RISING STAR
Stargold breaks with its Heidelberg tradition to install increasingly popular Chinese press
Kidderminster’s Stargold Ltd has ended a longstanding all-Heidelberg habit with the installation of a two colour Sanxin YK522 press from UK supplier Printers Superstore. Sanxin is the first Chinese press manufacturer to make an impact in the UK, with a customer base steadily growing since the first YK series machine arrived in 2006. According to Production Director Terry Salters, the Stargold team were careful to thoroughly examine the Sanxin before making a commitment.
“I went up to the Printers Superstore showroom in Leeds to see the Sanxin, and it looks like a properly engineered piece of equipment,” he says. “The general consensus of everyone here who’s been involved in purchasing the Sanxin and getting it up and running is that it will do what we want it to do.”
The company replaced one of two two-colour Printmaster 46 presses in favour of the YK522, as Mr Salters explains. “We needed a machine which would ease the pressure on our five colour Speedmaster, namely a versatile high quality two colour in the 52cm format, which would also handle multi-pass work in register. All the alternatives were much more expensive. The Sanxin proves you can get great value for money if you are prepared to look with an open mind. In my opinion they are in the same position Japanese presses were in when they first arrived in the UK, and it won’t be long before they are fully accepted and a common sight.”
Stargold is a general commercial printer offering a full service from design to delivery, in the words of Terry Salters, “we aim to print anything and everything.” Thanks partly to a next day delivery service and internet ordering facility, its client base is nationwide. The company’s work profile is increasingly in high quality multicolour, with run lengths averaging at 3,000 to 5,000.
Stargold was formed 25 years ago, and for the last two decades has been managed by MD Bob Jeffries and Terry Salters. Figures confirm that the company has been doing well in recent years -annual turnover has recently risen to around £1.5m. The Sanxin installation completes a series of capital investments which have also seen new CtP and bookletmaking systems arrive at the company’s 7,000 sq ft factory. Stargold currently has 17 staff.
