The Blackburn-based business opened in a 3,000sqm former mattress factory in June, with plans to print reel-to-reel on two five-colour Muller Martini NT litho web presses, before manufacturing the envelopes from the printed matter on a W&D 102 rotary envelope machine.
So far production has come solely from C5 flexo work, from one of the W&D 102s.
The company is finalising commission of its first Muller Martini NT, which is expected to go into production in the next few weeks, with the second NT due to come online within the next two months.
Managing director Trevor Whittaker said turnover had been more than £100,000 in the first month but has not revealed additional information on costs or profit. The business has 16 staff.
“We are extremely proud of what we’ve achieved in our first four weeks of operation. We’re in the middle of summer so it’s a bit of a nice development. We always knew that launching in the summer would be tough. To come out of it with the sales we’ve had is reassuring - people can see we’re serious about what we’re doing.”
The company also gained accreditation for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, FSC and PEFC.
Whittaker said the company was bringing new clients on board but it was still early days. The company hopes to grow turnover to at least £15m within six years.
“We’ve got lots of clients due to visit us and we’re trying to set them up a visit when all the machinery is up and running. What we’re doing here is not run of the mill. We’re fully aware that customers want to come to a one-stop shop. We’re getting to a position where we will be able to offer that.”
The Reel Envelope Company is part of The Envelope Works Group, based in Earby, Lancashire, which also owns Ace Envelopes in London, both envelope overprinters.
Group chief executive Mark Farrimond, said: “The next eight weeks will see us bring on the other machines, in particular our Muller Martini NTs, which will enable us to offer litho pre-print in addition to the flexo print from our W&Ds.”
The company also offers GMG Fogra colour certification and believes it is the only reel-to-reel envelope manufacturing company in the UK with the facility.
