The Newcastle-based company, which has been in business for almost 30 years and operates from 2,156sqm premises, specialises in bespoke colour matching and colour management. It serves customers including Akzo Nobel, International Paints, Tor Coatings, True Potential, and Beaverbrooks, as well as many more blue-chip accounts.
A three-strong MBO team, including managing director Peter Smith, production director Paul Treanor, and finance and HR director Ian Bates purchased the business from James Dark – who wanted to retire – and Graham Minett on 1 December 2022.
Smith has worked at Statex in a senior management role for nearly 23 years, in both front-end IT as well as studio and digital. Treanor has worked at the business in a similar senior role for 29 years in production, including print finishing, while Bates has worked worldwide for global corporations for many years in senior positions, specialising in logistics, tendering, and production.
“It was one of those situations that just started as an accidental conversation and developed into something else from there. Six months later we took the plunge and signed the paperwork over,” Smith told Printweek.
Neil Macray, who has been with Statex for over 26 years, has remained as sales director of the company and part of the senior team that have made a number of improvements to the business over the last 12 months, including upgrading the company's premises, investing in its staff through improved pay, new job opportunities, and safety upgrades, while also investing in new digital HR systems.
The company has also added new IT equipment including servers, PCs, and networking while also updating software across the scope of the entire business.
Additionally, it has updated its Tharstern MIS, and invested in data content and integrity, Sage software upgrades, installed the latest version of Heidelberg Proman – inclusive of JDF, as well as continued and major investment in XMPie.
Machinery investment has made up a large part of its 2023 spend, with an MBO B30-6R70 folding machine bought through Komori delivered in May to further enhance its finishing speed and capabilities.
The business already runs two Komori litho presses, an LS29P eight-colour perfector and a GL529 five-colour plus coater, plus a Heidelberg Speedmaster 52 press and digital printers from Ricoh, Heidelberg, and Xerox, plus Epson wide-format kit and a large range of finishing equipment.
In the next few weeks, it is due to upgrade its large-format department by taking delivery of a new Canon Arizona – to replace an older Arizona – as well as a Colorado from Canon that Smith said would “increase our output ten-fold compared to what we currently offer”.
“The Colorado is an amazing bit of kit – unbelievable,” he added.
The new equipment will also enhance the company’s environmental credentials through using low VOC ink, and as there is no requirement for laminating, as well as enabling the use of PVC-free substrates.
In the next financial year Statex will look at investment in new digital printers, as well as its mailing capabilities. The 48-staff company is targeting turnover of around £6m this year.
