HONBLUE’s New Printers Are a Knockout

Sometimes, size matters.

Photo: David Croxford

When HONBLUE/Electric Pencil owners Larry and Matt Heim ordered a new printing press recently, they knew they wanted to go big: a brand-new model from famed German company Heidelberg, with a few custom features that made the massive machine even longer. Turns out they went too big.

When the installation engineers (specially flown in from Europe) arrived at the ‘Iwilei facility, they began pulling out laser measuring devices and yelling in German—the press completely filled the room it was going into, leaving no space to actually operate it.

To make the press fit, the engineers said, they’d have to remove two of the support pillars. “You mean the pillars that are over 100 years old and holding up the roof?” said Electric Pencil president Matt Heim. “Not happening. No matter how cool the new press is, we can’t print if the building’s not standing.”

After some back and forth, a solution: The German engineers pointed to the press lounge—an adjacent room for clients and guests—and said, “Remove the wall.”

“We gained the machine but lost a room,” Heim says, with a shrug.