The County Durham-based mailing house has taken delivery of a suite of Xerox kit including seven Nuvera 288s, a Xerox 650, a Xerox 495 duplex continuous feed printer, and a Xerox 700 digital colour press.

The £5m investment has given MetroMail the capacity to produce more than 3m A4 images a day – on jobs that include mail inserts, envelopes and polythene wraps.

Alan Purvis, managing director of the 250-staff Peterlee-based business, said that despite the recession, "there is still a big market out there".

Purvis added that, as a result of the investment, MetroMail has been able to eliminate its night shift. "Our team's business efficiency has improved by almost 60%," he said. "Taking us from three shifts a day to just two shifts."

MetroMail stressed that no staff have been lost through the shift transition and that the company had taken on 30 new employees in recent months.

The spend comes less than a year after MetroMail completed a £3m finishing equipment investment programme.

Purchases included a Sitma 950 and two Sitma 1050 polywrapping machines in addition to six Buhrs BB700 envelope-inserting systems and six cutting and folding machines.

Despite a continual spend on equipment over the past several years, the company has already ear-marked nearly £1m for further investment this year.

Purvis said:  "New equipment is at the heart of MetroMail's long-term investment plan to become a more efficient organisation, whereby we will be better placed to increase customer satisfaction and capture additional volume." 

In addition to the 10 new digital printers, the company has also taken delivery of GMC composition software, workflow software and Cygnus mail sort software.

Also see:

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Metro invests in Sitma kit after turnover rise

MetroMail takes on Buhrs kit as part of £1.7m spend