The firm, which has 53 staff, had been considering investing in Komori’s H-UV system for two years due to its efficiency and environmental benefits.
It tested the press at Komori’s technology centre in Holland last year and saw it again at Ipex in March before deciding to make the close to £700,000 total investment.
“Over the past five or six years most of our investment has been in the digital side of the business and the infrastructure surrounding that. We’ve neglected the litho investment for probably six or seven years and in that time we didn’t have access to the quickest makeready machines,” said sales director David Pealing.
“It seemed like an ideal system for us because a lot of the litho print jobs we do are only a little longer than what we would print on digital. The run length might be between 500 and 2,000.”
70% of Severn's workload is still printed litho and the new press will enable the firm to immediately changeover jobs such as A4 four-page brochures and booklet covers.
The new machine will replace two five- and six-colour Komori B2 Lithrones, which the firm will sell on. “Those machines have been phenomenally productive but have relatively slow makereadies now,” said Pealing.
Severn’s strong environmental credentials attracted it to the Lithrone S29. The firm attained ISO 14001 accreditation and FSC certification in 2004 and last year it became one of nine printing companies in the UK to meet the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme’s environmental standards.
The firm will make large savings in power consumption and estimates that the productivity of the new press will surpass that of the its older presses combined.
“We also get enquiries to print on really unusual materials too, such as a lot of the GF Smith papers, mirrorboard and plastic films. They will become possible to produce with this press as well,” said Pealing.
Over half of the firm’s customers are manufacturers. It also works for environmental organisations, including Greenpeace and The Wildlife Trusts, and companies in agricultural and business-to-business fields.
