Wisconsin Printer to Install 6-Up Ryobi Offset Press for Package Printing

MILWAUKEE—April 28, 2014—Next month, Graphic Edge Printing and Packaging, a successful, fast-growing commercial and package printer in metro Milwaukee, will take delivery of a new five-color, 6-up Ryobi press custom configured to accommodate up to 31-point board for package printing.

It will be the first U.S. installation of the 31" Ryobi 755XL-D Packaging Edition offset press—which beat out competing 6-up offerings from German and Japanese press manufacturers based on Ryobi’s attractive entry price, low total operating cost and record of reliability. The new press will be among the spotlighted topics at the RYOBI MHI Open House May 7-8 in metro Atlanta.

The new Ryobi Packaging Edition press features automatic deployment and retraction of transfer drums to accommodate stocks ranging from onion skin to heavy board stock. It also features a special heavy-duty feeder as well as an air-guide system to ‘float’ sheets through the 16,000-sph press without marking. Ryobi’s Smart Makeready technology drives makereadies down to six minutes.

The press was sold by Ryobi distributor Graphco in Cleveland and its partner, Guaranteed Service and Supplies in West Bend, WI. Graphic Edge owner Dale Skinkis runs the 18-employee, $3 million revenue company with his wife, Dawn. They also own four Digital Edge Copy and Print Centers in metro Milwaukee. Both Skinkis companies serve Fortune 500 firms to small businesses.

As part of their decision on the new press, Dale and Dawn Skinkis traveled to the RYOBI MHI Graphic Technology manufacturing center near Hiroshima, Japan, where they saw their press being built. They also visited a Japanese commercial and package printer, nearly identically in size and capability to Graphic Edge, which had the RYOBI 755XL-D running at full production.

“We’d done extensive due diligence and testing of Ryobi’s 6-up press in the U.S. We couldn’t find a single printer who had anything bad to say about it—and it never failed any of our print tests,” Skinkis explained. “In addition, we already own several Ryobi presses, including the 2-up RYOBI 524GE press, which ran for more than three years without a single maintenance call. Print quality was a given because we know Ryobi prints an extremely true, clean dot.”

“So we were pretty sure the Ryobi Packaging Edition press was the one to help us grow our business. But we wanted to see the retractable ‘skeleton drums’ in action—this is the critical technology that enables printing of heavy stock,” said Skinkis.

“After seeing the press in the Ryobi factory and running full-out on the printer’s floor we knew this was the press for us—no hesitation, no question. We finalized the order right on the spot.”

Skinkis said the new press will drive new growth in package printing for Graphic Edge. The company’s niche: quick prototyping and then printing of folding carton retail packaging, from as little as 500 up to 20,000 units, in extremely quick turnarounds.

Typically, creating retail packaging takes four to six weeks or longer, but Graphic Edge will be able to do it in as little as 48 hours.

“The market for package printing is shifting with the growth of on-demand production,” said Skinkis. “When you serve the on-demand market well, on quality and price, you get the business.”

Graphic Edge Printing started in a suburban Milwaukee basement
Dale Skinkis went into the printing business right out of high school—and never looked back. After working for a printer for more than a decade, he set up shop in the basement of his home in Brown Deer, WI, producing letterheads and other commercial print on an AB Dick one-color offset press equipped with a T-Head. He met his wife, Dawn, at the bindery house he outsourced his work to.

Business grew briskly, fueled by packaging work for a supplier of printed wraps for disposable cameras. In 2000, Dale and Dawn moved the business to an 18,000-square-foot facility in Hubertus, WI, northwest of Milwaukee. For years, their largest press was a six-color Heidelberg. Now, all work previously run on the Heidelberg will be moved to the new RYOBI 755XL-D.

“We see a very bright future for package printing,” Dale Skinkis explained. “We also believe offset can very effectively compete with digital printing for a long time to come on general commercial printing, package printing and specialty printing. With offset, it’s all about great marketing—and great service.”

“In fact, we have a saying at our company: ‘Great service is good business.’”

About Graphic Systems North America (GSNA)
GSNA delivers the full line of RYOBI MHI sheetfed offset presses and technologies together with immediate support and parts fulfillment to commercial, in-plant, packaging and specialty printers.

Formed in 2013 with co-headquarters in four U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, the GSNA group has more than $60 million in revenue and the single largest press sales, service and parts team in North America. GSNA serves all 50 states and Canada and also oversees a network of 20 printing equipment dealer-partners.

More than 30 print industry sales consultants offer sophisticated business analytics to support capital equipment decisions. More than fifty factory-trained technicians and parts professionals deliver real-time support from Ryobi’s engineering and technical team in Japan. Six separate spare parts depots across three North American time zones are closely aligned to ensure printers have quick, often overnight access to parts.

The GSNA master distributors are:
Western U.S.: Print & Finishing Solutions
Midwest/Central U.S.: Graphco
Northeast U.S.: G.E. Richards
Southeast U.S.: Paper Handling Solutions
Western Canada: Canadian Printing Equipment
Eastern Canada: KBR Graphics Canada

RYOBI MHI Graphic Technology is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of sheetfed offset printing presses, hardware, software and peripherals. Its high-speed, advanced automation, multicolor presses are respected worldwide for unsurpassed print quality, low total cost of ownership, ease of operation and extreme reliability.

To get in touch with your local RYOBI MHI expert, please visit www.ryobi-group.com. To RSVP for the May 7-8 open house in metro Atlanta, please call (770)955-3770.

Source: RYOBI MHI.