Speaking exclusively to PrintWeek, Communisis chief executive Steve Vaughan (pictured) said the plant was nearing completion and would be ready to roll out its first statements in April.
Production at the plant, which is headed up by Tony Rattigan and is based in Speke, will move from HSBC’s existing operation in Bootle, about six miles away from the new facility.
Staff and some kit will also move across in the transfer, which is due to be completed in June and follows on from Communisis winning a £250m, 10-year document outsourcing deal with HSBC in late 2005.
Work for Communisis’ second recent major contract win – a seven-year, £196m billing contract with British Gas owner Centrica, which was signed last September – will start to move to the Speke site in the fourth quarter of the year.
Centrica currently runs in-house facilities at Northampton and Manchester, which have been managed by Communisis since late last year and will be closed as work moves across to Speke.
Vaughan said: “It will be the biggest transactional print site in Europe, easily. Those two contracts together will take about 60% of the space, so we’ll be on the lookout for other work to go in there.”
The two contracts represent Communisis’ first major successes in the transactional and billing market.
Vaughan, who took up his role in October 2006, said that smaller contracts may also be transferred to the site, but that he would aim to pick up a third major contract for the plant during 2008.
• Communisis chairman Mike Smith is to retire from the board. However, he will stay with the firm until a replacement is found. Smith, who was chief executive of gaming giant Rang Group until March last year, joined the firm in April 2003.
Communisis’ Speke site
• New plant in Liverpool for production of HSBC statements
• Part of a £250m outsourcing contract with HSBC
• Production to start next month
• Transfer to new site will be completed in June
• Work for Centrica contract to start later this year
