Leading pharmaceutical printer addresses clients’ needs for shorter run lengths and critical quality monitoringTwo New Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106 Perfector Presses Arrive at Platinum Press

• Seeing a big jump in business, these new “game changer” presses are providing increased capacity and delivering greater value to its pharmaceutical customers
• Gaining the ability for quick switches between paper and board
• New superior sheetfed offset technology from Koenig & Bauer provides Platinum with a competitive advantage

As the pharmaceutical industry continues to raise its quality packaging standards and is often asked to update its boxed government regulations, Platinum Press has been upgrading its internal systems, procedures, and equipment to adapt to the quickly changing environment for folding cartons. Its management team is taking advantage of new press technology, which provides quicker changeovers and increased throughput.

After putting a number of presses to the test, Platinum was extremely impressed with the Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106 perfector press, enough so that it purchased two: a Rapida 106 eight-color perfector with coater and a Rapida 106 five-color perfector. Both arrived at Platinum’s modern 220,000 sq ft facility in Ft. Worth, TX in 2024.

“These two new presses are faster and more efficient than the two presses we are retiring,” says Tom Miller, Platinum’s CEO. “They allow us to increase our capacity and throughput and optimize our quality and speed levels so that we can transition between jobs, which is critical in our case. We are able to switch between printed literature and cartons on the same piece of equipment, which we were not able to do in the past. After a thorough inspection, we firmly believe the Koenig & Bauer Rapida presses are cutting-edge equipment that allow us to deliver even greater value to our pharmaceutical customers.”

As the pharmaceutical industry transitions from long-run orders produced quarterly to smaller, more frequent batch ordering, Platinum is addressing its client’s needs with faster production of significantly smaller run sizes of five to 15 thousand orders of printed components like inserts, printed literature labels, or cartons. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are also faced with frequent modifications to the content of the printed components; as such they only have a finite time to use their existing inventory until it has to be switched. Add to that the strict government regulations of quality control checks that increase the costly process. Having the new ultra-fast Koenig & Bauer Rapida press systems to change over jobs more quickly and reduce set up between jobs is a huge benefit for Platinum and its customers, says Michael Miller, its vice president of manufacturing. A game changer, he adds enthusiastically.

“Our operators are so excited to have the ability to pre-set certain job parameters on press,” says Michael Miller. “The time to set up between jobs is significantly less due to the Rapida press’ features. We have historical data from past jobs and the press sets up the job at a push of the button to those previous parameters. It allows us to switch jobs in a matter of minutes. This is significantly reducing our waste, and our set up time, which are savings that we can pass along to our clients.”

Platinum’s management team took a hard look at other press manufacturers putting two pieces of equipment side by side to test certain parameters that they wanted to establish. One of the big selling points, recalled Tom Miller, was that Koenig & Bauer was able to meet the output goals that they promoted and Platinum was able to see it in action running at high productivity. The press won hand’s down, he added.

In ordering its two Rapida 106 perfector presses, Platinum took an assessment of its current work and what it anticipates in the future to configure each press accordingly. “Our belief is that sheetfed offset technology from Koenig & Bauer is far superior to other technology on the market,” says Andrew Vale, Platinum’s vice president of sales. “These presses provide us with new opportunities and allow us to gain additional business here in the U.S. It’s a very significant piece of machinery offering enhanced efficiencies and unmatched quality. Our entire firm of 229 employees is excited to welcome this new momentous press solution offering innovation and excellence.”