Litho Supplies is making a substantial seven-figure investment in a new operations hub for the South East in Greenford, west London.


Weve got so much new business in the South East weve been creaking at the joints, said managing director Gerry Mulvaney.


Over 100 staff will be based at the new site, which opens next month. It replaces Litho Supplies Basingstoke, Oxford and Southgate offices. No redundancies are anticipated.


The site will include 1,200m2 of warehouse space and a showroom for pre-press, digital print and pressroom equipment.


The showroom will house a range of kit including CTP, Xerox digital presses and flexo equipment. It will save customers from having to travel to the firms Electronic showroom in Perry Barr or to manufacturers own facilities.


The profile and locations of our customers have changed, suppliers are using us to service customers they traditionally dealt with directly, and new technologies are changing the product mix we supply to our customer base, said operations director Gary Ridewood. Without adding extra resources now we wouldnt be able to service the changing needs of our customers in the future.


Some of the warehouse space was needed to handle the 2m-worth of Imation film and plate business that the firm took on at the end of last year (PrintWeek, 29 September).


There are no plans for a similar consolidation in the North or Midlands at the moment.


Greenford is a major operation with a lot of logistics to handle, said Mulvaney. We have no plans to change anything in the Midlands or the North.


The company will be holding customer open days at Greenford in April.


Litho Supplies has been altering its sales and distribution operation over the past year with the rationalisation of some of its regional offices and the introduction of consumables ordering on its website.


Story by Barney Cox