Marpak’s Alpina, running since early October, has joined another two Bobst machines - the Media II and Domino II folder-gluers - at the firm’s 2,790sqm Craven Street facility, one of two sites it runs.

The investment marks a change for the firm, which has for the past three years been focusing its efforts on improving its efficiency in manufacturing - the new Bobst, therefore, has kicked off new plans for growth.

Chris Goodayle, Marpak’s director of operations, told Printweek: “We’ve about hit our efficiency zenith, so now is the right time to ramp up our machine holdings in line with our efficiency programme we’ve been running.

“We felt in the past that adding more machines probably wasn't looking at performance, so we've really invested in our teams over a number of years, as well as internal restructure, which has allowed us now to truly add value to the business, and genuine capacity and capability to the business, rather than not addressing or improving our efficiency internally.”

This investment took the form of training a layer of team leaders, and empowering them to make real-time operational decisions without having to defer to management. Likewise, ongoing exercises in ‘lean’ manufacturing - where process efficiency is optimised - have meant the firm now finds itself in a place where it is ready to grow, according to Goodayle.

“We’ve undergone quite a change over the last two years. We’re now a BRC AA accredited site, as well as a PS9000 pharmaceutical manufacturing site. 

“So that’s laid the groundwork for our future direction; the addition of the Bobst has given us enhanced capability to meet customers’ demands in both the food and drink and pharmaceutical sectors.”

Marpak bought the refurbished Alpina directly from Bobst UKI.

Craig McGowan, area sales manager, Bobst UK & Ireland, said Bobst’s team was thrilled the refurbished Alpina was proving such a success with Marpak. 

“We have worked with Chris and the team for several years, and it was a pleasure to be able to support their programme of growth with this new installation,” he said.

“Our refurbishment experts were able to cater to every request and ensure the machine would meet every production challenge Marpak could set. It’s heartening to hear of the success and excitement within the team using it daily, and we look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the business in years to come.”