Industry duo Andy Rae and Anthony Thirlby acquired John Dollin earlier this month as the first move in their buy-and-build strategy, and have moved fast to make their mark on the business.
The Whitchurch-based firm has now been rebranded as JDP, with a blue and silver colourway.
Rae said that the new look retained the firm’s heritage as a family business, while incorporating the new Venn brand to signify its “membership of an ambitious acquisitive group”.
Roy Heeney and Jenny Eagle, who worked with Thirlby when he ran Swindon’s ESP Colour, have also joined as sales directors.
Thirlby said he had kept in touch with them in the intervening years.
“As soon as we completed the acquisition they were two of my first calls to ensure we had the correct and professional presence in our targeted sectors,” he said.
“They are two outstanding people so it’s a great to have them on board, and also a great opportunity for them as well.”
The business is also revamping its offering to focus on B2 production. “We had three different sheet sizes but we’ve decided to standardise on B2 with the XL 75 and HP Indigo 12000,” said Thirlby.
“We can focus on our impositions and product types going forward. We’re on a very clear path and some of the other M&A deals we’re working on will enhance that. We will have B1 capacity in the group, just not in Whitchurch,” he explained.
JDP’s XL 105 and Anicolor presses will be sold.
At the outset the duo said they wanted to bring their approach to process manufacturing to the new acquisition, and this has quickly had an effect.
Thirlby said that JDP had gone from running at 7,500sph to 15,000sph in 13 working days, with a 200% decrease in makeready times. The firm recently printed 100,000 sheets in a shift for the first time.
JDP's Tharstern MIS and Prinect systems have been upgraded, while HP Site Flow and Enfocus Switch have been added to the workflow setup.
Thirlby also hinted that further investment in “significantly increasing” digital printing capacity was on the cards.
Venn Holdings’ own logo is in three colours to signify its ambitions for commercial, label and packaging printing.
