The new 1,450sqm/hr press, first introduced at Printing United in autumn 2022, features robotic arms for automatic loading and unloading, and Dimatix Spectra printheads printing at 14 picolitres for CMYK and 40 picolitres in white.
N Smith took delivery of the press in July 2023 before commissioning it in September, when the press was immediately put into action to pick up work after another press broke down.
Operations director Gary Hogg said: “The operatives had to get up to speed quickly. They find the automation excellent. It’s difficult to quantify how much time you lose by someone manually feeding a machine whereas with complete automation you eliminate this.
“Manually feeding cardboard onto a printing machine can get very intensive, some of the boards are 1.5x2.8m and the operative must lift 4-5 boards at a time, so automation is a lot better for the operator too.”
Choosing to buy the Onset X3 HS with full automation, including dual robot and ¾ laytable, N Smith has been able to target significant growth, according to Nigel Reynolds, the firm’s managing director.
He told Printweek: “We are absolutely targeting new business.
“Old and new customers are already seeing advantages driven by the shortened lead times, and by the increased consistency and quality of print.”
While the team had initially planned for the new press to bring N Smith to cut a whole shift at the firm, an unexpected influx of work has meant the firm running the same pattern while producing a significant amount more.
N Smith first approached Agfa in May 2023, visiting the firm in Antwerp for the first demo Agfa’s team had delivered on the Onset X3 HS since Agfa acquired Inca at the end of May 2022.
Director and general manager of N Smith, Kerry Tyers, said she put them to the test.
“We sent some horrible print files and really bad substrates to Agfa in advance of our visit just to replicate some of our worst scenarios and for them to demonstrate on,” she said.
“The Agfa guys were brilliant and pretty much solved every problem. They convinced us it was the right machine.”
N Smith is now looking forward to pursuing growth in 2024, according to Reynolds.
He said: “We have everything in place to positively approach the year in the same way as we have done for many years, where the business has grown consistently.
“It will be interesting to see, after the events of recent years, what new challenges we will face.
“I do, however, believe businesses have learned and become much more resilient over the [recent] period and we’re no exception to that.”
N Smith employs 70 at its Birmingham factory, turning over around £12m annually.
