Looking at events in the run-up to the collapse of MPGi I have to question why on earth the company decided it was a good idea increase capacity with a big new press when it was already losing money hand over fist.

At last summer's drupa MPGi ordered a new 10-colour Speedmaster and said it planned to increase turnover by a third. As it turned out, the order for this press was subsequently cancelled because the company was offered the nearly new 12-colour (note, even bigger press) from Reed Print & Design and snapped that up instead.

Given the economic meltdown was well under way at that point, I also wonder where they thought all this work was going to come from.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and this is a question that only the directors can answer, but in my simple little world the focus should surely have been on stemming losses first? Preferably by improving the performance of the existing kit, for example through workflow and manufacturing efficiencies, rather than putting in a big new machine that provides the means to lose more money, faster.

The directors have admitted they made the mistake of taking on work at pretty much any price, and desperation to keep this additional capacity turning must surely have played a part in this wrong-headedness. All that glisters is not gold, and a factory full of shiny new presses is completely pointless if there's not enough profitable work to fill them.