The spending programme got underway last October when the 57-staff firm took delivery of a secondhand Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75. It has also since ordered a Bobst Media gluing line.

Curtis started the move from its old Wimbledon site in November and the new Redhill premises was fully up-and-running on 3 January, which is when the Zünd was installed. The gluing line is coming in next month. 

“For us the Zünd was what we aspired to really," said Curtis managing director James Williams.

“From a design studio perspective it’s top of the range and it’s just the accuracy, the speed, the reliability more than anything else. It’s also about how well Zünd took to the project. We were given a small window and it went seamlessly; we've just been really impressed all round.”

The 1.3x1.2m cutting table is driven by Zünd’s Cut Centre software suite and can be extended with the addition of routing and creasing tools. A new mezzanine, along with a design studio, was installed in the Redhill site in order to accommodate for the machine.

“From an office staff point of view it’s easier for me to visually see how busy we are, which is a nice thing. When you’re working in a disjointed environment it’s difficult to fully appreciate what is going on whereas now we have a viewing area on a mezzanine where we can look out across the factory,” added Williams.

The XL 75 with Inpress Control, supplied by Heidelberg dealer White Horse machinery, joined Curtis’ existing Speedmaster SM 52 and assists with shorter-run jobs. 

The investment breaks down as £50,000 on the Zund, £500,000 on the XL 75, £400,000 on refurbishments to the new 1,900sqm Redhill site, £120,000 on the gluing line and the rest on other building works. 

Curtis also runs a Fujifilm Acuity for prototyping and ultra-short-run work, Heidelberg Cylinder foil blocking and a Heiber and Schroeder window patcher.

Last year, it had sales of £7.2m, which it is aiming to increase by around £1m by the end of this year.