The press’ installation in September 2021 was followed by a careful training process, which lasted almost six months for the firm, which had previously had “very limited” printing knowledge, according to managing director Nick Michaelson.
Now however, Silver Fox is able to fulfil orders of its specialist labels directly to locations all over the world from its 930sqm Welwyn Garden CIty site.
The press was officially inaugurated by local Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps this month.
Silver Fox develops, manufactures, supplies high-grade cable, wire, and equipment labels and label-making software.
The long training period, beginning in September 2021 and ending in early 2022, also related to the complexity of the project, according to John Hammond, sales director at Nilpeter UK.
He said: “[Silver Fox] is very complicated in what it produces.
“It was not only showing somebody how to print on the machine, it was also helping and giving them guidance to help them finish some of their specialised products. It was not just a standard installation, as such.”
Michaelson added that the Nilpeter had “set the company free” by allowing it to send off orders within days of receiving them.
He said: “It’s enabled us to develop new products, and put us in a good position for other products and market applications.
“Over the past 10 years we’ve had a programme of bringing all the manufacture and conversion of our products in house. The final bit of that was a little like stepping into the unknown, because it was in the depths of Covid when we placed the order with Nilpeter.”
Silver Fox had to work closely with Nilpeter to develop a press that would both meet its current - highly specific - needs and likely future requirements.
Michaelson said: “It was an evolutionary process, which allowed us to mix and match what was available from Nilpeter to best suit the current range of labels we offer, but at the same time, to try and anticipate what we might be doing in the future.”
These future needs included, for example, the possibility of digitally printing on the press later on, or adding other towers onto the press.
For now, however, a firm requirement was that the press’ drying function be UV-LED, as Silver Fox is a carbon-negative company, meaning it had to keep energy use to a minimum.
The FB-350 likewise has an automated plate positioning system, pre-registration and re-registration abilities, running at 228m/min.
Shapps has a connection with the printing industry as he set up London-based PrintHouse Corporation when he was in his early 20s, prior to his political career taking off. He remains the majority shareholder in the business.
