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New investment results in faster makereadies for Battlefield Press

July 11, 2018  By PrintAction Staff


L to R: Jerry Theoret, President/CEO of Battlefield, Matt Theoret, Battlefield Director of Production, and Aleks Lajtman, Koenig & Bauer Regional Sales Manager.

A family-owned offset print shop now in its third generation in Burlington, Ont., says it is seeing faster makereadies and more efficient operations as a result of its new diecutting machine.

In May 2018, Battlefield Press replaced a diecutter from a different manufacturer with a new KBA-Iberica Optima 106 diecutter.

“Since we serve very high-end customers, it was very important to us to buy the best-made diecutter,” says Jerry Theoret, President of Battlefield. “For us, that meant it had to be European built.”

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Founded in 1964, Battlefield Press is described as one of the first businesses in Ontario to offer four-colour printing. In the 1990s, the firm started incorporating digital printing and workflow technology, and in 2005, began offering 12-colour perfector printing. Battlefield prints catalogues, books, maps, decals, boxes, banners, signs and more using specialty coatings from matte and gloss UV – usually in a single pass – to clear foil deboss and prints on everything from 40lb text to 40pt vinyl.

Battlefield learned the Optima 106 machine is capable of handling production of paper, cardboard, plastic and corrugated boards up to 1.5 mm, determining it would provide the flexibility needed to suit the print house’s varied jobs. Wanting to see where the die-cutters are manufactured, Battlefield’s management team traveled to the factory in Barcelona, Spain, to see how the machines are built.

The KBA-Iberica training team came to the 45,000-square-foot Burlington facility to teach the operators how to use the new equipment when it took possession of the new diecutter. Theoret says his company is looking forward to utilizing some of the special features on the machine, particularly, its unique grip edge removal and its diecutting of clear plastic substrates. Battlefield’s new Optima 106 is equipped with a grip-edge removal system with pneumatic clamps that fixes the wooden templates for secure positioning and make-ready reduction time. KBA explains this unique system is only found on KBA-Iberica models, and enable effective removal of grip edge trim on each job.

“A big part of our business is to produce very high quality work on diverse substrates, including clear plastic,” says Theoret. “We’re pleased that the Optima 106 features an anti-static kit for feeder head and table providing us with improved performance when die-cutting plastic materials. We didn’t have these features or operation on our previous die cutters.”

With the installation of the new diecutter, along with other recent equipment purchases, Theoret believes the company can grow by 15 to 20 percent per year, with a goal of posting a 50 percent increase in revenue over the next three years.

“Although we’ve only had the diecutter up and running jobs for less than a month, the early reviews from our team are that the machine is providing faster makereadies, runs much faster than our previous machines, and the sheets are much easier to strip,” says Theoret. “We’re thrilled with its operator friendly innovations and ease of handling. It’s been an important addition to our post-press department allowing us to keep all of our jobs in-house and permitting us to diecut from 29.5-inch up to 41.5-inch press sheets.”


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