The North East-based commercial printer, which has a turnover of £3.7m and employs 48 staff, has also completed a revamp of its finishing facilities; including adding two automated Heidelberg Stahlfolders and a £60,000 Eurotrim1000 three-knife trimmer, which will be installed in about three weeks.
Two separate Web2Printforms will also be rolled out over the next three months, one a Tharstern-based platform for its existing B2B customers and the other a "bespoke solution" that will pave the way for a new B2C enterprise.
In May last year PBL Print secured a £1.3m cash injection from Yorkshire Bank’s Investing for Growth Initiative, which supported the acquisition of a 2,800sqm factory in Chester-le-Street, just eight miles from its old base.
Combined with a £1.5m pressroom upgrade, funded through asset finance lending firm Lombard, PBL expects the investment to boost output by more than 50% and double turnover to more that £6m within five years.
PBL sales director Chris Murley said growth could result in another C901 being acquired before the end of the year. He added that the company might be looking for an additional facility to house its digital division in the future, if it achieved the kind of growth he was expecting.
"The purchase of the Linoprint C901 marks our debut in digital," said Murley.
"We believe it will complement our Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolors as runs become shorter and shorter. Quite a lot of our existing commercial customers are buying digital as well as litho print. We believe the breakeven between the Linoprint and Anicolor technology will be about 200 for booklets and about 500 to 1,000 on flat sheets but we are currently analysing the cost and profit details ahead of installation."
Initially the C901 will be run on days by the pre-press department, but shifts will be added as volume dictates, and a dedicated operator could be recruited in future.
