The business also invested in a Ricoh Pro C901 at the start of the year and two more Ricohs, a C9110 and a C7110x, were installed around two months ago.
The Ricohs cost around £200,000 each, while the remaining investment has gone on a new Kongsberg cutter and software.
B Print managing director Will Skelchy said that, since making the switch from analogue to digital in 2012, B Print's total kit spending has been £7.4m.
Skelchy, who has headed the growing firm since 1998, said: “We had 35% growth last year and are on target to hit about 36%-37% growth this year. This is down to excellent customer service, a very aggressive sales force and technology; for example we write our own software here.
“The purchases mean we will be more productive in our shift pattern. Because we’re growing, what it means is we’re not having to add staff at the rate we were. The technology is fully automated so we can get more products through with the staffing levels we have.”
Skelchy ordered the Scitex last week, while in Zurich. It will be installed in August.
The Scitex is B Print’s fifth HP press, joining two Scitex 10000s and two Scitex 7600s. It prints at speeds of up to 1,000sqm/hr and takes media up to 1.6x3.2m in size. It uses a corrugated grip system for media handling.
“With HP it’s very much the service, back-up and the technology. Going fully automatic on the 17000 allows us to run a more streamlined plant, in the sense we don’t need as many operators and we can get greater efficiencies and productivity from the press.
“HP’s continual R&D on inks, substrates and technology is also a big factor for us,” said Skelchy.
The Ricohs were purchased in order to streamline and collate B Print’s growing number of jobs, and to help with faster turnarounds. They print onto a wide variety of materials, including PVCs and acrylics, and the 7110x prints in white and varnish.
Skelchy said: “With analogue printing you were always in a position where you had to create a print run then collate it in quantities to make it feasible for the process of the printing rather than the packing. So now we are in a position where we can take waste out of it so stores aren’t throwing away POS because we can give them exactly what they need."
B Print & Display is also soon set to launch its Vision software, developed in-house, which is meant for retail and marketing customers to manage and control their businesses, linking up different departments to avoid duplication. It will go live over the next two or three months.
Its 74 staff work across three sites in its Cramlington estate, totalling 7,400sqm.
