Kudu buoys growth at Mayfield Press

Print Solutions

Oxford based Mayfield Press has installed a new Kudu flatbed printer, increasing output and quality, while reducing operating costs in its wide format business.

The company provides high quality value added print solutions, specialising in short run applications for point of sale, signage, gifting, packaging and office refurbishments. The business initially invested in a swissQprint Nyala 3 in 2018.

Three years later, Mayfield Press upgraded to add a varnish channel, unlocking further signage and wayfinding opportunities. Building on the success it replaced its Nyala with a Kudu, providing an upgrade in technology and productivity.

The new Kudu has four colours plus white and varnish and uses Q1280i high resolution printheads. With this set up, the business is matching the print quality that previously required a six colour print process. The CMYK colour configuration has also reduced ink use, improving sustainability and cost efficiencies, all while maintaining the print quality for which Mayfield is known.

When making the decision to buy its Kudu, managing director Spencer Slee said that the reputation, service and existing relationship provided gave swissQprint a clear advantage. ‘The technology has proved to be incredibly reliable,’ said Spencer. ‘That is critical to our market as we can't afford any downtime. We wanted a machine that can handle high output as well as high quality print and that is exactly what the Kudu does.’

Spencer added that wide format is the fastest growing part of the business, expanding 32% last year. Mayfield Press is one of four sites under the Print Evolved umbrella, with the other three in central London, Kent and Surrey. The aim is for each site to become a centre of excellence, with Mayfield Press specialising in wide format and litho print.

‘When selecting our new machine, we quickly saw that swissQprint was the only option,’ said Spencer. ‘The Kudu adds value to our business and the team has helped us understand how to feed the machine and get the best out of it. The support is enabling us to grow.’

The 3.2×2 metre machine can operate at a maximum speed of 341 square metres per hour, while being incredibly energy efficient. It consumes an average of 2.2 kilowatt hours of electricity, the same as a normal kettle.

Pictured: Damien Roscoe, production director at Mayfield Press, is seeing operational and quality improvements from the new Kudu.