At the Printing United show, recently held in Las Vegas, Kirk-Rudy not only showcased a large variety of their most popular machines used in the mailing and printing industries today, but also their highly sought after FireJet 4C.

This was the first show that their new envelope flap opener and closer were demonstrated inline with the FireJet, allowing it to print on the front of the envelope and also the back flap at the same time, in one pass. The unit gently plows open the flap before entering the FireJet print head, then as it exits, and the printed image is revealed, a plow fold mechanism closes the flap once again and is delivered to a shingle conveyor for packing.

The FireJet fills a unique niche market for printers who have developed a short run, color envelope business. Currently, most printers use small desktop inkjet and dry toner printers that produce good quality, but are painfully slow and have a hard time feeding certain envelopes and small products. Kirk-Rudy engineering, along with the new Duraflex print head technology from Memjet, have combined to create the FireJet 4C, a production-grade four color inkjet envelope press capable of printing 18,000 full color envelopes per hour.

At the show many customers stopped by the booth to share their success stories with their Kirk-Rudy unit and explain how they were able to increase their colored envelope business and ROI. A few printing company owners were explaining that due to the quick and easy set up of all sizes of envelopes and specialty products, and the fact that there is virtually no make ready and material waste, many of them were replacing not only their desktop printers, but also their offset envelope presses.

Mike Yannone, the Production Manager from MBI Direct Mail in Deland, FL said, “We liked our first one so much, within a year we purchased a second FireJet and replaced all our offset Halm Jet Presses.”

For more information visit our FireJet page: https://www.kirkrudy.com/firejet-4c/

Kirk-Rudy, the industry leader in equipment solutions for direct mail, printing, packaging and RFID applications, welcomes Caroline Kirk as Vice President of Operations. Caroline, granddaughter of Kirk-Rudy founder Harry Kirk, will focus on supporting operations, marketing initiatives and employee engagement efforts.

Caroline has a background in marketing and operations, and is thrilled to join the family business to continue the legacy of Harry Kirk. Most recently, she worked in Product Marketing for a London-based technology company. Prior to that, she served as Chief of Staff to the CMO at DailyPay, an NYC-based fintech company.

“Over the past 55 years, Kirk-Rudy has developed a reputation for offering best-in-class mailing, printing, packaging and RFID solutions,” Caroline said. “The team has built a global business that stands for innovation, hard work and delivering solutions that our customers can rely on. I look forward to continuing the Kirk-Rudy legacy and supporting the next generation of company growth.”

Woodstock, GA – The mailing and printing industry lost an icon of innovation and technology on October 29, 2021. Harry V. Kirk, founder and CEO of Kirk-Rudy, Inc., died at age 93.

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1928, Harry endured the brutal occupation by Germany during World War II and later occupation by the communist Soviet government. After escaping at the age of 20, he eventually made his way to America. After settling in Chicago and connecting with a community of Czech immigrants, he landed a job with the Cheshire Corporation as night maintenance technician. Management quickly noticed his ability to improve their equipment and he was promoted to Head Engineer.

In 1967, when Cheshire was being purchased by Zerox, Harry and a co-worker, Fred Rudy, started Kirk-Rudy, Inc. in a small garage in Libertyville, IL. With Harry’s knowledge of mailing equipment and a many industry contacts, their business grew quickly. In 1971 they moved operations to the warmer climate of Kennesaw, GA. Harry then bought Fred Rudy out and became sole owner in 1972. In 2002 Kirk-Rudy was moved to a custom designed, state-of-the-art production facility in Woodstock, GA.

Harry’s commitment to designing and building better equipment, all under one roof, has proven to  be the driving success of Kirk-Rudy. “Harry made Kirk-Rudy into a strong company that will carry his vision and legacy well into the future. He will be sorely missed, he touched so many lives”, says Rick Marshall, President.

It may be easier than you think, and at a price within reach.

If you have inkjet addressing equipment that is five years or older, now may be a great time to consider upgrading. We all know technology is continuing at a rapid pace across all aspects of our everyday life, and production inkjet equipment is no exception.

Today’s piezo drop on demand inkjet systems, such as our UltraJet and Phoenix have numerous benefits over older piezo and thermal inkjet systems (TIJ). The most noticeable is an improved quality image and faster speeds. Today’s printheads allow for more control of drop sizes which not only allows for better image control, but also allows control of the amount of ink used in a job which can lead to lower operating costs. In fact, ink costs are noticeably lower with a piezo system than a TIJ cartridge-based system, as low as one tenth the total cost of ink.

The faster speeds obtained in today’s inkjet systems can lead to increased production and more throughput for greater profitability. Our Phoenix, with its landscape printing capability can replace two TIJ systems thereby generating huge savings thru reduced ink and labor costs.

The simplicity and ease of use with these newer systems allow for less experienced labor and the need for specialized training, especially compared to continuous inkjet systems (CIJ). Service and maintenance is extremely easy with modern piezo inkjet systems. For example, our UltraJet and Phoenix can be up and running within 5 minutes at the start of every day. Shut down at end of day requires a quick flush of the print head, which is simple as pressing a button. This removes ink from the printhead so that it doesn’t clog and damage the head. Then a quick snap on of a protective cap and you are done, about 5 minutes total.

Previous aqueous inkjet systems could only be used on porous substrates such as envelopes and uncoated paper. Running coated stocks required a solvent based inkjet system with higher ink costs and maintenance issues. Now, with the new developments in Ultraviolet (UV) inks, there is no need to decide between an aqueous or solvent based system. The UV ink is “cured” immediately after passing under a LED UV light source, instead of being dried by a heat source. This allows one system to print on a wide variety of substrates and coatings as well as some laminates and plastics. Maintenance and overall life expectancy of a UV print head is longer than that of an aqueous or solvent system.

Upgrading your inkjet unit on a Kirk-Rudy base, in most cases, is fairly easy. Today’s inkjet systems are smaller and more compact than older units. Our UltraJet v21 has proved to be a good replacement for our older WaveJet inkjet systems. The KR215 and KR219 vacuum bases that have been on the market for a while are exceptionally well built so that a few simple upgrades and maintenance will provide a long lasting, quality transport base for all your inkjet needs.

If investing in a whole new inkjet system has you nervous, consider an upgrade to one of our newest inkjets using your existing base. With KR Capital financing, requiring little upfront costs, you could upgrade your inkjet system and achieve immediate ROI. Contact us today or the Kirk-Rudy dealer in your area for a free consultation.