Barnsley’s Spin Print Solutions has just installed a Hans Gronhi GH525, supplied by Printers Superstore. The new B3 five colour press is the latest in a series of investments for the 8 year old trade house totalling around £600,000 which included two digital presses – an MGI Meteor DP8700 XL and Xerox 800, plus a Duplo stitching line.
According to Joint MDs Dan Brook and Glyn Johnson, the spend is part upgrade, part new capacity, but all in keeping with a strategy that has seen the company grow steadily in recent years.
“We deal with print management companies who buy a range of products from digital to litho to large format, so we have to be versatile and able to compete across the whole spectrum – whether it’s one or a hundred thousand sheets,” says Dan Brook. “We have invested in every key area of our business.”
He continues, “In the case of the Hans Gronhi press, it was clear we needed a new machine to cope with an ever increasing demand for B3 litho print, and it had to be a five colour. We have a regular contract to print on silk stocks which requires sealing; we were doing it on our old four colour and sealing on a GTO which was wasteful in both time and cost. We saw the Hans Gronhi press at a Printers Superstore Open House last year and were impressed.”
As the company finance specialist, Glyn Johnson made sure the economic case for the Gronhi press was watertight. “We found that in every area that matters, the Gronhi was equal to any other machine on the market, but the purchase price was substantially lower,” he says. “We could get a brand new Gronhi for the price of a three or four year old used press, plus we found the running and maintenance costs to be lower.”
“Our experience since the installation has proven the decision correct. We are putting as many as 19 jobs per shift through the Gronhi press,” says Mr Brook.“It is networked to our prepress via CIP for automated setups, so turnround is fast, and we’ve not had a single issue with print quality.”
The company has also boosted digital capacity by adding two new digital machines – a Xerox 800 and an MGI Meteor DP8700 XL. According to Dan Brook, while the Xerox provides extra capacity and backup for the company’s Xerox 1000, the MGI machine offered new opportunities. “It bridges the gap between litho and digital, because it can run litho stocks which are laser guaranteed. Plus it will produce 6 and 8 page A4 documents, and print on a range of materials. It’s a unique machine.”
The company’s investment programme has been necessary to fulfill an ever expanding order book. “We have done very well recently,” says Dan Brook, “we don’t advertise and we have no sales staff, it’s all reputation and word of mouth. We have the right kit and offer the right products, but we also offer excellent service, we meet every deadline and we take pride in the quality of our work”
Spin Print Solutions is fully self contained and undertakes all operations from pre press to finishing. It operates from a 5,000 sq ft premises and employs 22 staff. Current turnover is in the region of £1.5m.