Printing firm invests more than £2m in its Manchester plant

Trafford Park

A printing firm is investing more than £2m in its Manchester factory.

Grafenia has launhed a major an upgrade programme at its main Litho Production Hub in Trafford Park.

The firm will be swapping a total of three old Komori printing presses, comprising 16 print units, with a new Komori 8 unit B1 perfector.

The new press benefits from hybrid-UV technology which removes the need for any drying time, currently as long as 24 hours.

This will mean shorter production times and reduce the potential for quality defects, through real-time inline colour management and defect-identifying camera

With trend towards shorter print run lengths, speed of changeover has become one of the main drivers of productivity for the business.

Printing press technology has evolved significantly in recent years and the new machine can process more print runs per hour than the three older presses combined.

The firm also intends to upgrade associated computer-to-plate pre-press systems in conjunction with installing the new press.

Further benefits of the upgrade are expected to include: waste paper reduction, significantly lower power usage and labour savings.

The firm said wherever possible it will redeploy people to other roles.

The investment of approximately £2.1m will be funded by way of an asset finance package with an equity down payment, provided by Close Brothers.

The loan is repayable over an 84-month term. The board expects the upgrade programme to have a cash-on-cash payback of its equity investment of less than twelve months.

The new press is expected to be operational this spring.

 

 

Close