The Reydon, Suffolk firm is Printweek’s reigning Company of the Year.
Micropress held a celebratory open day for customers and partners earlier this week where it showcased its existing facilities and unveiled the expansion plans.
The firm has lodged a planning application for the factory extension, which will take up a space that currently sits between its 6,500sqm factory and 1,500sqm paper warehouse.
Micropress director Rob Cross said the firm planned to completely revamp its digital printing department.
“The factory extension will be 1,600sqm and the build cost will be in excess of £1m,” he explained.
“We intend to set up a new digital ‘super site’ expanding our short print run offering. It will also give us space to grow our litho manufacturing plant further as well as offering more warehousing and distribution for clients.”
The firm is currently in the process of evaluating a range of digital presses, including sheetfed and roll-fed inkjet.
Micropress currently runs three toner-based digital presses: a Xerox iGen 150, Xerox Nuvera EA120 mono device, and a Heidelberg Versafire.
Fellow director James Cross said a project to evaluate the quality, running costs and ROI for a number of digital printing engines was underway.
“It’s a complex process because of the different ways digital press manufacturers charge for things. When we decide what to put in the new extension that will be a further substantial investment,” he noted.
Micropress works for a range of clients including print managers, other printers, and end users producing books, catalogues, magazines and other commercial print work. It also offers warehousing and pick and pack services as part of a strategy to continually enhance its offering.
“We think about what we can offer that customers aren’t always getting elsewhere. And we want to focus on what we do well,” Rob Cross added.
He told guests: “The market is evolving and we want to become your go-to printer.”
Micropress installed a highly-specified 18,000sph ten-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL106 earlier this year in a £3.75m investment that also included a Stahl TH 82-P high-speed folder with Palamides delivery and robotic P-Stacker, in order to keep pace with the fresh printing firepower.
Guests saw the press and folder running as part of a tour of its busy factory, which has a large solar panel installation on its roof.
Micropress has also recently invested in a humidification system for the factory, while a new voltage optimisation system will be installed in the coming months.
“It basically optimises the voltage coming into the building taking out the ‘spikes’ so you use the voltage as efficiently as possible. The total investment for us including the install is around £100,000. It should give us a 6% saving on our energy so it’s a no-brainer,” Cross explained.
Cross said the business, which employs 172, was on course for sales of £26m this year.
He said that growth areas included work for book publishers and trade printing services for SME printers that were outsourcing manufacturing.
He also emphasised the importance of profitability and making sure that all of the firm’s employees shared in the firm’s success through bonuses and performance schemes.
“We look after our staff and strive to get buy-in,” Cross said.
“We want to be profitable and to be able to re-invest in the business – that’s been the same for 40 years. Profit shouldn’t be a dirty word.”
As well as being crowned 2022 Company of the Year, Micropress apprentice Mark Mwebe also won Trainee of the Year at the Printweek Awards.
The family-owned firm was set up by Mike Cross in 1979 and moved to its purpose-built factory and nine-acre site in 2011.
