The business has bought two Fusion Cross inserters with read and print capabilities and a Criterion letter sorter from Böwe Systec, two Ricoh IP5000 continuous-feed inkjet presses, and two Duplo DBM-600 bookletmakers.
All of the new kit was purchased direct from the manufacturers and is in various stages of installation at the company’s main site in Birmingham.
The Fusion Cross inserters and the DBM-600 bookletmakers are already on site while the Criterion letter sorter and Ricoh presses will follow shortly, with everything due to be in by mid-January.
Some of the existing machinery at the Bakergoodchild site will in the coming months be moved across to Send DM, which Bakergoodchild acquired last month, to increase its capacity and the range of formats and products that it can produce.
Bakergoodchild has also made various upgrades to existing software, while also investing in both its IT infrastructure and its multichannel offering for customers.
Bakergoodchild managing director Paul Brough described the investments as “a big step forward for us [that] have been a long time in the planning” and said more will follow in the new year, including a new customer suite and a complete office refurbishment.
He told Printweek the new machinery complements existing kit including a Kern 3500 inserting system and some Buhrs equipment.
“We’re moving into continuous-feed production and the new kit is quicker, providing us faster turnaround times and more robust processes.”
He added that before making its decision on the new purchases, the company carried out “a robust assessment of the marketplace [and] there were a number of contenders both on the print side and the inserter side”.
Bakergoodchild’s acquisition of Send DM gave the business a second site, in Aldridge, Walsall, which Brough said would help to support its customers from a business continuity and disaster recovery point of view.
The combined group employs 70 people across both sites and Brough said the business would continue to look out for acquisition opportunities in 2021.
