The B2 press will replace two Ryobi presses, a B2 755 and a B3 525, at Whittington Moor Printing Works.
The XL 75 has Inpress Control for register and colour control and Autoplate Pro for automated and simultaneous plate changing.
The £910,000 machine was paid for in a five-year financing deal and with a £91,000 Regional Growth Fund grant. The investment was made primarily to boost the firm's overall productivity, according to managing director Paul Gamble.
“It's about the overall output and makereadies, which saves on paper waste. We will cut makeready from 400 sheets to 40. The saving works out at about £10,000 a month.
“So it's about reducing waste and increasing output. We took the equivalent of 19 hours of work for our Ryobi presses to the Heidelberg showroom.
“The work was completed in six hours. It was productivity we saw again on site visits to Falkland Press and MPC Print Solutions.”
He said that significant investment in digital twinned with the faster makereadies on B2 press technology meant B3 litho “has been squeezed out”.
Gamble added: “This two-for-one press swap would still increase sheetfed capacity from 40 million to about 50-plus million impressions a year.
“We looked at H-UV and low-energy UV technology but with the output we required the running costs did not make commercial sense. We needed a highly specified conventional press.”
Whittington Moor has been in business for over 80 years and boasts sheet- and web-fed litho, digital and continuous printing, and finishing and mailing services.
Other kit includes three Xerox machines, Versant, Nuvera and 770 models, as well as a Horizon StitchLiner.
The 52-staff company makes a turnover of £4.9m. Gamble said the new Heidelberg will not push his company into new sectors but will help it grow its existing markets.
The company handles commercial print, stationery and direct mail across a range of stocks for national commercial organisations, public sector groups, charities and print brokers.
“We have grown 15% each year for the past three years and are not looking for a massive jump in turnover, but if we can break the £5m mark in the Heidelberg's first year, we'll be happy,” Gamble concluded.
