Edward Enterprises, based in Honolulu, and known as the largest locally owned commercial printer in Hawaii, has been serving customers for over 65 years. Specializing in commercial printing as well as folding carton packaging, the company has continually reinvented itself to stay ahead in a competitive market. Recently, Edward Enterprises expanded its packaging capabilities by installing a Speedmaster CX 104 six-color press with UV curing from HEIDELBERG to support its growing folding carton business.
“After fifty years of commercial printing, we started producing folding cartons nearly a decade ago with the help of the Varimatrix die cutter and Easygluer folder gluer from HEIDELBERG,” said Alex Upton, Vice President of Operations at Edward Enterprises. “While there was a learning curve, HEIDELBERG supported us every step of the way with ongoing education and training.”
The pandemic accelerated Edward Enterprises’ planned shift from commercial to packaging printing, driving the need for a new, more efficient press. Installed in May to replace two older presses, including a 25-year-old Speedmaster CD 102, the Speedmaster CX 104 has cut maintenance and consumable costs by half and significantly increased throughput.
“Our need for a new press was a necessity,” Upton explained. “Our old press had over 350 million impressions, but its outdated UV and coating system limited the folding carton work we could run.” Running at 15,000 sheets per hour, the new Speedmaster CX 104 produces more work in two 8-hour shifts than our previous presses did in three 10-hour shifts combined.
Thanks to HEIDELBERG’s latest technology, including autonomous Push-to-Stop, the HEIDELBERG User Experience (UX), and Intellistart 3, the press delivers shorter makeready times and improved operator support. For Edward Enterprises, this means faster, higher-quality output.
Edward Enterprises produces many folding cartons for chocolates and candies sold across Hawaii. Previously, multi-pass printing was required to apply four-color plus UV coating with a strikethrough effect, which caused production inefficiencies. “Being able to achieve this in one pass on the Speedmaster CX 104 is a game changer,” Upton said.
The addition of Prinect Axis Control (the fastest spectrophotometer in its class) has reduced makeready time by at least 75%, with further improvements expected as operators gain experience. “We used to measure density manually with hand-held devices. Now, paper usage and waste have dropped dramatically, and we can hit color in just one or two pulls.”
To maximize efficiency, Edward Enterprises uses Saphira consumables from HEIDELBERG as well as Prinect Production Manager workflow software, which the company adopted six months before installing the new press. “Prinect offers unbeatable color accuracy and integrates seamlessly with the Speedmaster CX 104,” Upton noted. Switching fully to HEIDELBERG consumables has also resolved many longstanding press issues.
Alongside offset, Edward Enterprises runs multiple Versafire digital presses from HEIDELBERG and POLAR cutters. Since switching to Versafire, the company has achieved the quality and stability needed to support its digital expansion plans.
“All our HEIDELBERG products have been crucial to growing our business capabilities. With HEIDELBERG, we always feel we’re in good hands: their support and expertise are unmatched, and they’re just great people to work with,” Upton concluded.