While much of its equipment will be relocated from Delta Group’s main D25 site in nearby Waltham Abbey, the company has invested heavily – around £9m so far this year – on new kit for the supersite.
The firm revealed two significant press purchases at Drupa alone: an EFI Nozomi 14000SD single-pass sign and display printer, capable of up to 75 linear m/min, and an HP Indigo 15000 B2 commercial press; Delta has likewise signed for a Lamina Packline packaging folder-gluer and a range of new finishing machinery.
The 14000SD is currently undergoing installation at the new factory, and will be in production from early July; the new site itself will run in parallel with the D25 site for its first year to ensure a smooth transition.
When Delta’s two previous Nozomi purchases, a C18000 for corrugated and 18000+ LED for sign and display, are moved over, Delta will be the world’s first company to have three under one roof.
Delta’s brand-new B1 single-pass Agfa Speedset Orca, bought in March, has now also begun installation, and will be in production by the end of July, with Delta acting as a Beta platform for the world’s first installation of the machine.
“It’s a massive year for the business,” said Martin Shipp, the group’s chief operating officer.
He told Printweek: “We’re probably going to achieve around 25% increase in capacity going forward.”
The key driver behind shifting from analogue and digital flatbed-led production, Shipp said, has been the shift to lower run lengths, with retailers now running campaigns with up to 250 different items at just 500 or so in each run, instead of small numbers of longer runs.
“The whole site will be digital; there’ll be no analogue presses on site,” he said.
Despite the extra capacity, the supersite – even at 11,000sqm – represents a reduction in floorspace from the firm’s 16,700sqm D25 factory. This is largely due to the retirement in recent years of the firm's screen presses and the migration of work from multiple shuttle flatbeds to the single-pass inkjets.
Delta’s D25 facility, Shipp explained, had 13 flatbeds running – each requiring an area the size of a tennis court; with the Nozomis’ output beating even fast multi-pass machines by five our six times, the firm has been able to reduce its flatbed requirement down to about five machines across the group.
Around 60% of the factory’s daytime energy will be supplied from solar panels, too, and the new site has been fitted with a brand-new, energy efficient compressor system that will also heat its hot water.
The company’s new HP Indigo 15000 will likewise take up its place in the new factory, replacing an outgoing Indigo 20000.
“It gives us more firepower, and gives us continuity of service,” Shipp said.
The Nozomis, too, fit neatly into Delta’s sustainability plans, thanks to the lower energy usage of single-pass machines.
“On the Nozomis we’re looking at 60% less energy usage compared to the same square meterage printed on multi-pass machines,” Shipp said.
The new site is just 20-30 minutes’ drive away from the old, with Delta hoping to minimise any disruption for employees.
“In some ways, installing machinery is the easy thing. One of our key objectives [in the move] was [staff] retention; we don’t want to lose out in the process,” Shipp explained.
Delta Group employs 680 across its London design studio and five production sites: Biggin Hill (Odessa), Dublin, Melksham, Penge (Odessa), and the soon to be replaced Waltham Abbey. It is targeting just over £100m turnover in the coming financial year.
