Daniel Salazar, Owner/President, PSA Print Group, wasn’t looking for a new press — his original goal was to find a used press that was newer than the one he was currently running. But once he saw the RMGT 9 Series press in action, he realized there was no other path he could take.
“I had a 6-up press, and was just looking for a bit more automation,” Salazar said. “But then I was introduced to the RMGT 9 Series. And there was no going back to a 6-up press when I had an 8-up right in front of me. I demoed the press in a showroom, and I was blown away with how easy it was to run.”
Salazar estimates that business has increased by about 50% since installing the new press, all while still running a single shift. In fact, the press is productive enough that he’s now looking at opening an online business that will specialize in short-run catalogs, which will be produced in a second shift on the same press. “We’re going to focus this business on quantities of under 5,000, for booklets for trade shows, events, etc.,” said Salazar. “We are going to create a new niche, and we’re creating a dedicated shift on the RMGT 9 Series just for this purpose.”
Salazar noted that, in the beginning, he couldn’t justify the cost of a new press, even with all the upgrades it would bring, and ultimately took nearly 10 months to make the decision. What it came down to, he said, was that he looked at all the jobs he was losing, and priced them out, and realized that between the ability to win that work, as well as being able to take his plant from a shift and a half to one shift per day, it was a “no brainer” investment.
“Now I don’t worry about what comes through the door,” he said. “I’m not concerned about what kind of artwork we get, or the ability to produce quality work no matter what it is or what file type we get. It used to be a really big thing — I would request to see the artwork before I would bid on jobs. Now I don’t need to; it is really easy to sell print on this machine.”
Alongside the upgrade to his offset press, Salazar also invested in new digital equipment, including two color and one black-and-white machine. “It has been really good, and my sales have increased on both sides,” he noted. “There is a break where I move the jobs to the RMGT, absolutely, but I’ve done jobs as small as 350 booklets on the press and still been competitive.” Part of the reason he can do increasingly shorter runs on the 9 Series, even with upgraded digital equipment, is that it is easier to finish offset-printed work than digital — “there’s less cracking,” said Salazar. He has gone back to using his digital equipment for the truly variable and extremely short-run work, leaving his RMGT to pick up everything else.
“PSA Print Group is a perfect example of why offset most certainly isn’t dead,” said Kian Hemmen, Western Regional Sales Manager for Print & Finishing Solutions, part of the Graphic Systems North America (GSNA) national RMGT distributor network. “They are seeing huge gains already, with enough added potential capacity that they can add a whole new business line without needing to invest in any more equipment. That is success personified, and we could not be more thrilled to be their partner as they continue to grow.”
