{"id":4083,"date":"2024-10-16T11:08:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T11:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/?p=4083"},"modified":"2024-10-16T11:08:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T11:08:16","slug":"packaging-printer-to-add-3-in-presscolor-controllers-in-u-s-southeast-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/?p=4083","title":{"rendered":"Packaging Printer to Add 3 In-pressColor Controllers in U.S. Southeast Facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lithec, a global leader of inline color control and inspection systems for the graphic communications industry, is installing a trio of LithoFlash (LF) units at\u00a0Malnove Inc.<\/span>\u2019s Jacksonville, FL plant. Over the past three years, the United States\u2019 largest independent folding-carton printer has seen makeready times and paper usage shrink on four other LF-retrofitted presses at its facilities in Omaha, NE, and Clearfield, UT (near Salt Lake City).<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

The Florida plant features three,\u00a0<\/span>seven-color, Koenig & Bauer Rapida large-format sheetfed machines: 142 and 145 models. \u201cWe expect the new LithoFlashes to be operational in Jacksonville by this December,\u201d reports Tom Williams, Malnove\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Vice President of Manufacturing. \u201cOur color-control journey started three years ago in Utah and, after seeing a 38% or so reduction in waste, we decided to bring four more of the Lithec units to Omaha in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Williams attributes Malnove\u2019s better yields to getting up to color faster: Using far fewer sheets, the LithecUSA fully automated, closed-loop measurement control system has sped makereadies by up to 20% from job to job. \u201cLithoFlash is a game-changer, and our team is excited about using it,\u201d he shares. Although he was nervous, at first, about obtaining buy-in from some of the more seasoned press operators in Omaha last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the older guys view their eyes as their \u2018skill value,\u2019 but they have come to trust and embrace this LF technology. We are on pace in Nebraska to save 682,000 sheets this year!\u201d Williams exclaims. For reference, that number equates to some 290 fewer skids required on average. (Depending on thickness, between 2,200 and 2,500 sheets are stacked per pallet.)<\/p>\n

Time and paper cost money, so now there\u2019s room in the Malnove budget for Florida\u2019s turn. The Jacksonville plant presently spans 190,000 square feet and employs approximately 200 people, who run three shifts daily (24\/7). \u201cWe are growing in northeast Florida and plan to nearly double our space there, to 360,000 square feet, by the end of 2025,\u201d Williams excitedly announces. The expansion is an opportunity to lower costs by bringing warehousing on site, he explains. More importantly, \u201cit\u2019s a chance to automate better and lay out our paperboard-packaging production more efficiently,\u201d notes Williams.<\/p>\n

Clients have come to expect superior quality, and Malnove\u2019s overall print quality has improved because \u201ccolor simply is more consistent from sheet to sheet,\u201d he observes. By reading color bars and making ink-key adjustments as sheets run live and leave the last printing unit, LF eliminates the need to manually measure color bars at the press console.<\/p>\n

There is another benefit to not having to \u201cchase color:\u201d With the help of automation, less-skilled employees can more quickly acclimate. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to find experienced pressmen, so having tools like LithoFlash makes it easier to train new team members,\u201d he adds, noting that the much-publicized labor shortage is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lithec, a global leader of inline color control and inspection systems for the graphic communications industry, is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4087,"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions\/4087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.print3.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}