The £360,000 machine went into John E Wright’s Nottingham base last week and replaced a seven-year-old HP Scitex FB6100. It prints POS materials, banners and exhibition displays on Foamex, vinyl and fabrics for retailers and fashion houses. The company was pipped by Format Graphics in Milton Keynes, which became the first printer in the UK to own the wide-format digital inkjet machine when it purchased one this spring. EFI launched the machine in 2011, describing it as a “breakthrough” in super-wide technology. According to John E Wright managing director Tony Barnett, the machine’s standout features are speed and quality, producing 100sqm/hr at saleable quality. “It is so much quicker; there’s no finishing or real labour input – it drives itself and is incredibly fast,” he said. “The quality is exceptional. There is no banding; it’s almost as good as old-fashioned print and mount but less than half the price. “We had a good relationship with HP and wanted to stay with them, but they didn’t have a machine in this particular market at this price. The nearest alternative cost twice as much.” Another plus was cool curing, he said. This made the Vutek GS250LX more “forgiving” when it came to printing on vinyl and fabrics. Barnett said he expected the machine to add £1m in two years to the firm’s turnover, currently £6.5m. “It is extremely productive and we want it to take us into new areas, which we couldn’t reach previously because of quality issues. The market for silky fabric exhibition displays is growing rapidly and we want to play a big part. “This investment offers immediate benefits of speed of production, an extended range of substrates, more colour-management capability and fewer production costs. We will transfer flatbed production to the new Vutek by the end of June. “The significant reduction in power requirement reduces both our costs and our carbon footprint, thereby underpinning our ISO14001 environmental and ISO 9001 quality qualifications of which we are proud.” Family firm John E Wright was formed in 1900 and today has more than 100 employees in seven regional offices. The ‘hub and spoke’ business has its main base in Nottingham with around 50 staff, said...

The £360,000 machine went into John E Wright’s Nottingham base last week and replaced a seven-year-old HP Scitex FB6100. It prints POS materials, banners and exhibition displays on Foamex, vinyl and fabrics for retailers and fashion houses. The company was pipped by Format Graphics in Milton Keynes, which became the first printer in the UK to own the wide-format digital inkjet machine when it purchased one this spring. EFI launched the machine in 2011, describing it as a “breakthrough” in super-wide technology. According to John E Wright managing director Tony Barnett, the machine’s standout features are speed and quality, producing 100sqm/hr at saleable quality. “It is so much quicker; there’s no finishing or real labour input – it drives itself and is incredibly fast,” he said. “The quality is exceptional. There is no banding; it’s almost as good as old-fashioned print and mount but less than half the price. “We had a good relationship with HP and wanted to stay with them, but they didn’t have a machine in this particular market at this price. The nearest alternative cost twice as much.” Another plus was cool curing, he said. This made the Vutek GS250LX more “forgiving” when it came to printing on vinyl and fabrics. Barnett said he expected the machine to add £1m in two years to the firm’s turnover, currently £6.5m. “It is extremely productive and we want it to take us into new areas, which we couldn’t reach previously because of quality issues. The market for silky fabric exhibition displays is growing rapidly and we want to play a big part. “This investment offers immediate benefits of speed of production, an extended range of substrates, more colour-management capability and fewer production costs. We will transfer flatbed production to the new Vutek by the end of June. “The significant reduction in power requirement reduces both our costs and our carbon footprint, thereby underpinning our ISO14001 environmental and ISO 9001 quality qualifications of which we are proud.” Family firm John E Wright was formed in 1900 and today has more than 100 employees in seven regional offices. The ‘hub and spoke’ business has its main base in Nottingham with around 50 staff, said Barnett....

The £360,000 machine went into John E Wright’s Nottingham base last week and replaced a seven-year-old HP Scitex FB6100. It prints POS materials, banners and exhibition displays on Foamex, vinyl and fabrics for retailers and fashion houses. The company was pipped by Format Graphics in Milton Keynes, which became the first printer in the UK to own the wide-format digital inkjet machine when it purchased one this spring. EFI launched the machine in 2011, describing it as a “breakthrough” in super-wide technology. According to John E Wright managing director Tony Barnett, the machine’s standout features are speed and quality, producing 100sqm/hr at saleable quality. “It is so much quicker; there’s no finishing or real labour input – it drives itself and is incredibly fast,” he said. “The quality is exceptional. There is no banding; it’s almost as good as old-fashioned print and mount but less than half the price. “We had a good relationship with HP and wanted to stay with them, but they didn’t have a machine in this particular market at this price. The nearest alternative cost twice as much.” Another plus was cool curing, he said. This made the Vutek GS250LX more “forgiving” when it came to printing on vinyl and fabrics. Barnett said he expected the machine to add £1m in two years to the firm’s turnover, currently £6.5m. “It is extremely productive and we want it to take us into new areas, which we couldn’t reach previously because of quality issues. The market for silky fabric exhibition displays is growing rapidly and we want to play a big part. “This investment offers immediate benefits of speed of production, an extended range of substrates, more colour-management capability and fewer production costs. We will transfer flatbed production to the new Vutek by the end of June. “The significant reduction in power requirement reduces both our costs and our carbon footprint, thereby underpinning our ISO14001 environmental and ISO 9001 quality qualifications of which we are proud.” Family firm John E Wright was formed in 1900 and today has more than 100 employees in seven regional offices. The ‘hub and spoke’ business has its main base in Nottingham with around 50 staff, said Barnett....

The £360,000 machine went into John E Wright’s Nottingham base last week and replaced a seven-year-old HP Scitex FB6100. It prints POS materials, banners and exhibition displays on Foamex, vinyl and fabrics for retailers and fashion houses. The company was pipped by Format Graphics in Milton Keynes, which became the first printer in the UK to own the wide-format digital inkjet machine when it purchased one this spring. EFI launched the machine in 2011, describing it as a “breakthrough” in super-wide technology. According to John E Wright managing director Tony Barnett, the machine’s standout features are speed and quality, producing 100sqm/hr at saleable quality. “It is so much quicker; there’s no finishing or real labour input – it drives itself and is incredibly fast,” he said. “The quality is exceptional. There is no banding; it’s almost as good as old-fashioned print and mount but less than half the price. “We had a good relationship with HP and wanted to stay with them, but they didn’t have a machine in this particular market at this price. The nearest alternative cost twice as much.” Another plus was cool curing, he said. This made the Vutek GS250LX more “forgiving” when it came to printing on vinyl and fabrics. Barnett said he expected the machine to add £1m in two years to the firm’s turnover, currently £6.5m. “It is extremely productive and we want it to take us into new areas, which we couldn’t reach previously because of quality issues. The market for silky fabric exhibition displays is growing rapidly and we want to play a big part. “This investment offers immediate benefits of speed of production, an extended range of substrates, more colour-management capability and fewer production costs. We will transfer flatbed production to the new Vutek by the end of June. “The significant reduction in power requirement reduces both our costs and our carbon footprint, thereby underpinning our ISO14001 environmental and ISO 9001 quality qualifications of which we are proud.” Family firm John E Wright was formed in 1900 and today has more than 100 employees in seven regional offices. The ‘hub and spoke’ business has its main base in Nottingham with around 50 staff, said Barnett....

The transfer of its base-stock cheque production work from Manchester to Leeds, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year, puts a possible 90 jobs out of 120 at Trafford Wharf at risk. Consultation with staff began last Friday (14 June). Around 30 positions could be transferred to Liverpool or Leeds or remain in Manchester as part of a small clients services team that will be established, Communisis chief executive Andy Blundell told PrintWeek. Additionally the company is to outsource “a substantial amount” of the commoditised direct mail work produced in Leeds, which employs around 400 staff, while retaining higher margin and specialised DM work at the site. Blundell said that an agreement that would see the work outsourced locally had already been signed and would be effective “over the coming months”. He added: “There is over-capacity in direct mail so it makes more sense for us to outsource it. It is not appropriate for us to continue with our DM work in-house. “These plans are aligned with the group’s strategy to reduce its exposure to the more commoditised sector of the print market by focusing on higher margin specialist production and to improve margins by reducing costs and improving capacity utilisation,” Blundell said. Although he did not give specifics, Blundell said that some web production equipment would likely be moved from Manchester to Leeds, while the company also intended to invest in new kit for the site. He said: “The kit profile will change as we get more specialised in terms of transactional and security work in Leeds. We will need to invest in new kit and we will make way for that by taking kit for commoditised DM work out.” He added that some equipment could also be moved to the company’s 9,300sqm high-speed colour digital printing and transactional printing site in Liverpool, which employs around 350 staff. Overall the restructure is expected produce annual cost savings of around £4m from 2014 and give rise to a net exceptional charge of £3.5m in 2013, with a cash cost of £2.8m in the second half of 2013 and £0.7m in the first half of 2014. The company said that the restructure would help it deliver on its target to achieve double-digit margin on sales (excluding pass through) over the next three years while opening opportunities for planned reinvestment in new skills and services. Blundell said: “For a while we have been clear about three strategic focuses for the group. One is to win new contracts and we have continued to do that, secondly restructuring to make sure our manufacturing engine is appropriate moving forward and finally mergers and acquisitions. Blundell said that the group’s...