Howitt said it was in the advanced stages of finalising its plans for a "world-class" gravure business, to be called Equator. It will be housed in a new 52,000 square metre factory near Howitt’s existing Sutton-in-Ashfield site.
Chief executive James Elliot said the firm had been planning the move for a year: "It has been designed specifically to combat the erosion of print from the UK to large gravure plants in continential Europe… there is a massive opportunity for a business willing to invest in the latest technology to produce a world-class operation for UK customers."
Equator is expected to employ 380 staff, and Howitt has the support of the GPMU. "An investment of this scale and importance is not just good news for the industry but an exciting opportunity for this country," said national officer Mike Griffiths.
Equator is being planned "in accordance with specific customer requirements", and full production is slated for mid-2004. The firm has been actively courting clients in the mail order sector and publishing sector.
Argos Retail Group is potentially a key customer. Its main brands account for 58m catalogues a year, and 85% of its gravure work is currently printed overseas. Director of publications Steve Haithwaite confirmed he has held talks with the Howitt team. "We’ve had a dialogue with them, and I presume they have been speaking to others too. We’ve been talking about finding ways to best configure their factory," he said.
"I see them as a healthy addition to the market in the UK. As we have a UK base it gives us an opportunity to shorten our lead times," Haithwaite added.
And contract publishing giant John Brown Citrus Publishing said it looked upon the new operation favourably. "From my discussions with Howitt, it sounds very promising, but only time will tell. We’ll look into moving any of the titles, including Sky, to Howitt," stated production director Darrel Crowley.
Howitt has named its principal suppliers as Kaspar Walter, KBA and Muller Martini. It is yet to announce its choice of cylinder engraving equipment, and has not officially confirmed the number or width of gravure presses, although sources say it plans to install four 3.68m-wide machines.
The finishing equipment order is understood to include both case and perfect binding equipment.
Gravure experts estimate the total investment at £100m. Howitt, which has turnover of £42m, has not revealed its backers for the Equator project.
Industry reaction
"This will either be the biggest washout ever or a paradigm shift. It won’t be anything in between. Good luck to them."
Barry Hibbert, Polestar
"I’m quite surprised, it’s a very ambitious project and from quite an unexpected source.
We have looked at it on more than one occasion and decided against it because we have facilities close to the Channel Tunnel. Now this is a reality we need to revisit the question to see what whether or not the time is now right to do it."
John Dickin, Quebecor World.
"I’m speechless. In an oversupplied market it’s a challenge to understand how anybody’s going to make any money out of it."
Brian Edwards, St Ives
"Gravure is a European market apart from time-critical work. I see no advantage in location other than economic. We need to see what their cost structure is."
Stephen Clark, Southernprint
"I admire their attempt to bring back gravure work that been lost from the UK."
Philip Ogden, Graphoprint
Story by Jo Francis and Gordon Carson
