Publishing his second report to government: Growing Micro Businesses, the Prime Minister’s enterprise adviser Lord Young focused on strategies that would help the UK’s smallest businesses – those with fewer than 10 employees – to achieve growth. The report calls for the government to legislate to abolish pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ) on public sector contracts worth less than £200,000 and to set single-market principles to standardise public sector processes so that suppliers know what to expect when dealing with them. Scrapping the PQQ at this level would simplify bidding, payment and advertising of contracts, and remove complex processes, high costs and inconsistency, which are often barriers to SMEs bidding for such work, the report says. Also high on the list of recommendations was the scrapping of the age cap for eligibility for the government’s Start-Up Loan scheme. The initiative, launched in September 2012, initially aimed at 18-24 year-olds but this was extended in January to include those up to 30. However, Lord Young’s report said the age cap must be scrapped altogether so that entrepreneurs who would otherwise struggle to secure the necessary finance could benefit. The scheme, headed by entrepreneur James Caan, helps start-ups get off the ground by providing loans typically worth £4,500 and mentors from private sector delivery partners such as Printing.com. Other recommendations in the report include developing a new charter and award scheme to incentivise business schools to help SMEs grow, a £30m voucher scheme to encourage small businesses to enlist external advice on growth and allowing the private sector to provide specialist SME advice on the government’s gov.co.uk website. Commenting on his report, Lord Young said: “We have one of the best environments in the world for the creation of new firms. What this report endeavours to do is to help and encourage all those new firms to now take on their first employees and grow. “Growing our smallest businesses would transform our economy – they are the vital 95%. If just half of the UK’s micro businesses took on an additional member of staff, unemployment would be reduced to almost zero. We need to raise the aspirations and confidence of these businesses and give them the tools to grow.” Business minister Michael Fallon said: “We are supporting ambitious small firms to grow, create jobs and achieve their goals. Whether that’s by providing access to mentoring and advice, cutting red tape or through successful schemes like Start-Up Loans. “But we are determined to go further and faster: Lord Young’s important report sets out a series of practical steps that can make a real difference to entrepreneurs across the country.”...

The five-colour Lithrone S29 with aqueous coater replaces a six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 and was chosen for its quick makeready times for short and longer run lengths, said production manager Geoff Ovenden. The new machine cost around £590,000. “We needed a machine that could deal easily with our litho colour work,” he said. “Our run lengths average about 15,000 but we do short runs too, so a quick makeready and fast running speed was essential. Makeready times are around 12 to 15 minutes and we use Xing Graphics’ processed plates. “We strive to work smarter not harder so we needed to find a press with high automation, higher productivity and one that would progress our commitment to ensure our print is produced with minimal environmental impact.” His company designs, produces and delivers personalised leaflets for a national retail trading organisation. Other clients include government bodies, print management agencies, general commercial customers and the shipping trade. Ovenden added: “Ever since my St Ives days, I’ve been a fan of Komori’s machines and their technical support. We liked the consistency of the sheets the Lithrone delivered, the minimal material waste and the capability to print entirely alcohol-free.” The new machine offered “complete flexibility” to use a range of coating finishes including soft touch and high gloss on any material without reducing the press running speed. His firm is constantly running at 16,000 sheets an hour on all types of jobs. “Add to that the Lithrone S29’s ability to switch randomly from stocks as light as 80 gram to heavyweight board of 400 gram with little or no adjustments, and the overall result has been an immediate increase in productivity of around 30%.” Providence Integrated Print Solutions also runs a Xerox IGen4 and a two-colour Heidelberg GTO. For personalisation it uses Domino Inkjet systems fitted inline on two mailing machines. The company also provides a complete in-house fulfilment service. “We have initiatives to minimise resources, energy, labour and noise levels. We are also committed to using presses awarded the BG emission test certificate and GS certification for environmental and health protection, and these are critical factors when investing.”...

The five-colour Lithrone S29 with aqueous coater replaces a six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 and was chosen for its quick makeready times for short and longer run lengths, said production manager Geoff Ovenden. The new machine cost around £590,000. “We needed a machine that could deal easily with our litho colour work,” he said. “Our run lengths average about 15,000 but we do short runs too, so a quick makeready and fast running speed was essential. Makeready times are around 12 to 15 minutes and we use Xing Graphics’ processed plates. “We strive to work smarter not harder so we needed to find a press with high automation, higher productivity and one that would progress our commitment to ensure our print is produced with minimal environmental impact.” His company designs, produces and delivers personalised leaflets for a national retail trading organisation. Other clients include government bodies, print management agencies, general commercial customers and the shipping trade. Ovenden added: “Ever since my St Ives days, I’ve been a fan of Komori’s machines and their technical support. We liked the consistency of the sheets the Lithrone delivered, the minimal material waste and the capability to print entirely alcohol-free.” The new machine offered “complete flexibility” to use a range of coating finishes including soft touch and high gloss on any material without reducing the press running speed. His firm is constantly running at 16,000 sheets an hour on all types of jobs. “Add to that the Lithrone S29’s ability to switch randomly from stocks as light as 80 gram to heavyweight board of 400 gram with little or no adjustments, and the overall result has been an immediate increase in productivity of around 30%.” Providence Integrated Print Solutions also runs a Xerox IGen4 and a two-colour Heidelberg GTO. For personalisation it uses Domino Inkjet systems fitted inline on two mailing machines. The company also provides a complete in-house fulfilment service. “We have initiatives to minimise resources, energy, labour and noise levels. We are also committed to using presses awarded the BG emission test certificate and GS certification for environmental and health protection, and these are critical factors when investing.”...

The move follows an MBO in January that resulted in managing director Paul Barker-Smith, who has been with the firm for 19 years and previously owned a 40% stake in the business, acquiring the remaining 60% from his fellow stakeholders. As part of the new investment the company has leased a 743sqm facility in Corby, Northamptonshire and installed a new Océ Arizona 50XT UV flatbed printer, a Zünd G3 digital cutter and a Kippax semi-automatic screen printer. The company has employed an apprentice who will be based at Corby, while a number of staff from MJD’s existing facility in neigbouring Uppingham, Rutland have moved over to man the site. Barker-Smith said that he expected to take on at least two additional staff in the near future as the site worked towards full production. MJD, which designs and manufactures POS displays for the likes of Boots, Asda, Superdrug and Tesco, will retain its Rutland headquarters. The site houses the company’s creative design studio, back office administration and vac-form and screenprinting operations, which use three large vacuum form machines, screen printing facilities and a web-fed digital printer. Initially specialising in plastic vacuum forming, the company’s POS production capabilities have evolved in the past few years to comprise 50% card and 50% plastic vacuum forming, but while it previously outsourced the majority of its card POS manufacturing, the new site will allow the company to bring more in-house. “It gives us the capability to expand more and more into that area because that is definitely the way that the industry is moving,” said Barker-Smith. “It’s very exciting. A lot has happened in a short space of time since I took ownership of the company and this investment is really laying the foundations for a sustainable future for MJD,” he added. The company achieved a £3m turnover in 2012/13 and is targeting £3.5m this year. And Barker-Smith said that, as part of an ambitious growth strategy, he intended to double that in three years....

The move follows an MBO in January that resulted in managing director Paul Barker-Smith, who has been with the firm for 19 years and previously owned a 40% stake in the business, acquiring the remaining 60% from his fellow stakeholders. As part of the new investment the company has leased a 743sqm facility in Corby, Northamptonshire and installed a new Océ Arizona 50XT UV flatbed printer, a Zünd G3 digital cutter and a Kippax semi-automatic screen printer. The company has employed an apprentice who will be based at Corby, while a number of staff from MJD’s existing facility in neigbouring Uppingham, Rutland have moved over to man the site. Barker-Smith said that he expected to take on at least two additional staff in the near future as the site worked towards full production. MJD, which designs and manufactures POS displays for the likes of Boots, Asda, Superdrug and Tesco, will retain its Rutland headquarters. The site houses the company’s creative design studio, back office administration and vac-form and screenprinting operations, which use three large vacuum form machines, screen printing facilities and a web-fed digital printer. Initially specialising in plastic vacuum forming, the company’s POS production capabilities have evolved in the past few years to comprise 50% card and 50% plastic vacuum forming, but while it previously outsourced the majority of its card POS manufacturing, the new site will allow the company to bring more in-house. “It gives us the capability to expand more and more into that area because that is definitely the way that the industry is moving,” said Barker-Smith. “It’s very exciting. A lot has happened in a short space of time since I took ownership of the company and this investment is really laying the foundations for a sustainable future for MJD,” he added. The company achieved a £3m turnover in 2012/13 and is targeting £3.5m this year. And Barker-Smith said that, as part of an ambitious growth strategy, he intended to double that in three years....