Scottish carton maker KennedySmith cuts energy costs by 26% with Rapida 106 installation

The push for operational density in the folding carton sector has found a textbook example in Scotland. Ayrshire-based KennedySmith Press Ltd, the country's largest independent solid board carton manufacturer, has completely overhauled its pressroom architecture by replacing two legacy offset presses with a single, highly automated Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106.

This strategic consolidation reflects a growing reality in the 2026 packaging landscape: modern presses have achieved such high levels of automation and throughput that a one-for-two machine replacement is not only feasible but financially imperative. The six-colour medium-format press, equipped with a dedicated coater and full pallet logistics, has allowed the Scottish converter to radically streamline its workflow and improve its response times for strict industry sectors.

Tackling energy and labor overheads

One of the most immediate impacts of the installation has been on the company's utility footprint. By transitioning from two older machines to a single modern platform, KennedySmith has effectively maintained its overall production capacity while reducing its operational schedule from six shifts down to three.

This reduction in running time, paired with the Rapida 106's highly efficient dryer technology featuring heat recovery, yielded a 26 per cent drop in energy costs during the first quarter of 2026 compared to previous setups. Managing director Michiel Molenaar noted that this financial efficiency is driven directly by running fewer shifts and maximizing the heat recirculation capabilities of the new drying units. In an era where European converters continue to battle volatile energy pricing, a quarter-over-quarter reduction of this magnitude offers a significant competitive moat.

Furthermore, the automation built into the Rapida platform directly addresses the chronic shortage of skilled press operators affecting the print industry globally. By relying on software-driven makereadies and automated logistics, the company reduces its dependence on highly manual operational expertise, ensuring consistent output regardless of the shift or operator at the console.

Zero-defect printing for pharmaceutical packaging

While energy savings drive the bottom line, quality assurance drives customer retention. KennedySmith has a legacy of over 25 years supplying the highly regulated pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. For these clients, packaging is not just a container; it is a critical component of patient safety, traceability, and regulatory compliance.

To meet these exacting standards, the new Rapida 106 was specified with an inline PDFCheck system. This technology inspects every single printed sheet against the original prepress PDF, immediately flagging any discrepancies in text, colour, or registration. Combined with inline colour control, the system effectively guarantees zero-defect manufacturing. In pharmaceutical packaging, where a missing decimal point on a dosage instruction can lead to a massive product recall, this level of automated verification is no longer an optional upgrade but a baseline requirement.

The integration of full pallet logistics further reduces manual touchpoints, minimizing the risk of board damage and contamination while keeping the press running at peak speeds. This seamless material flow is essential for handling the diverse solid board substrates required across KennedySmith's client base, which also includes demanding customers in the food and beverage sectors.

Replacing legacy equipment with highly automated platforms proves that true efficiency in 2026 comes from doing more with less physical footprint, an excellent strategic move for KennedySmith to protect margins in a high-cost environment. Will inline sheet-by-sheet PDF verification soon become the mandatory standard for all consumer packaging, or will it remain the exclusive domain of pharma and premium segments? Follow The Paper for daily news, market signals and key updates from the global paper, corrugated and packaging industry. — Sigue toda la actualidad del sector en www.thepaper.ai