The Edinburgh-based label and packaging printer has upgraded its workflow with Digital Print Manager and added the Heidelberg Digital Front End RIP ahead of the imminent arrival of the Versafire.
The £1.7m-turnover family business started in 1998 as a label printer, and over the years has diversified into cartons, tubes, swing tags, packaging literature and promotional brochures. It employs 14 staff at its 700sqm facility and is a big player in the whisky market.
In 2012 it installed a five-colour Speedmaster SX 52 and two years ago added a five-colour Speedmaster XL 75 with coater and Suprasetter CTP device.
The new press will replace a Ricoh C751X, which was installed five years ago almost as an experiment. “We were losing small job work so we decided to dip our toe in the water with digital and it’s just grown year on year,” said managing director Jim Thomson.
They were swayed by the Versafire’s ability to handle heavier stocks, up to 400gsm, which would be attractive to customers wanting high-quality marketing materials and business cards. Integration with the company’s Heidelberg front-end was also key to the choice, Thomson said.
The Versafire can also be used as a proofing tool. Production manager (and Jim’s son) Michael Thomson said: “The larger format means we can proof work and have a realistic idea of what the result will look like when printed on the matched digital and litho presses. Some customers want high-res proofs and we couldn’t offer that – now we can.”
Michael Thomson added that the fifth colour wasn’t key to the buying decision but the ability to add white or a varnish may come in handy.
The decision to invest in a new digital press was sealed by the growing demand for personalised packaging. Recently the company produced a run of neck tags with individual codes on each one for a competition, and it has previously run limited-edition bottle labels with sequential numbers.
Thomson also has a Primera reel-fed digital print and finishing machine which is uses for short-run self-adhesive labels.
Jim Thomson said the new press would enable the company to “consolidate what we’ve got and bring us up to date with the technology”.
