While Kirk-Rudy originally developed tabber solutions and manufacturing processes for sheeted applications, the company is eyeing growth in the narrow web sector. Under new president Dan Maurer, Kirk-Rudy will continue to explore expansion in the label and package printing space.

The Kirk-Rudy team specializes in engineering custom solutions for numerous environments.  The company also sees potential synergies of its variety of UV and aqueous inkjet printing systems applied to industrial label applications in a way that may bring advantageous ROIs and TCOs.

“If you look at our servo driven tabbers for label applicators, pick and place applications, and read, verify, and print solutions, we have the ability to apply downstream added value to any printed product whether it be web or sheeted,” says Maurer. “We will be looking at further opportunities where we can provide unique value to label converters in dealing with the problems they face in their manufacturing processes.”

Maurer, who previously worked at Heidelberg-Gallus, saw a great opportunity to grow Kirk-Rudy’s portfolio in taking on his new role.

“Kirk-Rudy is renowned in the industry for the quality of their products, supporting their customers, and the engineering capability to build unique solutions that solve customers’ problems,” states Maurer. “The passion within the organization for customer success is part of the culture. To have the opportunity to lead an organization with the engineering, manufacturing, and sales and service depth of Kirk-Rudy is unique.

“I also have a breadth of experience that complements the organization in highly skilled dealer-based sales and service, implementing lean manufacturing practices with what I call a tenacious pursuit of efficiency, as well as engineering and commercialization of integrated hardware and software platforms,” he adds.

Under Maurer’s leadership, Kirk-Rudy will prioritize company culture by promotion of employees career development programs, especially the next generation. In addition to employee and company growth, Kirk-Rudy will take its core competencies into new markets. RFID will provide a significant growth opportunity for the company in the years ahead. While Kirk-Rudy boasts experience in the growing RFID space, there is ample opportunity ahead, notes Maurer. Kirk-Rudy KODE is the backbone of these systems.  

“Early on, Kirk-Rudy established its strong competency in RFID applications, and so we have a couple generations of experience on how to make these applications work at high speed with data integrity,” says Maurer. “The mandates for RFID packaging, as well as in applications like new credit card chips at lower frequencies, require solutions of verifying the marrying of properly and verified encoded RFID with the proper carriers they are on.

“Also, from a mechanical perspective, what is great about Kirk-Rudy’s platforms is our feeding, registration, transport and delivery, which allow for reliably running – even diecut and finished or even erected – product through our system and applying RFID or additional print as a final step,” continues Maurer. “Automation is similar with the market demand for both ease of use, with quick make-ready features. We believe the true value is to provide automation in a smart way that does not burden the end user with a lot of service maintenance of complex mechanical equipment, but instead combines smart automation software, like make-ready wizards in GUI’s with servo driven make-ready of key elements. Kirk-Rudy will continue to build on this strategy of ‘Smart Automation’ to provide our customers the scalability of the solutions they need in the best value.”

Kirk-Rudy will seek to address numerous challenges across the packaging landscape. The company’s hardware and KODE software serves to not only produce products faster and with higher quality, but also for faster make-ready time, ease of operation, and faster service response with preventative and predictive maintenance. 

“Those that are successful in print manufacturing embrace lean practices, which our products help achieve, but to do so with the challenge of finding skilled operators,” comments Maurer. “The challenge for us equipment and software manufacturers is to provide that high level of capability in a way that is easy to operate. This is where we feel Kirk-Rudy’s strategic direction is aligned with the needs of the markets we serve.”

Kirk-Rudy will boast a strong presence at both Labelexpo Americas and PRINTING United in September to promote its continued growth. Attendees will see Kirk-Rudy as a technology provider with its KODE software platform that allows the company to integrate complex print and RFID applications for read, verify, encode, variable print, and integrity for mailing, commercial print applications, folding carton and corrugated packaging conversion, and label applications.  

“This is Kirk-Rudy’s strategic direction that we are excited to demonstrate at the shows this year,” states Maurer.