Shrinking Presses, Rising Profits

McKinney thinks press manufacturers have gone about as far as they can go with press automation while still providing a reasonable ROI (return on investment). The full impact of all this automation has yet to be felt in the marketplace, however.

"A trend we're starting to see is customers buying presses for efficiency's sake," says Stephan Carter, who was recently named president and COO at Komori America. Many newly installed sheetfed presses are not necessarily intended to increase pressroom capacity, he says, but rather are designed to bolster overall plant productivity and to further speed job turnaround times.