Macclesfield has never been noted for its inventive thinking, with the possible exception of giving Sir Alex Ferguson’s protégé Paul Ince his first start in football management. But last month, a new firm launched out of the town with the sole intention of cornering a supposedly untapped market.
Sheetxpress specialises in sheetfed lamination, while its parent API Group’s laminating department is all reelfed. As Sheetxpress’ priority is short-run jobs, the company claims that it can turn any job around in no more than 10 days.
The man given the task of looking after the new company is business manager Steve Hackett.
“Sheetxpress was developed to enable us to support customers in need of small quantities of packaging. Before now, we were bringing in paperboard from Scandinavia, so we couldn’t support [short] lead times,” says Hackett. Sheetxpress uses stock from the UK, so it is much quicker to get hold of than API’s reelfed materials.
The hunt for machinery for their new venture took the API team across Europe. Hackett explains: “We had no expertise with sheetfed, because it has always been reel-in, sheet-out. We knew there was a firm in France with a machine, so we went to have a look. We looked at it and said: ‘we can do that’.
“We purchased a machine that uses Swiss technology, although it was built by an Italian company,” he adds. The Steinemann, which cost just over £300,000, laminates sheet-to-sheet, using essentially the same process as API’s webfed machines. A suction system holds the sheets in place, while the laminate is reelfed and cut with a hot knife.
The machine was installed at Macclesfield in June last year, but at the time API did not really know where it would fit into the business. “We had a change of management and Andrew Stevens came in as managing director for laminates,” says Hackett. “He decided he wanted the sheetfed side of things to operate as a standalone business under the API profile.”
Quick response
Sheetxpress was launched last month and the name was chosen to reflect its ability to respond quickly. “There are small carton printers out there. We want them to tell us what we can do for them. It is an untapped market, with runs of around 2,000 to 4,000 units,” says Hackett.
“We can also do over-lamination and that may be another area we would look to tap into. We know that some of API’s existing customers will need short-run work, so it is about building up those customers, and once the customer base and the product is established we can look elsewhere for work.”
In its first year, Sheetxpress is expected to bring in £600,000 and Hackett believes it will build from there. So far, the firm has been working on turnaround times of 10 days, which doesn’t sound fast in print terms, but when you realise reelfed jobs can take 30 days, it’s a different ball game.
And Sheetxpress has proved that it can deliver on its turnaround promise. One of its first jobs involved the company laminating 60,000 sheets and turning it around in the allotted 10 days. However, Hackett maintains that the company would not want 60,000 to be a regular figure, instead aiming at around 15,000. “We can go down as far as 10-50 sheets, so we’re great for proofing,” he says.
Worldwide sites
API Group is a UK company, but it is now half-owned by an American investment firm. API has other sites in the UK, as well as in the US, Australia and China. However, the Macclesfield site is API’s only UK operation to provide laminating. The site turns over £35m-£40m every year.
API Group will laminate pretty much anything, but it does have key areas. Hackett explains: “We focus on four sectors – drinks, tobacco, health and beauty, and pharmaceutical. We tend to deal in the higher end of those products, especially on the drinks side. If you see a whisky in a supermarket and there is only one box on the shelf, that is the kind of thing we do.”
Even though Sheetxpress has been set up to run as a separate entity, the company still works with API Group, and recently helped to dig them out of a difficult situation. Hackett explains: “We had a big order from L’Oreal, around 300,000, and they wanted it inside a week. We couldn’t get the reel form in, but we were able to get the sheets in. “So the first stage we did sheetfed, then the bulk of it was done reelfed, when the board came in. Thanks to the sheetfed machine we didn’t lose the chance to handle a major order.”
It is early days for Sheetxpress, so what the future holds is anybody’s guess. But as long as someone is drinking the kind of whisky that is so special only 2,000 bottles are produced, business should continue to build for this new company.
SHEETXPRESS
Location Macclesfield
Expected Turnover £600,000
Staff six
Business Manager Steve Hackett
Founded February 2007
Sectors pre-print lamination, over-lamination
Clients Tobacco, health and beauty, pharmaceutical and drinks companies
Kit Steinemann Aqua 110 laminator
