Phoenix Commercial Printer Taps Ryobi Press to Grow Profitability, Efficiency

CanDo owner: “This press is so good you can’t criticize it. It’s making me money — and saving me money.”

PHOENIX, September 2, 2008 — CanDo Printing of Phoenix has improved quality, job turnaround times, pressroom efficiency, customer satisfaction and profitability. Owner Frank Blankenship says to understand why, look no further than his new printing press — a six-color, 23"x29" RYOBI® 750 series press with aqueous coater.

The busy commercial print shop prints business cards, brochures, pocket folders, pamphlets, flyers, posters and more.

In late 2006, Blankenship’s business had grown to the point where he was ready to invest in a new press. He owned a 4-up, six-color, 20"x28" press with coater, but was looking for a 6-up press that allowed him to better compete with 40-inch presses in his market. He liked the economics of a half-size press, but wanted one that delivered more throughput — without going to a 40-inch model.

xpedx® sales representative Don Epley took Blankenship to two area printers who were using the 23"x29" RYOBI 750 series press. Talking pressman to pressman at the shops, Blankenship found they were particularly impressed with how the Ryobi machine performed.

Consistent print quality, dramatic growth in efficiency, cost savings with new RYOBI press

In January 2007, Blankenship bought his 6-color, fully automated RYOBI 756, 23"x29" press with aqueous coater and densitometer. “We feel it is a good move to buy a press with a coater. More than half of our customers request coating and it allows for faster dry times,” said Blankenship. “The coater on the Ryobi press is superior.”

Since the purchase and installation, he said he has realized faster turnaround times, improved print quality, more consistent printing density, less paper waste and cost savings.

All are attributes that Blankenship says “make customers, employees and owners very happy. We have much more consistent printing than we used to—and that’s been essential to growing our business.“

The Ryobi press is also very cost effective. “My old press took 40 minutes on average to set up a four-color job. This press takes 15-20 minutes to set up. If you cut your set-up time in half, with a two-man crew, you save a dollar a minute,” he noted.

“Based on preparing 10 makereadies a day, with 20 minutes less setup time required, I save 200 minutes in productivity a day. That averages more than $3,000 a month in labor savings for set ups alone.”

Blankenship also noted that the Ryobi press comes to registration quickly and uses less paper for set up. He previously used about 500 sheets for each makeready. With the RYOBI 756 the average job uses 300 sheets per makeready. With 10 makereadies a day, the new press saves 2,000 sheets of paper a day. Average monthly savings on paper? $2,500.

“I couldn’t be happier with this press. If you asked me for five things I’d like to see changed on it, I couldn’t come up with one—there’s nothing that needs to be changed on this press. It has lived up to how xpedx billed it,” said Blankenship. “xpedx and my Ryobi press are making me money. And they’re saving me money.”

About Ryobi Graphic Systems

Ryobi Graphic Systems, East Hiroshima, Japan, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of sheetfed offset printing presses. Ryobi offers multi-functional offset presses, hardware, software and other peripherals. The company is a world leader in high-precision large, mid-size and small presses, DI presses and CIP4-JDF compliant digital workflows. With pressroom installations worldwide, Ryobi presses are respected for their superior print quality, cost-effectiveness, ease of operation, high reliability and precision machining.

About xpedx Printing Technologies

Kansas City, Kansas — based xpedx Printing Technologies offers printing presses, local and rapid-response technical support, press operator training, a large parts warehouse and a 20,000-square-foot Ryobi Demonstration and Learning Center. The company has a local sales and service network across the U.S. and has a more than 30-year business relationship with Ryobi, Ltd.

xpedx Printing Technologies has a large national force of local, factory-trained press technicians to service Ryobi printing presses and is backed up by Ryobi Graphic Systems engineers in Japan. Information about Ryobi and xpedx Printing Technologies is on the web at ryobi.xpedx.com. The phone number is 800-553-4980.

About xpedx

Cincinnati, Ohio — based xpedx, a business of International Paper (NYSE: IP), is one of the largest business-to-business distribution companies in North America. xpedx distributes a wide variety of printing paper, graphics, packaging and janitorial-sanitary supplies and equipment from manufacturers worldwide. Customers include printers and publishers, manufacturers, retailers, governments and facility managers. xpedx also does business with the majority of Fortune 1000 companies.

xpedx has more than 265 locations across the U.S., Canada and Mexico and posted $7.3 billion in 2007 revenues. xpedx operates a network of more than 150 retail paper and graphics stores, as well as a new retail e-commerce site at xpedxstores.com. xpedx is one of the largest providers of post-consumer waste content and recycled printing papers in North America and has chain-of-custody certification from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI), Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification™ (PEFC) at all of its U.S. and Canadian distribution centers. For more information about xpedx, visit xpedx.com.

Note: xpedx is a registered trademark of International Paper Company. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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CONTACTS: John Torrey, vice president and general manager, xpedx Printing Technologies, 913-631-8700; Lisa Jonas, marketing services manager, xpedx, 513-965-2938; Press/Analysts: Erik Godchaux, Media Strategy Group, 608-256-4540.