High Anticipation as Foremost Graphics Invests in First-Ever KBA Rapida 106 at New Packaging Facility

There’s high anticipation for this upcoming fall season at Foremost Graphics in Michigan and it’s not due to college football. That’s when the 100-employee firm will move its fast-growing packaging division from an old multi-floor furniture factory to a newly remodeled state of the art 80,000 sq ft facility outside of Grand Rapids and install its first-ever KBA Rapida 106 41-inch sheetfed press. Along with the press, new ERP software and additional material handling equipment will provide improved workflows and shared resources with its existing corporate headquarters in the city of Walker, MI.

“We’re at an exciting crossroads in our packaging business. We’ve invested millions of dollars in new equipment, including the KBA press, as well as in a new facility,” says Paul Kelly, president of Foremost Graphics. “Our goal is to facilitate the strong expansion in the packaging segment of our business, where we see equal growth opportunities in market segments including health and beauty, automotive and food processing for our national client base.”

Originally formed as a commercial and flexographic printer, Foremost Graphics Group LLC entered the packaging sector two years ago when it acquired the print packaging business from Cedar Springs-based Display Pack Inc.  Since then, Foremost Graphics has developed its growth strategy around the folding-carton packaging industry, which encompasses paper-based packages used primarily for consumer items.

Since adding packaging to its broad portfolio of services, the firm has taken an aggressive stance to partner with folding carton buyers and differentiate itself from its competition. Foremost has had its pulse on the packaging industry seeing the proliferation of products on today’s market shelf as opposed to 10 years ago and the keen sense that marketers want their products to stand out, look different and unique. Foremost is offering its expertise to these marketing managers and brand owners who require flexibility, color fidelity, and smaller volume runs of multiple designs, as well as, longer runs of specialty packaging.

That’s where the new KBA Rapida 106 41-inch press comes into play as the key workhorse for Foremost. Kelly and his management team decided that the KBA Rapida 106, as opposed to other press manufacturer competitors, will double its capacity, allow for faster changeovers, expand its range of substrates, and improve efficiency throughout its workflow.

“This new KBA press answers the demands that our customers are requesting,” says Kelly. “We’re currently running paperboard and PVC plastic but we see expanded caliper and plastics with our new KBA press. We really like the feeder system of the KBA, which should allow us to consistently run at higher speeds. We also think the plastics package will provide a competitive advantage and we expect the camera system to assist with our quality initiatives. Our new KBA Rapida 106 is state of the art technology when running heavier substrates and plastics and will be used primarily for packaging products. This single press should allow us to produce all our current business with the highest quality and best throughput while providing additional capacity for growth. We are pretty conservative in our projections but we anticipate at least 50% more throughput on the KBA than on our two current presses.”
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