First in has been a Konica Minolta AccurioShine 3600 UV spot coater with iFoil hot foil stamping module, installed at the end of October.

The new machine is already in full production, both in the creation of prototypes and adding value to digital and litho jobs, and the team has even found a neat way to upsell with it, according to MD Philip Dodd.

He told Printweek: “When a customer gives us digital print, we’ll take a few copies, foil it, and send it over to them, and say ‘Doesn’t it look great?’”

The AccurioShine will soon be followed by Healey’s new HP Indigo 7K, due for installation in early January.

The 7K will be equipped with silver, white and neon, and will go in for a short while alongside Healeys’ Ricoh toner presses, two of which come to the end of their lease in March.

“We accept that this will never be a majority of our business, but that’s the market we want to address. If you have a litho press in this world, in my opinion you have to differentiate; do something to get noticed in a crowded market.”

Healeys will then have several months to assess the situation and decide whether to add back more Ricoh presses – regardless of which decision, the third press, a Ricoh Pro C9200, will likely be upgraded to a C9500.

“We have a good relationship with Ricoh, and it’s our intention to maintain that,” Dodd explained, adding that his principles towards buying equipment were simply to buy the best kit, as he sees it.

“We have a Heidelberg XL 75 – I can hear it churning away downstairs – for me, it’s best in class. The Indigo, certain aspects are best in its class, and the Ricoh, as a workhorse, is probably as good as you can get.

“And that’s what we look at: we find the best we can possibly bring to our clients.”

The investment, which will total £600,000 with a few minor pieces of kit added, is the company’s first major such round of spending since before the pandemic.

Dodd said it had been prompted by a return to good profitability, and helped along by the extended full expensing scheme.

He added: “We’re growing back towards pre-pandemic sales levels, and we’re coming to the end of [some our equipments’ leases/lifespans] so my belief is now is the time to invest.

“The staff here are all really excited about what’s going on, which is just lovely to see after three or four years of difficult times.”

Healeys employs 34, currently turning over £4m annually.