“We went down the B1 to the XL 75 route four years ago because it made sense then, but with all of the developments we’ve been making with the Heidelberg guys in Germany, we’re going to get the makereadies down to three minutes on the 106,” said ESP managing director Anthony Thirlby. However, he added that the company, which already holds the ‘makeready world record‘ of 498 makereadies and 2.1m impressions in one 168-hour week on its XL 105, was targeting two-minute makereadies in the next 12-18 months. The new Speedmaster XL 106 five-colour-plus-coater with extended delivery will be installed at ESPs Colour Hub in Swindon in October. It will be configured with Inpress Control and Autoplate XL and join a similarly configured four-colour-plus-coat XL 105 installed last year. According to Thirlby, the XL 106 offers a 20% capacity boost on the two three- and four-year-old five-colour XL 75s it replaces. “We’ve got a fully automated front-end, so the great thing about this new press is that we can increase sales with no additional headcount by just using workflow and automated processes to facilitate it,” said Thirlby. The company has developed its own web-to-print system, Adapt, which is fully integrated into its Tharstern MIS and Kodak’s Prinergy workflow. Thirlby hinted that next year he may look at developing Adapt into a fully blown product that could be offered to the market. In the meantime, ESP is embarking on a six-month project with Heidelberg’s R&D department to drive even tighter workflow integration across its factory. “Every second is crucial to us on press and in post-press and we do have several ideas that we think will offer huge benefits, because if I can drive up process and drive out sales costs, then we’ll have an even greater competitive advantage,” said Thirlby. Once the XL 106 goes in, by maintaining the 12-strong headcount on ESP’s press teams and redeploying them over two presses rather than three, ESP will be able to increase operating hours from 112 per week to 144. This will enable the company to increase its potential capacity to £17m a year with two straight presses. According to Thirlby, the company’s work mix, which is primarily focussed on short runs, just doesn’t suit long perfectors, although he admitted that the XL 145 and 162-format Speedmasters were his “absolute dream”. However, he said the costs of reconfiguring pre- and post-press, not to mention the capital investment of the presses themselves – ruled out a switch to even larger formats for ESP in the near future. “I think it must be tempting for somebody in the UK, someone who is perhaps running seven or eight big B1s though,” added Thirlby. According...

The company was formed by Neil Alderson last November, with backing from Peter Alderson and Neil’s father Ron Alderson. The company hoped to retain some of the business of the failed £31m group it emerged from and was targeting sales of around £4m in its first year. However, according to Carl Jackson, partner at restructuring specialist Quantuma, who has been advising the directors, the volume of sales never materialised and it effectively closed last Friday (28 June) with the staff, totalling around 12, made redundant the same day. “They built a business plan based on an expected turnover of around £4m and geared themselves up overhead-wise to deliver that sort of turnover. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near that level, I think it would only have achieved £1m. So they made significant losses and decided to throw in the towel,” said Jackson. He added that there would be “no phoenix” and that the majority of the assets were leased and the only asset of the business was, in effect, its ledger and, as a result, there was unlikely to be any dividend for creditors. However, he said that the creditor list wasn’t extensive and that the largest creditors were members of the Alderson family, who had “put significant funds in to provide working capital”. A meeting of creditors has been called for next Friday (12 July) and the company is expected to be placed directly into liquidation. Quantuma is likely to be appointed liquidator at the meeting. “There will be no attempt to restructure the business, because the reality is that there is nothing there to restructure. It’s a liquidation, and the company will cease trading,” added Jackson. When contacted by PrintWeek, Neil Alderson declined to comment on the status of Centrical. Centrical operated from one of the former Alderson Print Group units in Molesey, which was leased from the Aldersons’ pension scheme. The Alderson Group companies, Alderson Brothers Printers, Alderson Digital London, Alderson Point of Sale and Don Dawson PLC fell into administration on 14 September 2012 and ceased trading on 16 October. The companies, along with APB Web, which fell into administration on 31 August 2012, owed £5.1m at the time of their collapse....

Speaking at yesterday’s BPIF AGM (4 July) Woodward said that the key areas identified were research, lobbying and the provision of networking opportunities and strong products and services. With the AGM following the first training workshops for those starting a new Level 5 Graduate Management Programme, Woodward heralded the launch of this initiative as one of the year’s key successes. “The Level 5 programme is one of only 30 schemes that got the employer-led funding. Bidding for the government funding has enabled us to start to train 250 people for free. That would have cost £10,000 each otherwise,” she said, adding that another success was having 700 apprentices now working within the industry. Woodward also pointed to the growing take-up of BPIF consultancy advice services and supporting products. She highlighted that 225 companies now participate in the BPIF’s climate control levy scheme and 1,087 have now used BPIF insurance support services. Further roll-out of such products would help combat a fall in membership income for the organisation of around £300,000 from last year, added BPIF finance director Michael Gardner. He reported that the drop was due to a drop in membership, which itself was down to a gradual decrease of companies in the industry and the number of individuals within these. The “skeleton in the closet” continued to be the BPIF’s ongoing pension deficit, which, as a result of an increase in pension liability bond yields, inflation rates and mortality tables, increased from £1.1m to £1.8m this year. Gardner reported, however, that a successful outcome in August of a tribunal reassessing the BPIF’s obligation to pay VAT on membership subscriptions, could help reduce this deficit. The decision on whether the BPIF can be considered equivalent to a trade union and so exempt from this tax, could deliver a £5/6m rebate. Gardner also highlighted that the BPIF’s net surplus, after pension deficit deductions, was up to £17,000 this year, compared to £3,000 last and a net loss of £268,000 in 2011. Opening the AGM, president of the BPIF Tony Garnish said: “We have not let this year’s successes distract us from what really needs to be done in regards to the deficit. But successes such as the management programme are a real tangible outcome of a new self-belief we have in the federation.”...

“We went down the B1 to the XL 75 route four years ago because it made sense then, but with all of the developments we’ve been making with the Heidelberg guys in Germany, we’re going to get the makereadies down to three minutes on the 106,” said ESP managing director Anthony Thirlby. However, he added that the company, which already holds the ‘makeready world record‘ of 498 makereadies and 2.1m impressions in one 168-hour week on its XL 105, was targeting two-minute makereadies in the next 12-18 months. The new Speedmaster XL 106 five-colour-plus-coater with extended delivery will be installed at ESPs Colour Hub in Swindon in October. It will be configured with Inpress Control and Autoplate XL and join a similarly configured four-colour-plus-coat XL 105 installed last year. According to Thirlby, the XL 106 offers a 20% capacity boost on the two three- and four-year-old five-colour XL 75s it replaces. “We’ve got a fully automated front-end, so the great thing about this new press is that we can increase sales with no additional headcount by just using workflow and automated processes to facilitate it,” said Thirlby. The company has developed its own web-to-print system, Adapt, which is fully integrated into its Tharstern MIS and Kodak’s Prinergy workflow. Thirlby hinted that next year he may look at developing Adapt into a fully blown product that could be offered to the market. In the meantime, ESP is embarking on a six-month project with Heidelberg’s R&D department to drive even tighter workflow integration across its factory. “Every second is crucial to us on press and in post-press and we do have several ideas that we think will offer huge benefits, because if I can drive up process and drive out sales costs, then we’ll have an even greater competitive advantage,” said Thirlby. Once the XL 106 goes in, by maintaining the 12-strong headcount on ESP’s press teams and redeploying them over two presses rather than three, ESP will be able to increase operating hours from 112 per week to 144. This will enable the company to increase its potential capacity to £17m a year with two straight presses. According to Thirlby, the company’s work mix, which is primarily focussed on short runs, just doesn’t suit long perfectors, although he admitted that the XL 145 and 162-format Speedmasters were his “absolute dream”. However, he said the costs of reconfiguring pre- and post-press, not to mention the capital investment of the presses themselves – ruled out a switch to even larger formats for ESP in the near future. “I think it must be tempting for somebody in the UK, someone who is perhaps running seven or eight big B1s though,” added Thirlby. According...

Launched in January, the Omega 2 offers light cyan and light magenta on top of the standard CYMK colourset. According to Durst it can handle a wide range of heat-sensitive substrates thanks to the addition of UV-LED drying technology. Surrey-based Signbox is the fifth UK printer to install the Omega. Other installs have been made at First2Print in Sunderland and Print & Cut in Stockport. Signbox’s machine was delivered at the start of this week and was supplied by London-based large-format reseller Perfect Colours, the exclusive UK distributor for Durst Omega entry-level, wide-format UV inkjet printers as of last November when they took over from Durst’s previous Omega 1 distribution partner Spandex. Signbox decided to upgrade its Omega 1 model to boost the quality of its range of poster, illuminated signage, vehicle, banner, wallpaper and modular signage prints, particularly on skin tones. The new printer will also allow the company to print ‘Fire Exit’ signs on heat sensitive heat acrylic. “The Omega 1 was brilliant and we’ve done an awful lot with it,” said Signbox managing director Mark Bartlett. “But we wanted to expand our capabilities. We will now be able to print faster on white, higher quality and the new LED technology will help us lower our environmental impact.”...