Quest Graphics Responds to Market Growth with New Koenig & Bauer Rapida 164 Six Color plus Coater Press

  • St. Louis-based business emphasizes on top-notch customer service and is exceeding customer needs

  • New Rapida press arriving later this year will be used for litho labels, top sheets, folding cartons, specialty packaging, and large format work for the trade

  • Reduced makeready times in conjunction with increased quality control systems ensures faster turnaround and highest quality results

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Quest Graphics has invested in a key purchase with a new Koenig & Bauer Rapida 164 six-color plus coater press, which will provide the firm with greater capacity and allow them to grow significantly.

Ever since it was founded in 1979, Quest Graphics has gained a nationwide reputation as a high quality, large format printing company specializing in litho labels, top sheet, and folding carton for packaging applications. Its dedicated team of 80 employees headquartered in a 100,000 sq. ft facility in St. Louis, MO, has helped the firm make significant gains over the past 43 years. But it foresees making an even a larger industry impact on the horizon.

“We have grown significantly over the last two years and have invested in new equipment to ensure that we always have the latest technology,” says Dan Cribbin, Quest’s president and chief executive officer. “As our customers have asked for faster turnaround times and for us to handle a greater volume of their work, we invested in a key purchase with a new Koenig & Bauer Rapida 164 six-color plus coater press. It will provide us with greater capacity and allow us to grow significantly.”

The innovative new generation model will be a transformational press at Quest, offering Koenig & Bauer’s popular ErgoTronic ColorControl system that provides automatic ink density measurement, ErgoTronic ColorCheck for color evaluation, VariDry IR/HA dryer for water-based coatings, and fully automated plate change, which, in under two minutes, changes all the plates on the press. It will join a current Koenig & Bauer Rapida 64-inch sheetfed press. 

“At Quest, quality is priority Number One,” says Cribbin, as he and his team pride themselves on being a G7 Certified Master Printer. This status means that Quest’s staff, equipment, and systems have passed rigorous testing and earned the “G7 seal” proving that the firm possesses the technology and tools to consistently deliver the highest quality printing based on the most stringent international standards. Quest is also FSC, SFI and PEFC certified.

“Our goal is to be able to better serve our customers, meet their needs, and grow our business alongside our customers,” says Cribbin. “We are already successfully operating a Koenig & Bauer 64-inch press so that played a big part in our decision to add another Rapida. Koenig & Bauer is a great company, they make a great press, and their sales and service teams are world class. This new Rapida press will give us the ability and versatility to successfully deliver the highest quality work for litho labels, top sheets, folding cartons, specialty packaging, and large format work for the trade.”