The expanding packaging and label outfit, which broached £9m last year up from £6.5m in 2021, has already begun running work through the Lamina following its delivery in September; the press will arrive in mid-November.
The Lamina, a Fasline 1116 FLE Mounter/Laminator, has replaced the company’s Fengchi High-Speed Laminator, which it bought in late 2023.
Fitted with an automatic ‘flip-flop stacker’ in line, the mounter can also flip sheets to prevent curling without compromising on operating speed, a process that was previously done manually.
Stephen Bates, MRP’s managing director, told Printweek the company had likewise decided to return to Lamina for its highly accurate registration on paper onto board applications.
“The [Fengchi] will do paper onto board no problem, but at plus or minus one millimetre – that’s on each pass, which technically could be up to two millimetres of movement over a run,” he explained.
“On point-of-sale work, it wouldn’t matter, but some of our work is position critical. The Lamina is more like 0.2mm accuracy; it’s far more accurate.”
Once the new press is in, the company will benefit even further, Bates added.
Replacing a 13-year-old Heidelberg XL 105 six-colour, the new five-colour XL 106, which will be MRP’s mainstay for packaging work, will benefit from significantly faster setup.
“By and large, the mechanics of the presses haven’t changed much, but it’s all in the technology behind it: the touchscreens, the fact that if it does a blanket wash it can do two or three other things at the same time. It’s all just much quicker,” he said.
While run lengths are coming down for the firm, MRP is finding conventional print still holds worth over digital for its particular mix of packaging applications; the faster setup will ensure that stays the case.
“We’ve had demonstrations on it, and it’s quite impressive. It may just be small tweaks, but a few seconds here and there adds up to quite a few minutes, and that’s what it’s about for us,” Bates said.
The machine, two years old, has circa 14m impressions, and will come from a company in the Netherlands through a UK agent.
“We’ll have the new one up and running, and the old press gone before Christmas – we’re quite excited about it,” Bates said.
MRP employs 62 staff, turning over around £9m.
