Medica Packaging was formerly part of Benson Group, which was bought by global firm Graphic Packaging in February 2014, but split from the company six months later when it was bought by private investors.
Medica’s pre-press and CAD manager Dave Betteley said the equipment overhaul, which included a new Screen PlateRite HD 8900S with a five drawer autoloader replacing an old Platerite 8800, a FujifilmZAC plate processor and the latest Fujifilm XMF workflow system, had been delayed due to the reorganisation of the group. The installation was completed at the end of July.
“It was long overdue really. Our previous equipment had really served us well and we were ready for an upgrade. Once we knew what was going on with the rest of the business we could start to look at exactly what we needed,” he said.
The upgrade began in March this year with a complete replacement of the front-end systems, explained Betteley, including new iMac installations, proofing equipment, an upgrade from Esko’s Nexus workflow management system to its latest Automation Engine workflow as well as a move to Adobe Creative Cloud, to do away with the need for separate licences for individual operating systems.
“Basically it means all our prepress software and hardware is now the latest available and the system now just runs so much more smoothly with no file conflicts for example,” said Betteley.
“We can produce around 50% more plates per hour (30-47), which is making us more efficient. Before we were always just running behind the plan in terms of supplying plates to the presses in the factory but we are now that much further ahead of the plan.
"We can focus much more on getting the artworks done and production jobs through the prepress department and therefore providing a better service to the customers,” he added.
Additionally he said that both time and money was being saved through cleaning and changing chemicals, which now only needed doing every three months, compared to every three weeks with the previous system.
Medica employs around 112 staff with six of those in the pre-press and CAD department. Two have been added since the start of the upgrade and the extra capacity created has made room for more, Betteley said.
