Shuttleworth MIS upgrade streamlines job tracking
Joint managing director Paul Deane said: “This new release is simply one of the most significant updates to the Shuttleworth MIS for some time.” The release includes a new iPhone & iPad mobile customer relationship management app, giving sales teams instant access to company, contact and enquiry details while away from the office. “Improved, immediate communication across the system includes this new app. Enquiries can be viewed and updated in real time and addresses linked into most satellite navigation systems.” Additionally a new job-tracking functionality called Milestones automatically updates jobs, making it simpler and quicker to view the status of any job, according to the company. Implementation administrator Dawn Safford said: “Milestones’ job tracking gives clear visibility of where a job is at any time. The information was always there but this makes it easier to find through things like colour coding.” The package was unveiled at user meetings in June and is now commercially available. The whole package costs around £10,000 and modules around £3,000 each. Multisets Print Solutions managing director Iain Cox, who has already installed the system, said: “It has given complete transparency to the business, without having to search. “Information is a click of a button away and the format is presented in a completely user friendly way so that anyone can access and look at information instantly.” Shuttleworth Business Systems is running a new webinar program to coincide with the new release and also has a 5.3 YouTube Playlist where users can view the package’s...
read moreNew kit at Richardson Printing to slash makeready times
The device is due in the 22-staff printer in Lowestoft, Suffolk, in September and will replace its existing Stahlfolder for work including short-run brochures and magazines to long-run timetables and maps. Partner John Richardson said: “We are very pleased with the present machine – it doesn’t owe us a penny – but we want more automation and the new kit offers breath-taking differences in set-up times. “Makeready times will go from 25 minutes to five. It runs at around 10,000 sheets an hour but it’s not about running speed; it’s how quick you get running. This will cut down staff hours and allow us to put out less work.” Richardson said his team often had to switch between jobs and the Stahlfolder TH56 stored sizes and settings from previous jobs to enable staff to go straight back rather than “use levers and manual adjustments”. His company, part of the Micropress Group, decided it needed a six-plate rather than a four-plate first unit to enable it to tackle more multiple-fold jobs such as maps, which used to be parcelled out. “The automation took my breath away. We are constantly changing formats and this will make it so easy and cut makeready times considerably. We run with one folder so it has to be robust and flexible.” The company runs a double day shift and finishing facilities include folding, die-cutting and...
read moreNew kit at Richardson Printing to slash makeready times
The device is due in the 22-staff printer in Lowestoft, Suffolk, in September and will replace its existing Stahlfolder for work including short-run brochures and magazines to long-run timetables and maps. Partner John Richardson said: “We are very pleased with the present machine – it doesn’t owe us a penny – but we want more automation and the new kit offers breath-taking differences in set-up times. “Makeready times will go from 25 minutes to five. It runs at around 10,000 sheets an hour but it’s not about running speed; it’s how quick you get running. This will cut down staff hours and allow us to put out less work.” Richardson said his team often had to switch between jobs and the Stahlfolder TH56 stored sizes and settings from previous jobs to enable staff to go straight back rather than “use levers and manual adjustments”. His company, part of the Micropress Group, decided it needed a six-plate rather than a four-plate first unit to enable it to tackle more multiple-fold jobs such as maps, which used to be parcelled out. “The automation took my breath away. We are constantly changing formats and this will make it so easy and cut makeready times considerably. We run with one folder so it has to be robust and flexible.” The company runs a double day shift and finishing facilities include folding, die-cutting and...
read moreVeritek in £11m MBO
Managing director Jim Edgar and finance director Jonathan Briant secured the £11m investment package through UK-based equity investor Mobeus, buying out majority shareholder and founder Adrian Teulon and US-based digital imaging manufacturer Noritsu, which had held a 25.1% share in the business since 2009, as part of a partnership agreement. Following the deal, management controls more than 50% of the business. Traditionally a technical support services outsourcing partner for photolabs such as Agfa and Fujifilm, Veritek has diversified since 2006 into the healthcare, ophthalmic, digital cinema markets and graphics arts markets. Under the latter, the business offers technical and ongoing support for CTP, digital, inkjet and wide-format equipment, signing deals in the past year with Epson UK for wide-format servicing, MGI and HP on its Scitex range. The £25m-turnover company was founded by Teulon in 1985 as Complete Minilab Services (CMS), but was rebranded as Veritek in 2010, around three years after Edgar and Briant joined the firm. Now employing more than 300 engineers, Veritek, winner of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2012, has expanded to operate across 10 European territories. Briant said that the interest-only repayment debt and equity investment from Mobeus meant that the business could focus on future growth from a solid financial position. “Since Jim and I joined we have diversified the business into new sectors and we have expanded our reach across Europe. Although we are focused on five key areas we are open to opportunities in other markets and we are interested in the digital signage and security printing environments,” he added. “We signed a pan-European contract with HP Graphic at the beginning of this year and that is very significant for us. It is a new relationship and one that we anticipate will grow over the next few years so that we become a much more significant partner for them. “Our business model means we have engineers all over Europe who can respond quickly and efficiently. We have economies of scale that mean we can provide services faster and cheaper than many others.” Of Veritek’s 300-strong workforce, around 200 are UK-based with the remainder covering the rest of Europe. Briant said that the company was considering expanding its workforce in the coming months to focus on business development in the UK and Europe. “We are looking at winning some major contracts so it makes sense for us to add resources, once we understand where we can best add value.” He added that the business hoped to grow annual turnover over the next three to five years by up to £20m, to £45m per year. “We made this investment because we believe in the business. We are not tied to just one manufacturer or service and each sector we cover contributes to the others. The company has done well to diversify and we believe it has an incredibly positive future.” Of the MBO funding package, Mobeus investment director Chris Price said: “Veritek is a superbly managed business with an exciting future ahead of it as it increasingly diversifies its business into areas such as healthcare and graphics. “We are confident that our flexible debt and equity solution will enable the team to take advantage of these growth opportunities and enable Veritek to become the leading service and maintenance supplier to the European...
read moreVeritek in £11m MBO
Managing director Jim Edgar and finance director Jonathan Briant secured the £11m investment package through UK-based equity investor Mobeus, buying out majority shareholder and founder Adrian Teulon and US-based digital imaging manufacturer Noritsu, which had held a 25.1% share in the business since 2009, as part of a partnership agreement. Following the deal, management controls more than 50% of the business. Traditionally a technical support services outsourcing partner for photolabs such as Agfa and Fujifilm, Veritek has diversified since 2006 into the healthcare, ophthalmic, digital cinema markets and graphics arts markets. Under the latter, the business offers technical and ongoing support for CTP, digital, inkjet and wide-format equipment, signing deals in the past year with Epson UK for wide-format servicing, MGI and HP on its Scitex range. The £25m-turnover company was founded by Teulon in 1985 as Complete Minilab Services (CMS), but was rebranded as Veritek in 2010, around three years after Edgar and Briant joined the firm. Now employing more than 300 engineers, Veritek, winner of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2012, has expanded to operate across 10 European territories. Briant said that the interest-only repayment debt and equity investment from Mobeus meant that the business could focus on future growth from a solid financial position. “Since Jim and I joined we have diversified the business into new sectors and we have expanded our reach across Europe. Although we are focused on five key areas we are open to opportunities in other markets and we are interested in the digital signage and security printing environments,” he added. “We signed a pan-European contract with HP Graphic at the beginning of this year and that is very significant for us. It is a new relationship and one that we anticipate will grow over the next few years so that we become a much more significant partner for them. “Our business model means we have engineers all over Europe who can respond quickly and efficiently. We have economies of scale that mean we can provide services faster and cheaper than many others.” Of Veritek’s 300-strong workforce, around 200 are UK-based with the remainder covering the rest of Europe. Briant said that the company was considering expanding its workforce in the coming months to focus on business development in the UK and Europe. “We are looking at winning some major contracts so it makes sense for us to add resources, once we understand where we can best add value.” He added that the business hoped to grow annual turnover over the next three to five years by up to £20m, to £45m per year. “We made this investment because we believe in the business. We are not tied to just one manufacturer or service and each sector we cover contributes to the others. The company has done well to diversify and we believe it has an incredibly positive future.” Of the MBO funding package, Mobeus investment director Chris Price said: “Veritek is a superbly managed business with an exciting future ahead of it as it increasingly diversifies its business into areas such as healthcare and graphics. “We are confident that our flexible debt and equity solution will enable the team to take advantage of these growth opportunities and enable Veritek to become the leading service and maintenance supplier to the European...
read moreEFI wins latest patent lawsuit
Ceramic inkjet firm KeraJet filed the lawsuit against rival Spanish firm Cretaprint in 2011, before the latter’s acquisition by EFI in January 2012. KeraJet president Jose Vicente Tomas Claramonte had accused Castellon-based Cretaprint of infringing a patent that he said related to his company’s ceramic tile printing technology, but the claim was thrown out in January this year by the Commercial Court in Valencia. The court ruled that the claim was meritless and that KeraJet’s patent was invalid because it did not involve an inventive step. Claramonte appealed the ruling at the Provincial Court of Valencia which, on 15 July, backed the original verdict, ruling that the patent is null and void and relates to EFI Cretaprint’s technology. EFI’s General Counsel Bryan Ko said: “The Provincial Court has confirmed what we believed all along: that this lawsuit was baseless and that Mr. Tomas Claramonte’s patent is invalid. “We now look forward to decisions from the German and Italian courts in lawsuits filed by EFI, and expect the patent will be invalidated in those countries, too.”...
read moreEFI wins latest patent lawsuit
Ceramic inkjet firm KeraJet filed the lawsuit against rival Spanish firm Cretaprint in 2011, before the latter’s acquisition by EFI in January 2012. KeraJet president Jose Vicente Tomas Claramonte had accused Castellon-based Cretaprint of infringing a patent that he said related to his company’s ceramic tile printing technology, but the claim was thrown out in January this year by the Commercial Court in Valencia. The court ruled that the claim was meritless and that KeraJet’s patent was invalid because it did not involve an inventive step. Claramonte appealed the ruling at the Provincial Court of Valencia which, on 15 July, backed the original verdict, ruling that the patent is null and void and relates to EFI Cretaprint’s technology. EFI’s General Counsel Bryan Ko said: “The Provincial Court has confirmed what we believed all along: that this lawsuit was baseless and that Mr. Tomas Claramonte’s patent is invalid. “We now look forward to decisions from the German and Italian courts in lawsuits filed by EFI, and expect the patent will be invalidated in those countries, too.”...
read moreCheckprint expands mailing operation
The £4.5m-turnover division has invested around £50,000, excluding site refit costs, on new laser printing and ‘intelligent mailing’ equipment, incorporating tracking and auditing technology, that enables the firm to print secure individual documents or multi-page mailings with unique barcoding, matching them to single or multiple envelopes. The investment includes 10 accredited HP3015 laser printers to add to its existing fleet. Meanwhile two Pitney Bowes DI950 inserters have been installed at the site site to support the new facility. The spend also includes eight HP Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) printers with eight corresponding operator consoles. The new facility supports Checkprint’s secure business outsourcing work including cheque, cheque remittance, statement, utility bill, invoice, customer communication and PIN printing and mailing. Chairman Martin Ruda said: “This gives us a single self-contained environment, which customers like, and enables us to flow the work through much more cost effectively than we previously have been able to.” He added: “Our cheque bureau service has been a feature of our activities for some time but what we have increasingly found is that our clients, including a number of financial institutions, are looking for a complete end-to-end, fully tracked and audited service in one self-contained, secure environment for the type of documents we are managing for them.” Ruda said the upgraded service would also offer cost and time savings for clients. The investment coincides with Checkprint’s 20th anniversary, which it celebrated last month. Plans are in place to add to Hinckley’s 55-strong workforce this year to meet continued growth, Ruda said, with a 7% increase across the group in 2012 and further growth anticipated in 2013....
read moreGemini celebrates in Brighton and eyes London opening
The launch event at Bohemia Brighton was attended by local councillors, media representatives and over 150 key businesses from the region. During the event the group said it was shortly due to unveil a new Gemini operation in London. Gemini Group owner John Boyle said the change at Brighton was a key strategic move to “overtly identify” the print operation as part of the Gemini Group. Buying print locally, he added, was good for the economy and reduced transport and fuel emissions. The 15-staff litho and digital printing and fulfilment business has a turnover of around £2m. The company has ISO 14001, FSC and PEFC accreditations and uses only vegetable-based inks with chemical-free processes. The operation was set up around 25 years ago. Local councillor Geoffrey Bowden, who attended the London College of Printing and qualified in print management in his younger days, said the company was one of the most successful in Brighton. The Gemini Group, which employs more than 140 staff, comprises Gemini Press and Gemini Digital in Shoreham-by-Sea, Gemini Brighton and Gemini West in Bristol. Gemini London will be unveiled in the coming weeks....
read moreCheckprint expands mailing operation
The £4.5m-turnover division has invested around £50,000, excluding site refit costs, on new laser printing and ‘intelligent mailing’ equipment, incorporating tracking and auditing technology, that enables the firm to print secure individual documents or multi-page mailings with unique barcoding, matching them to single or multiple envelopes. The investment includes 10 accredited HP3015 laser printers to add to its existing fleet. Meanwhile two Pitney Bowes DI950 inserters have been installed at the site site to support the new facility. The spend also includes eight HP Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) printers with eight corresponding operator consoles. The new facility supports Checkprint’s secure business outsourcing work including cheque, cheque remittance, statement, utility bill, invoice, customer communication and PIN printing and mailing. Chairman Martin Ruda said: “This gives us a single self-contained environment, which customers like, and enables us to flow the work through much more cost effectively than we previously have been able to.” He added: “Our cheque bureau service has been a feature of our activities for some time but what we have increasingly found is that our clients, including a number of financial institutions, are looking for a complete end-to-end, fully tracked and audited service in one self-contained, secure environment for the type of documents we are managing for them.” Ruda said the upgraded service would also offer cost and time savings for clients. The investment coincides with Checkprint’s 20th anniversary, which it celebrated last month. Plans are in place to add to Hinckley’s 55-strong workforce this year to meet continued growth, Ruda said, with a 7% increase across the group in 2012 and further growth anticipated in 2013....
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