The kit, with a list price of around £65,000, was installed by Horizon agent IFS in March and was configured with two VAC-Turbo 600 collating towers. It will predominantly be binding work ‘nearline’ from the firm’s two HP Indigo 7200 digital presses. Production director Chris Peacock said G&H Group would continue to roll out litho work, but the future “very much lies in a fast turnaround, responsive and high quality digital service” for customers including retailers, finance houses, educational establishments and business-to-business collateral. “Where our previous older bindery systems would have taken up to 25 minutes per job to set up, the new Horizon takes just a couple of minutes,” he said. “We can save up to a third or even half the time now. We are more efficient and more effective and can provide an improved service.” Peacock said the 4,500bph JDF-ready SPF/FC-200A was chosen for three reasons: build quality, the functionality and flexibility provided by a single system, and while he said it was not the cheapest, it was “good for what it does and what we can now do”. The system features a 200-programme job memory for instant recall and an icon-based touch-screen for job set-up, he said. An advanced suction rotor drum feeding system, meanwhile, operated on a wide variety of paper stocks at high speeds. IFS supplied the Horizon. “Accuracy and reliability are assured by misfeed, double-feed and jamming sensors on each bin and the feed error history can be monitored via the touchscreen. The collators are faster and replace an older collator more suited to litho work. They are also more highly automated, which improves...

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...

The kit, with a list price of around £65,000, was installed by Horizon agent IFS in March and was configured with two VAC-Turbo 600 collating towers. It will predominantly be binding work ‘nearline’ from the firm’s two HP Indigo 7200 digital presses. Production director Chris Peacock said G&H Group would continue to roll out litho work, but the future “very much lies in a fast turnaround, responsive and high quality digital service” for customers including retailers, finance houses, educational establishments and business-to-business collateral. “Where our previous older bindery systems would have taken up to 25 minutes per job to set up, the new Horizon takes just a couple of minutes,” he said. “We can save up to a third or even half the time now. We are more efficient and more effective and can provide an improved service.” Peacock said the 4,500bph JDF-ready SPF/FC-200A was chosen for three reasons: build quality, the functionality and flexibility provided by a single system, and while he said it was not the cheapest, it was “good for what it does and what we can now do”. The system features a 200-programme job memory for instant recall and an icon-based touch-screen for job set-up, he said. An advanced suction rotor drum feeding system, meanwhile, operated on a wide variety of paper stocks at high speeds. IFS supplied the Horizon. “Accuracy and reliability are assured by misfeed, double-feed and jamming sensors on each bin and the feed error history can be monitored via the touchscreen. The collators are faster and replace an older collator more suited to litho work. They are also more highly automated, which improves...

The second machine, an eight-colour long perfector, is due to be installed in August and will replace a Ryobi 925. It runs at 15,000sph and will be used for business cards, posters and leaflets, typically in runs of around 2,000. Tradeprint managing director Rod Scrimgeour said the new machine cost around £3m and will run alongside the first Speedmaster XL, a 10-colour machine that cost about £3.5m. “The first press did everything we expected and more,” he said. “We had anticipated it being up to four times as productive as the SM 74-10P it replaced, but in fact, it has given us a five-fold increase. “Makereadies of four to four-and-a-half minutes are ideal for the high volume of short runs we handle on a daily basis. Before, 99.8% of orders went out on time; now we are hitting 100%. The company is also upgrading its processors and adding lasers to its original Suprasetter 105 to increase the speed of output of its Saphira NA101 plates. This was critical to keeping two “very hungry presses supplied for maximum performance”, he said. Scrimgeour added: “Expensive price points are unsustainable. By having the best software systems, accessible online web-to-print services and the best equipment we are able to attain the price points today’s trade market requires. “We are commodity, commercial printers combining many jobs per plate to maximise time and waste efficiency. That approach, combined with a clear business plan, is why we are in a position to invest for further rapid growth.” The £8m investment programme includes an extension of the Tradeprint.co.uk offices in Dundee. “We employ more software developers than we do print minders and have recently beefed up our development team,” explains Scrimgeour. “Investment is crucial to staying ahead of our competitors and is the key to our success.” Heidelberg said the sale represented the fastest repeat order for the XL 106 in the UK to date, possibly the world....

The second machine, an eight-colour long perfector, is due to be installed in August and will replace a Ryobi 925. It runs at 15,000sph and will be used for business cards, posters and leaflets, typically in runs of around 2,000. Tradeprint managing director Rod Scrimgeour said the new machine cost around £3m and will run alongside the first Speedmaster XL, a 10-colour machine that cost about £3.5m. “The first press did everything we expected and more,” he said. “We had anticipated it being up to four times as productive as the SM 74-10P it replaced, but in fact, it has given us a five-fold increase. “Makereadies of four to four-and-a-half minutes are ideal for the high volume of short runs we handle on a daily basis. Before, 99.8% of orders went out on time; now we are hitting 100%. The company is also upgrading its processors and adding lasers to its original Suprasetter 105 to increase the speed of output of its Saphira NA101 plates. This was critical to keeping two “very hungry presses supplied for maximum performance”, he said. Scrimgeour added: “Expensive price points are unsustainable. By having the best software systems, accessible online web-to-print services and the best equipment we are able to attain the price points today’s trade market requires. “We are commodity, commercial printers combining many jobs per plate to maximise time and waste efficiency. That approach, combined with a clear business plan, is why we are in a position to invest for further rapid growth.” The £8m investment programme includes an extension of the Tradeprint.co.uk offices in Dundee. “We employ more software developers than we do print minders and have recently beefed up our development team,” explains Scrimgeour. “Investment is crucial to staying ahead of our competitors and is the key to our success.” Heidelberg said the sale represented the fastest repeat order for the XL 106 in the UK to date, possibly the world....