Superior Lithographics Pivots As Markets Shift

by Jackie Schultz

The combination of product diversification and significant capital investments are driving steady growth at Superior Lithographics, a large format printing specialist of litho and top sheets for the corrugated industry and the manufacture of folding cartons. The Los Angeles, Calif., company was founded by Doug Rawson who identified a need more than 30 years ago for high quality large format litho labels for a new retail concept called Price Club, known today as Costco. The folding carton operation was formed in 2006 as a natural product line extension of the existing packaging products.

Folding cartons has grown to represent about 40% of the business with litho labels and top sheets accounting for the remaining 60%. Diversifying into folding cartons is providing new opportunities for expansion, especially as the market for short run labels and top sheets is shrinking with more corrugated converters installing digital presses.

Essentially, Superior Litho is two companies in one, offering a comprehensive portfolio of products and services for two distinct customer segments. “Our focus is print quality and runability,” Mark Hoppenjans, Vice President of Sales, says. “We tend to run for folks that require high levels of compliance and complexities, especially on the folding carton side.”

Rawson agrees. “We make sure our folding carton customers can fill their cartons at maximum speed on their automated equipment without jam-ups, and we continue to work in a collaborative fashion with our corrugated converting partners to help them on their litho laminating equipment to ensure they’re able to run full speed and don’t have any score cracking when they diecut. That continues to be our core value. Even though we are losing some shorter runs to digital, we’ve maintained our volume overall and grown it by adding new customers.”

Market Strength
To handle additional capacity the 80,000-sq-ft facility was expanded last year and several new pieces of equipment were installed. The manufacturing floor has two sheeters; three Koenig & Bauer Rapida offset presses; three flatbed diecutters – two Bobst 56-inch blankers and one SBL 41-inch; and three folder-gluers.

The newest Rapida, a 145 57-inch seven-color, replaced an older press from another manufacturer. This is Superior Litho’s first seven-color machine. “It’s not that we have many seven-color jobs, but it gives us the opportunity for seven-color expanded gamut so we’re able to run seven-color process, which enhances photographic images,” Rawson says. “We run a lot of food packaging and those customers are sensitive to how the product looks on the carton, and seven-color process definitely gives you a wider color gamut.”

“The additional printing unit also allows us to run some jobs with specialty varnish coatings,” Jeff Ku, Vice President of Operations, says. “We’ve developed a few proprietary processes for certain combinations of varnishes and coatings.”

Key efficiencies have been gained in many vital areas including product quality and data on product consistency stemming from state-ofthe-art color and quality measuring systems outfitted on the new press. “Since our new press was installed last summer, we’ve seen incredible improvements within our facility,” Ku says. “Our data shows a 32% increase in overall sheet throughput. We’ve also seen an impressive 25% decrease in makeready time.”

The press is running jobs for both corrugated and folding carton customers on a range of substrates, from 80# C1S label stock to 32 pt paperboard. “We’re able to run the new press at 17,000 sheets an hour. The throughput is fantastic,” Rawson says. “When we did a deep dive into our sheet sizes we found that a majority of our business would fit on a 57-inch. Prior to this press we had two 64-inch presses and our 81-inch. We decided that replacing one 64-inch with the 57-inch would increase our throughput while still offering our customer base the large-format options that we founded the company on in 1988.”

“Service, quality, and consistency are our calling cards,” Ku adds. “That’s what has propelled our sales to grow by 16% in one year and find ourselves at capacity even with production running 24/7. We’re seeing growth in both of our main sectors; our existing corrugated market remains strong as we push into the folding carton segment.”

A new PPCTS DGM Smartfold 1100SL Ultra XL folder-gluer with DGM Prefeed and IMPACK VIRTUO autopacker is facilitating further expansion into the folding carton market. The line focuses on fast job changeover high-speed folding and gluing production with minimal labor, allowing its current Smartfold 1100SL Ultra with IMPACK Perpack packer installed in 2017 to concentrate on more complex cartons.

The 1100SL Ultra XL introduced in early 2019 is an extended version of the Ultra X model. It is equipped with motorized carriers for full and sectional job/memory recall that includes machine operational settings and parameters for fast and repeatable changeovers with minimal start-up waste. The autopacker is a single row, single level automatic packer that can pack straight line, 4 & 6 corners, as well as pre-alternated lock bottom cartons when combined with an MFA Inverter.

With the exception of the foldergluers, Ku says most of the installed equipment runs both corrugated and folding carton jobs. “We literally run every process on every machine so we’re very flexible. Any machine that can run anything, it does.”

Prepress/Production Manager Dan Schlegel and Finishing Manager Michael Bouquet oversee machine capacity planning. “Dan has become very adept at G7 calibration. When we run a proof for a customer, we don’t care what press or what substrate it goes on. We can match our proof on any machine and on any substrate.

“Dan’s G7 certification along with our Lean manufacturing processes is the reason we’re able to optimize our throughput by putting work on the least utilized machine at the moment, whether it’s a press, diecutter, or folder-gluer,” Rawson says.

Culture of Empowerment
Managing the complexities of the operation requires a certain proficiency. “Imagine a juggler with 15 balls. That’s us,” Rawson says. “What we do is very easy to understand. We take rolls of paper and cut it into sheets. We print it, diecut it, and fold and glue it but there are tremendous complexities within that and we are very adept at managing our processes, especially when you consider the 24/7 factor.”

Before entering the folding carton market, Ku says the company spent several years on a continuous improvement plan. “Part of that was creating a culture of empowered people. We run 24/7 but only have 8 to 5 supervision. The rest of the time the people are given a vision and are empowered to make decisions based on our company’s values.”

There are about 115 employees, all of whom have a say in the operation. “We’ve put systems in place that allow people to change the way they work,” Rawson says. One example is the suggestion box. “We’ve implemented about 2500 employee suggestions. These range from very small to very large things. We have rules that require that the management team try every one of them. We don’t make preconceived judgments as to whether it’s a good or bad idea. We try them all.’”

“Doug is a trusting leader and Jeff is talented in all aspects of the operation. The culture is about inclusion and it’s practiced each day,” says Hoppenjans who joined the company this year. He says he has been impressed with the recruitment of younger talent. “This has been a challenge for all converters, large and small – introducing new talented people to packaging. We work at it and the energy on the floor shows that. The energy level is contagious. We have a diverse workforce and for a 24/7 operation, the energy level here is really exceptional.”

“Everyone here, if they desire, has a career path we’d love to guide them on. Having your team members’ best interests at heart is the key to keeping people,” Ku says.

Winning Formula
Looking ahead, Superior Litho anticipates growth in all of the markets it serves, especially e-commerce and food. The company will soon have the following certifications – GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) and BRC global standard for food safety – which Hoppenjans says positions them well for the future.

The company has successfully navigated the corrugated industry’s transition to digital and diversified into folding carton to offset any softness in that market. “We’re a small busines that serves a wide customer base,” Hoppenjans says.

Ku adds: “We have the systems of a very large company but we still treat our customers like a small business. It’s a nice hybrid. We have single operation customers but we also service national and international publicly-traded companies. That’s been a nice mix so we think we have a winning formula. Our next step is to scale that model.”

“We’re very fortunate,” Rawson says. “Los Angeles has a vibrant economy, even during the pandemic. We have a workforce that is dedicated to come to work every day, having a say in how they work, and telling management what they need to do a good job. Fortunately, our customers have stayed in business, and our business continues to grow.”