Founded in 1995, One Step is a fast-growing and dynamic commercial printing company that joins an increasing list of printers who have seen rapid growth in their offset business during the pandemic. This growth gave One Step the confidence to add an RMGT 9 Series 8 Color Long Perfector with GEW LeoLED-UV to their sheetfed operation so they can better meet the growing demand of their quality conscious customers.
Based in Davenport, Iowa, and with offices across the Midwest, One Step has traditionally been a hybrid print shop with both digital and offset presses. However, earlier this year, a strategic decision was made to replace a one-year-old 6-UP sheetfed inkjet digital press and a 2016 RMGT 920ST-5, with a single RMGT 920PF-8+LED Long Perfector. The press is slated to be installed in August 2021.
“We actually started as a digital only shop back in 1995 when nobody had digital,” states Doug May, Founder and CEO of One Step, Inc. “Everybody had offset, so our evolution has always been contrary to market view. We just follow our book of business. You have to look at your book of business, pay attention to what you're doing, remember who you're doing it for, and how fast they want it.”
“95% of our book of business is static non-variable,” comments May. “With the amount of variable print that we have, it was hard to justify that million-dollar inkjet digital press to take care of the small amount of variable business. We made an analysis which indicated that the cost per impression and the throughput speeds of offset were much more compelling than inkjet printing, even in a 6-UP format.”
The numbers back up the assertions of One Step. Comparing inkjet to RMGT offset, the RMGT 8-color 920 Perfecting press with LED curing technology is an 8-UP format press. Running 4/4 full-color jobs at 13,000 sheet per hour yields 1,000 12 x 18 sheets in just 69 seconds. Coupled with a four-minute makeready, the entire job takes just over 5 minutes to print.
This contrasts with the fastest 6-UP inkjet press that would take 13 minutes to print the same 1,000 sheets. For comparison, a conventional 2-UP digital press would take over 30 minutes to produce a 1,000-sheet run. At the other end of the spectrum, one day’s yield from the RMGT 920PF-8+LED can surpass 100,000 16 pagers, so One Step is addressing both Digital and Offset run lengths on one platform with the same unsurpassed RMGT print quality.
“At the end of 2020 we decided to take a fresh look at our operation,” states May. “In spite of the pandemic, we were profitable last year so we evaluated making an investment in our business. We’ve had our five-color RMGT 9 Series press for 5 years. It has been amazing how reliable that press has been for us. I think we have been down only two or three times in five years. It was also fully depreciated after the first year. When we looked at our appreciated cost and the market value, it turns out the RMGT 9 Series was a great investment. We got more than what we had appreciated it for back on trade. Then, we started running the numbers on trading in the inkjet press that we recently bought that didn't fit our book of business. We came to the decision to invest in a new RMGT 8-color 920 Perfecting press with LED-UV curing technology.”
Two technology enhancements on the offset press, LED-UV curing and one-pass printing with a perfecting cylinder, made a significant difference in the print production cycle. “Since the 9 Series press prints an 8-up sheet, we can gang up jobs,” continues May. “We can feed one type of paper and run four different jobs on that same sheet of paper in one pass straight up. LED-UV instant curing, you can take the job off the press, take it over to the finishing, cut it instantly, and then book it or box it. Without LED-UV curing, you have to pull the job off, let it sit for two days. Then you'd put it through finishing and certain paper wouldn't dry well and you're always chasing your ink smears and everything else. But thanks to RMGT and LED technology we have the versatility and speed to market our customers expect.”
“We have enjoyed a long and successful partnership with One Step,” states Chris Manley, President of Graphco, Midwest and Southeast Distributor for RMGT in North America. “Doug’s enthusiasm for his business is contagious and it’s great to see cool people who are successful as well. We feel honored to have Doug invest in more RMGT technology through Graphco.”
“This is a critical element when you look at supply chains and what has happened in the last 18 months,” concludes May. “You start to realize the value of your relationships, whether it's your paper vendor, or your press vendor and their ability to respond to you when you need them and not blame it on something that’s out of their control. When we look at our partnerships, we’re always doing a value equation. The biggest value in the equation is that we’re never wanting for something that keeps us running. With Graphco and RMGT we've never wanted for any kind of support, and we keep on running. So, it's a big deal.”
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