Adams Litho Invests in Heidelberg Equipment to Grow Packaging Business

VersaFire EP

Over the past 10 years, Adams Litho’s percentage of sales in packaging has been skyrocketing. With expectations that packaging sales will continue to increase, Adams Litho of Chattanooga, Tenn. invested in several Heidelberg (Booth 10143) machines — a Speedmaster CD 102-6+L, a Diana Easy 115, an Easymatrix 106 CS, and Versafire EP.

According to Wyatt Hogue, president of Adams Litho, “Packaging is growing. It’s crucial that we are able to provide what is needed to produce unique and high-end packages.”

Flexible press for large variety of substrates

In order to print the highest quality packages for their customers, Adams Litho chose the six-color Speedmaster CD 102 with UV capabilities — their third CD press — for its flexible processing of a large variety of jobs and materials.

“The CDs have always been a great fit for us,” says Hogue. “Currently, our newest CD 102 is sitting next to our 2008 Speedmaster CD 102-6+L; however, our new press has UV capabilities, which allows us to print on uncoated paper and different non-porous substrates. We run UV 100% of the time, 24 hours a day, five days a weeks, and our operators have loved running it.”

A folder-gluer that grows with Adams Litho

Printing high-end packages on their CD 102, Adams Litho was still outsourcing their folding-gluing. According to Hogue, “We outsourced to great vendors, but this caused us to lose time and control. To offer our customers the best, we needed to bring a folder/gluer in-house. Once we saw the Diana Easy 115 at the Print Media Center Atlanta, we knew it was right for us.”

The Diana Easy allows entry into the folding carton market, and can grow with Adams Litho’s future requirements. It offers a high degree of operator friendliness, such as feed belts, which can be changed in less than a minute, and Digiset — a software that suggests the position of each carrier after the operator enters the key carton dimensions.

According to Hogue, “It’s perfect for us. As this is our first folder/gluer, we really wanted a machine that was easy to learn for our operators. Our goal is to fill this Diana Easy up to maximum capacity and buy another one — it’s going to be a huge segment for us.”

High-precision diecutter to expand productivity

“After the Diana purchase, we noticed that we still weren’t reaching our full potential. We had a press and a folder/gluer that were expanding our capacity; however, our diecutter was holding us back,” says Hogue.

Replacing their older die-cutter with the Easymatrix 106 CS, Adams Litho increased productivity by more than 100%. The Easymatrix runs at speeds up to 7,700 sheets per hour, with short makeready times thanks to the intuitive touchscreen interface, motorized cutting pressure adjustment, and quick-lock technology for dies and stripping tools. With a 41" format and non-stop functionality in the feeder and delivery, longer runs can be processed efficiently.

“We can’t have a bottleneck here. All of our machines need to be performing at industry-leading speeds, and with the highest quality. With our Easymatrix, we no longer have a weak link in our print shop,” says Hogue.

Digital press perfect for packaging

For short-run commercial and packaging work, Adams Litho chose the Versafire EP due to its ability to support 24 point stock, plus a variety of synthetics. According to Hogue, “If someone needs a very small run of a package, we can run 500 packages on the Versafire. Before, we were limited with the substrate we could use, so adding these capabilities is huge deal for us.”

Printing with an image resolution of 4,800x2,400 dpi and a new toner formula, the Versafire EP maintains high throughput and quality, along with reliable production. According to Hogue, “We looked at a variety of digital presses, and when we got the samples back from each one, the Versafire’s samples definitely stood out amongst the rest.”

Dependable service

As a partner of Heidelberg for decades, Adams Litho continues to choose Heidelberg for their service and dependability.

“Working in the printing industry, you know that you are going to be down, so you need a vendor that is going to get you back up and running as fast as possible. If I have a service call this afternoon, Heidelberg will be here tomorrow morning with a part already on order,” says Hogue. “We strive to give our customers the best service, and we look for that in a vendor. Heidelberg definitely does that for us.”