Rapid Prototypes Adds New Printing Technology

Bentonville packing services company Rapid Prototypes recently introduced a new printer to the market, saying that the addition will turn the local packaging and display world on its head.

The technical name of the hybrid printer is the Rho P10 HS series by Durst. In layman’s terms, it doubles the speed of a printing project while improving image quality and lowering prices. With a resolution of up to 1000 dpi, the hybrid roll/flatbed printer will print on both corrugated and roll media equally fast and the change from one to the other is seamless.

The machine can also print on just about every type of material, from foam board, metal, acrylics and PVC to clear film, textiles and vinyls.

Rapid Prototypes, a multimillion-dollar company with about 20 employees, builds corrugated packaging and display prototypes for retail suppliers, who are in abundance in Northwest Arkansas. Rapid Prototypes also works directly with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

“It’s certainly a significant day for us; almost as big as the day we opened,” said owner Kyle Jack, who started as part of investment group in 2003. Jack acquired sole ownership in 2007 when he was just 30 years old.

“[The new printer] allows us to do everything that we currently do, just at a higher volume, better quality and cheaper price.”

The Rho P10 HS was released about a year ago, Jack said. He purchased the equipment in late 2014, and it took about four months for it to be custom made in Austria.

Rapid Prototypes is the first company in Arkansas to have the technology.

“I believe we are the fourth [company in the United States] to have one,” Jack said. He added the total investment for the machine was approximately $1 million.

Jack said the new printer is big enough to allow materials up to 8 feet wide.

“To further elaborate on that, a corrugated sheet is 77 inches by 110 inches; it’s not a standard sheet of paper,” he explained. “It’s a huge piece of material. We’re producing 40 to 50 sheets per hour of that size on this machine.”

Rapid Prototypes processes 15 to 20 work orders each day and works with 50 to 75 unique suppliers every month, Jack said.