Print Solutions
After confirming a £2.1 million spend at the start of the year, Bishops Printers’ managing director Gareth Roberts has announced an additional multi-million pound investment.
‘Above all, this investment is about responding to what is important to our clients,’ said Gareth Roberts. ‘We have found ourselves under increasing pressure to expand capacity during peak periods, and investing in the speed and efficiency of our equipment is one way we aim to address this.’
It is also about making decisions at the right time, according to the Bishops’ managing director, so that the company is able to remain competitive and responsive to market conditions. ‘We have taken the time to assess the mix of work that we are winning, and where the opportunities lie, and for us it isn’t in diversification,’ he said.
With demand for shorter print runs and reduced pagination, Bishops is strengthening its digital printing capability by replacing a B3 HP Indigo 7800 with a B2 HP Indigo 100K. Capable of printing 6000 sheets an hour while delivering print quality that looks and feels like offset, it means the company will have two B2 Indigos by the end of October.
Complementing this £1 million investment, will be a new Horizon BQ-500 Ice perfect binding machine, supplied by Intelligent Finishing Systems. With its fast changeovers, the Horizon is ideal for smaller run lengths and will enable Bishops to run its 16 station Kolbus perfect binder far more efficiently, while targeting the short run perfect bound market more aggressively.
‘Bishops remains first and foremost a litho printer,’ said Gareth, ‘and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.’ To that end, the company has ordered a new XL 10 colour from Heidelberg. A replacement press for its oldest 10 colour, the Heidelberg press hall houses considerable capacity with four 10 colour XL75s, two eight colour XL75s (all with AutoPlate Change and Inpress Control), and a five colour SX74.
While Gareth is acutely aware of industry news that has been dominated by fears of contractions, downturn, and business failures, he recently reminded Bishops’ 180 staff that the company is a good business. ‘We price fairly, we produce work we can be proud of, and we pay our people and suppliers on time. We should be confident about our future without being reckless, which is why I remain cautiously optimistic,’ he said.
Indeed, this latest round of investment might not be the last this year. Bishops is reportedly exploring options to add to, as well as replace, existing folding equipment to improve efficiency and turnaround times.
The Portsmouth based company has always seen ongoing capital investment as key to their success, and Gareth is quick to recognise the part that his staff’s hard work has played in creating the environment where they have the option to make these choices.
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