Fort Dearborn’s Fort Worth production team members, from left, include Press Operators Rosendo Pozos and Brent Baldwin, along with Maintenance Technician Mike Suarez.
Fort Dearborn, a custom label and packaging company with 20 locations across the U.S., reached nearly 82 million impressions on its Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-8+L in 2020. This high level of productivity was especially critical to Fort Dearborn’s success, as demand at U.S. grocery stores due to COVID-19 surged. Printing primarily cut-and-stack labels, the Fort Worth, Texas location of Fort Dearborn is equipped with two Speedmaster XL 105s and one other XL 106 in addition to its world-record-setting Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-8+L Press (which was installed in July of 2019). In comparison to similar presses in the market, the XL 106-8+L at Fort Dearborn produced over 250% of the annual gross impressions than the industry average of 32 million. Fort Dearborn credits its record-breaking performance to the advanced technology of the press, its increased business in 2020, and its overall plant strategy and teamwork mentality.