Arriving in early November, the new machines immediately began production alongside OPG’s existing Latex 3200 and 800 W, with no delay or disruption to clients despite the company having to shift its entire print department to fit them in.
“Overnight, the machines were operational and we doubled our opaque [print] capacity – we can do something like half a million metres a year,” explained Allan Hamilton, managing director of OPG.
Hamilton completed an MBO of OPG in December 2022 alongside fellow directors Tristan Harrold and Stuart Ritchie; the three have pursued ambitious growth plans since the buyout – and have achieved 40% growth in turnover since the deal.
Hamilton told Printweek: “To get to the next level, we’re going to have to invest, and here is the investment.”
All told, OPG has invested just under £250,000 in the latest round, supported by funding from Scottish Enterprise.
Replacing a smaller 1.6m Latex 570, the 3.2m Latex 3600 – which OPG will usually run on a dual-roll setup – will help the company achieve these goals, with the Zünd G3 clearing production bottlenecks in finishing.
OPG runs entirely HP Latex kit on the print side; operations director Tristan Harrold actually started out in the industry operating HP kit, later becoming a service engineer for the company before joining OPG.
He said: “Myself, Stuart and Allan completed the MBO of OPG almost two years ago and it has been amazing to see how our business has developed in that time. It’s a really proud moment for me personally, starting my career operating these machines to now purchasing them for a business I own.”
OPG employs 23, including directors, and will hire more staff over the next three years as it pursues its growth ambitions.
Hamilton added: “We’re feeling confident about the future, and about the company’s ability to achieve that growth.
“We’ve invested a little bit earlier than we had planned, having thought to install them in another year or so, but we just felt the time was right to put the foundation in.
“OPG has become well known for the service that we provide, and we will not compromise on speed and efficiency – so we’ve made quite clear that any growth we achieve cannot come at the detriment of [customer] service.”
