Arriving in late December, the press will replace the firm’s two existing RMGT litho presses, including a 2022 SRA1 RMGT 920, which was the first of its kind to be installed in Northern Ireland.
Oakdene returned to RMGT UKI distributor M Partners subsidiary, MPL, for the new perfector.
“We just haven’t stopped growing,” said Jamie McMullan, managing director of Oakdene.
“The RMGT press quality, format, price, and reliability have all been critical in our amazing success.”
The press’ UV-cure drying is crucial to Oakdene’s growth, according to McMullan, allowing the firm to pursue growth by helping smaller Irish digital firms handle longer runs.
“A core sector for us is the ever-growing number of small Irish digital printers. Many of these have sprung up in recent years, creating successful small, local print businesses, by purchasing inexpensive short run inkjet machines.
“Many had no real appreciation of run length and cost-per-copy when they set up their businesses. They can handle work in the hundreds, but when a request expands beyond that, they have no immediate answer.”
Another key segment is more mature printers – many of which are run by older directors considering their succession plans, McMullan said.
“They don't want to invest big money in more heavy metal – that would leave them in a couple of million pounds of debt – so instead they have purchased a smaller digital print machine, thinking that would do for them, before potentially handing the business over to family members, or just putting it up for sale. They know of our service and can come to us for those longer runs.”
Oakdene secured the deal for the new RGMT 970 at Drupa, knowing that it would need the bigger format to handle higher volumes of work.
Speaking to Printweek, McMullan added: “It will help us grow further with faster production and the ability to produce jobs of a larger format. We will certainly be in a position to go head-to-head with Ireland's B1 printers on the majority of jobs.”
Oakdene employs 11 at its Newtownabbey site just north of Belfast, running Horizon and Komori post-press machinery.
