our customers, and that was clearly the RMGT 9 Series.”
“Our current clientele prints on a lot of synthetic substrates,” states Rudy DeSousa, vice president of sales, Pioneer Press. “These sheets can take a few days to dry, and they take up a lot of room while drying. With the RMGT, the vinyl sheets are dry immediately off press. We can trim them and get them out the door, giving our customers faster turn times.”
“When you live in a state as beautiful as Colorado, how our processes impact the environment is always a consideration.” continues SoRelle. “We recycle a large percentage of our waste, but when we learned how LED-UV reduces our carbon footprint by using 81% less energy, that certainly got our attention.
It makes sense, we all know how efficient LED light bulbs are compared to incandescent, and how long they last,” agrees DeSousa. RMGT uses an LED-UV system that is instant on/instant off, unlike traditional ARC curing lamps that stay on all day. It also cures at a very low temperature using minimal energy, and the ink it uses are 0% VOC (volatile organic compounds).
The active color management system allows Pioneer to use far less paper to get the press, up to color, and the size chosen uses roughly 30% less raw material for plates and paper than the larger presses. “All of these things are good for our environment and our customers,” concludes SoRelle.
