It opened up its third commercial unit at the end of August, having sat down for the first time to discuss the expansion in June. To account for the extra work, it has taken on three new members of staff, and seven in total in 2016.
It has a 10-year lease on the new unit in Weston-super-Mare, which was negotiated with property manager JLL as part of the ongoing lease for the other two units, which was due to expire in October.
The new 700sqm unit is roughly the same size as each of UKB’s other two properties, giving it combined space of around 2,100sqm.
UKB strategic development director Christine Steele cited the main reason for the expansion being that UKB’s policy of only stacking single pallets meant its original two units were becoming overcrowded.
The new unit will operate for the next six months purely as a storage unit but after this period some of UKB’s folders or guillotines may be relocated there and part of the area may be used for hand-finishing.
Steele said: “As a finisher for the print industry the main thing we think about is quality service and basically we were having to turn down lots of work because sky hooks haven’t been invented yet to hang pallets on. We do not take double or triple-stack flat sheets as they are high value and storing people’s property in the correct condition is vital.
“It’s been fantastic. It’s enabled us to increase capacity significantly and therefore take on the additional staff members. Now we have the additional unit we are looking at increasing production hours within the business and then will look at further expansion.”
It is now also considering increasing the shifts on its second PUR perfect binder to account for additional work.
UKB is also currently involved in an internal machinery consultation, assessing all of its kit and whether certain items require replacing.
It runs two Muller Martini PUR binders, four MBO folders and two Polar guillotines, along with sewing equipment.
The firm has 30 staff, with five more due to be recruited over the next six months, and projected 2016 sales are £1.3m, a £320,000 increase on 2015's figure.
UKB mainly provides finishing services for long runs of brochures and has recently been taken on by a long-term supplier to provide case-binding for jobs.
