Situated within “a stone’s throw” of its 3,716sqm Northumberland headquarters, the company said the new circa-929sqm “spacious and custom-designed” unit – which went live at the end of Q4 – is a foundation for a number of planned investments to grow its capabilities and enhance its operational efficiency.
Printed.com said the move would enable a 20% increase in production output by reimagining and optimising the printing process.
“From strategic placement of machinery to a comprehensive enhancement of the dispatch department’s facilities, the new acquisition is poised to elevate customer experience and reduce turnaround times,” the business stated.
David Duncan, production director at Printed.com, commented: “This strategic investment carries a two-fold benefit. Not only does it offer a more streamlined production process, but it also translates into an enhanced working environment – one that aligns with our commitment to our customers and team members.”
Nicholas Green, founder of Printed.com, said the strategic move to expand its production facility was testament to the company’s dedication to quality service and keeping pace with its clients’ ambitions.
The company currently runs digital printers from HP, Canon, and Ricoh and Green said further investment was imminent.
He told Printweek: “We are having to ramp up across the business, so there is investment in further digital printing capabilities. We’re also having to invest in finishing equipment across the line – in particular saddle stitching and perfect binding.”
He added: “Essentially, 2023 was a year of two halves. The first half was definitely difficult and slow for us but in the second half we really have seen high double-digit growth, virtually really since August onwards, and as a result we are excited and definitely pleased that we’re having to put so much investment in.
“It’s all about making sure that we can maintain the on-time, high quality delivery service for our customers.
“We’ve been working across the business for a while on trying to address things, so we bought our paid search strategy internal – it was external, we increased the size of our team and we’ve seen a significant improvement in new customer acquisition there, and we appointed a new SEO agency which again has definitely contributed to driving that growth.
“Our primary mission in 2023 was a new product level, and we actually launched about 40 new products, including a significant new outdoor hospitality range, retail range, we went into clothing, we’ve gone into more accessory based [printing], and we’ve increased significantly into shape-based printing, so we’ve seen a stepped increase in terms of the number of customers using us for special finishes and special shapes. We also launched a range of new papers and added new stock to the site.”
With around 170 staff, Printed.com is anticipating turnover of “just north of £25m” this year, according to Green.
He added a raft of other business updates would be announced over the next few weeks, and he also hinted at a possible third site expansion later in the year.
“Our investment decisions are directly in line with the performance of the business, and if we were to maintain in 2024 the growth levels that we saw towards the second half in 2023, the second site is definitely not big enough to keep that level going and we will need more space.”
