The Best Press on the Planet

Modern Litho’s VP of Operations, Jim Tomblinson, Weighs In on The Company’s Latest Investment

Modern Litho-Kansas City welcomes a new Heidelberg XL106 8-Color press. This new press is filled with new technology – LED ink, UV coating, and even autonomous printing. Excitement is high as we realize the tremendous advantages this new technology brings to our Kansas City location and our company.

We have been busy this winter, after the acquisition of Watkins Lithographic we have been transplanting ourselves from the production facility on Taney St. to our new facility at 133 W 10th Ave in North Kansas City. With spring in the air, we see the flowers blooming and trees budding. We are surrounded by new life outside and excited about the new beginnings inside as well.

Advanced Technology in the new Heidelberg XL106 8-Color

This new Heidelberg XL106 8-Color provides some of the most advanced technology in printing. Here are just a few of its most innovative features.

• Continuous optimization through artificial intelligence.
• The fastest makeready time yet.
• LED Ink provides faster drying times and better protection.
• Speeds up to 18,000 sheets per hour.
• Autonomous printing from the last to the first good sheet.

What does all this mean? The LED ink and UV coating allow us to print and dry the ink all in one run. This new press provides the ability to print 4-color process, run through a UV lamp, flip the paper, print 4-color again, run through another UV lamp and then coat the paper. The ink comes out dry and ready to move into the finishing stage of the job saving precious production time.

The LED ink doesn’t just save time, but it provides great protection for the printed material as it comes off the press. This means we will be able to do more print for our customers. This new Heidelberg XL106 8-Color press is going to let us meet the printing demands we have today.

We need greater speeds. We need the ability to have faster make-readies using less paper. With this new Heidelberg XL106, we will have speeds up to 18,000 sheets per hour and less waste as we continue to produce some of the highest quality printing for our customers.

Looking to the Future

Modern Litho has always kept an eye on the future. We are looking to be better today than we were yesterday. While we explore all the new technology of tomorrow. As a company, we are blessed to have partners that do the same thing.

Heidelberg came alongside us 30+ years ago and has been a strategic partner ever since. Every time there has been new industry technology Heidelberg has been there to introduce us to it. The XL technology they brought to our door has been no exception. As Modern Litho grew and the XL technology became available Heidelberg introduced us with a very strong demo despite all the complex printing tests, we threw at them. We have never looked back or regrated that decision.

This new Heidelberg XL106 8-Color is just the latest in a long line of presses Modern Litho has used to deliver top-shelf quality to our customers. I truly believe this is the greatest press on the planet.

With the new LED ink, it is bringing this quality faster and better than it ever has. We are thrilled to bring this press to Modern Litho-Kansas City and can’t wait to show you what it can do. Being a part of this technology for many years now we can’t wait to see what great things we can accomplish together. As our pressroom manager said, “Wow they have thought of everything haven’t they?” We couldn’t agree more.