Rapida press success at dye sublimation print firm

Avid Ink, a dye sublimation printer Corona, California, has increased its production throughput and artwork quality after installing a new KBA Rapida 162 64-in five-colour sheetfed press plus coater.

The large-format press was installed at Avid Ink's newly-built 110,000 square foot facility.

Rob Davis, chief executive officer and founder of Avid Ink, explained: 'We've grown to become the world's leading dye sublimation printer for the fashion industry by investing in the most cutting-edge technology.

Our business depends on being able to turn around overnight the latest designs for the fashion industry.

By investing in the new highly-automated KBA Rapida 162 64-in sheetfed press, we're increasing our quality and productivity by 200 per cent over our older press and reducing our make-ready time by 75 per cent.

This new press will make a huge difference in our business and put us even further ahead of our competitors.

Avid Ink's new Rapida 162 press provides automation and productivity coupled with higher press speeds as well as KBA's Logotronic management system.

The Logotronic management system provides company-wide digital data exchange between management, production, purchasing, logistics, and general office departments.

In addition, the new technology provides the KBA Densitronic S closed-loop colour management scanning densitometry system.

The new Rapida at Avid also includes a fully-automated plate changer.

With a library of more than 22,000 designs Avid Ink's work is produced and bought by apparel manufacturers.

After it receives an order, Avid Ink prints the design on its sheetfed offset press using its specially-formulated proprietary inks and special heat transfer paper and then imprints the clothing for its customers.

Rob Davis, said: 'Each week our team of designers produces 120 to 150 new unique proprietary designs.

To remain the world's leading dye sublimation business for the fashion industry, it is imperative that we are cutting-edge and fast.

In the fashion industry, styles and prints change overnight - one day it is a floral print, the next day it is a tattoo print.

Speed to market is a necessity.

Our new KBA press is a significant improvement in that regard, providing us with more efficiencies and speed.

Since its inception, Avid Ink has been utilising a much older 64-in KBA press as its workhorse machine.

However, the firm has been committed to upgrading its business with new computer-to-plate equipment in its pre-press department.

Once the decision was made to buy the new Rapida, the firm built a new facility to house the press and added new pre-press equipment to support it.

Now its press operators have been trained and the firm has made custom modifications to the press.

Davis added: 'Our press operators are very excited to start using the new press.

They are like high-speed race car drivers with a very specialised talent.

The new KBA press is similar to driving a new high-end race car; it will allow them to show-off their talents without any limitations.

We've had a very steady relationship with KBA ever since we bought our first press.

KBA been very supportive to us over the years as we've grown.

The company has provided us with training, service, and parts and we expect that partnership to continue with the purchase of our new press.

Avid Ink's art department produces open line designs while the printing and production departments include pre-press, digital (sample printing), and heat transfer machinery, which allows the company to provided colour accuracy.

Certified placement engineers undergo extensive training to ensure quality and placement accuracy of artwork at the point of heat transfer onto garments and fabrics, while customer service project managers work to understand the needs of each client to guarantee their products are delivered on time and true to design.

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