The Nottingham-based packaging manufacturer bought the two machines, which were installed earlier this month, from Fujifilm.
The group bought the wide-format printer-cutter as part of a £250,000 investment in its ‘Smartcentre’ project, an innovation centre that it recently launched at its Nottingham site to showcase the applications and services that it offers.
“We have been traditionally producing packaging samples using litho presses, but we recently considered the introduction of a digital print device to improve our time to market,” said chief executive Jeremy Bacon.
“With the Acuity Advance Select we can now digitally finish greetings cards, provide digital packaging and sampling and print on any type of material, whether it be corrugated board, plastics or wood, of any size and with any finish.
“We looked at other alternatives but this is the only machine that will allow us to meet all of our needs and objectives.”
The Kongsberg system will be used to cut intricate shapes following a CAD profile. Both machines will broaden the firm’s in-house capabilities and product portfolio, including short-run prototype samples and low-volume production of POS products.
The firm has also bought an Ergosa 8C Universal folder-gluer packing system to increase its production speeds.
The machine, which was supplied by Ipack Solutions, was installed earlier this month.
“This investment is a new addition to what we're doing and will make us as competitive as possible in the marketplace,” said operations manager Karl Smith.
“We looked at fully automatic systems as well but we felt that this semi-automatic system was more suitable because we have quite a high complexity of product, which is relatively short run.”
The system will help the firm to organise its packing process in a more streamlined way.
Workers will be able to slide cartons along a conveyor belt into a case rather than having to physically lift them, which will result in greater packing efficiency and reduce the potential for injury.
The three purchases form part of the group's continuous investment programme. In the past three years it has invested £3.5m as part of a wider £6m spend.
It has bought a Komori Lithrone S640, a Heidelberg Easygluer, an Iberica Optima 105 die-cutting machine and a Bobst Expertfold 110 A2 folder-gluer. It has also installed the Kodak Magnus CTP system.
“We are always continually investing to improve our competitiveness and we do have further investments planned,” said Smith.
The company, which has 90 staff, hopes to increase its turnover from £11m to £14m in the next 18 months.
