Keystone Folding Box Celebrates First Year with RMGT 970 Press

Keystone Folding Box Celebrates First Year with RMGT 970 Press

25” X 38” sheet format and LED-UV curing prove to be the ideal paperboard packaging print solution for Keystone’s high quality pharma folding carton products.

“With a maximum speed of 16,000 an hour, we're really seeing the results that are coming through on this press” says Wade Hartman, President of Keystone Folding Boxes, Inc. The recent addition of the RMGT 970 press to this New Jersey-based folding carton company has supported its continuation of business growth. A small boutique printery, Keystone Folding Boxes needed a printer with more capacity for printing while fitting within the company’s limited space. The RMGT 970 is able to fit a small section of shop while being gaining 100% of the performance of a larger printer just by having a little bit smaller screen size format.

“The LED curing is super fast, the jobs are coming out reliable, the print quality is just what we expect. We already have two Mitsubishis and this fits right in with that, but it's saving us power on the LED curing and we're getting excellent performance with it.”
-Wade Hartman

Since the start of operating the RMGT 970 press in January, Keystone reported that they have been increasingly routing more and more jobs to it thanks to the efficient results of this printer.

RMGT, manufacturer of the leading 8-up sheetfed press in North America, has installed a RMGT 970 offset printing press at Keystone Folding Box Co. Based in Newark, NJ, Keystone designs and manufactures folding cartons, capsules, blister cards and other packaging for customers in the healthcare field. The privately held company, which owns two other Mitsubishi/RMGT presses, is celebrating its 115th business anniversary this year.

“Much of the clinical trial and medical device work we do is quick turn,” explains Wade Hartman, President, Keystone Folding Box Co. “The new RMGT 970 runs fast at speeds exceeding 15,000 sheets per hour.” After 12 full months of operating the 25” X 38” size machine, Hartman reports that he could not be more pleased with its quality, speed and overall performance for the pharmaceutical packaging materials in which his firm specializes. “We keep sending more and more jobs to the 970,” Hartman reports.

Keystone intentionally chose the RMGT 970 press for its compact footprint which is ideally suited for its 50,000+-square-foot facility in New Jersey. “We have some floor space constraints,” admits Hartman, “but we were able to get this press into a tight space while still getting the excellent print quality we expect along with fast job turnaround times. Being able to print up to 24-point board on a 25 x 38-inch sheet, the RMGT 970 has 100% of the performance of a larger press.”

Exceptional cost performance increases profitability
Adding capacity has been another benefit of Keystone running the 970 model, adds Lloyd Molloy, director of customer service at equipment distributor RM Machinery (RMM). “The LED-UV curing technology has opened up their finishing and die cutting departments,” Molloy says, “facilitating overall growth for the firm in 2022.”

Light-emitting diode, ultraviolet curing units at the perfecting and delivery sections allows for instant drying at maximum press speed -- eliminating the need to wait before proceeding to postpress processes and satisfying the demand for shorter lead times. Keystone recently added a Bobst Expertcut 106 PER to their state-of-the-art die cutting operations. “The LED-UV provides instant curing off the press,” observes Hartman, “and, it is saving us money since it uses less power.”

Compared to 40-inch format presses, the 970 model has substantially lower plate costs and markedly lower power consumption. Research conducted by RMGT reveals that plate costs are reduced about 20%, power consumption by about 34% and installation space by about 30%.

Introduced in mid-2020, the RMGT 970 model lineup includes straight printing presses and convertible perfectors ranging from two to 10 colors. Coating units can also be installed. Large-capacity feeder and delivery piles as well as the newly designed larger cylinder diameters enhance printing capability on heavy stock.