Ryobi Breaks Ground on Press Manufacturing Plant

Ryobi Graphic Systems, of Hiroshima, Japan, plans to begin construction on a new press manufacturing facility in January 2007. The new facility will be the third at Ryobi’s Hiroshima East central production center.

Ryobi also recently reported that its second factory, completed earlier this year, is running at full operation.

Ryobi’s newly expanded 215,000-square-foot manufacturing center—known as Hiroshima East Plants 1 and 2—generated a 60 percent increase in production capacity when the second plant became fully operational in late October 2006, according to the company.

Ryobi officials said the newest facility, Hiroshima East Plant 3, will be at full-scale operations in September 2007. It will add another 99,000 square feet of manufacturing space and represents a total expected investment of $27 million, the company said.

When the third facility is completed, Ryobi will have 314,000 square feet at its Hiroshima East operations, more than double the production capacity Ryobi had in March 2006, officials said.

xpedx Printing Technologies, the exclusive U.S. importer and distributor of Ryobi-branded presses, said this expansion will significantly increase capacity to meet growing demand for Ryobi’s six-, four-, and two-up high-speed, multi-color offset presses. The presses range from two- to 10-colors and feature state-of-the-art print technologies including UV coating and drying as well as convertible perfectors.

“Commercial and in-plant printers who have Ryobi presses say they produce very high-quality print—cost effectively, at high speeds and with quick makereadies,” says Don Harvey, vice president and general manager of xpedx Printing Technologies in Lenexa, Kansas. “These printers consistently tell us Ryobi’s presses are very hardworking, versatile, reliable and easy to operate.”