Walstead Investments, the owner of the £125m-turnover group, purchased a raft of Global MP’s printing and mailing machinery from Close Brothers Asset Finance at the end of June and has since been reviewing various options about what to do with the equipment.
Wyndeham Group chief operating officer Roy Kingston told PrintWeek that the newest web press from Global MP’s Bradford site would be relocated to Wyndeham Peterborough on the back of a new flexible working arrangement at the site.
“The prize asset for us was always the newest Lithoman. It’s a fabulous press with a lovely Rima post-press system,” he said.
The 32pp five-unit Lithoman III is eight years old. It has a web width of 1,260mm and a cut-off of 890mm. Its purchase and relocation represents a £2m investment for Wyndeham.
Kingston praised the versatility of the press: “It can produce a diverse number of things. The target market is shorter than A4, or A5, inline products. I’m sure that a lot of customers will see they can produce complementary products to their existing products, and we will be able to do both.
“The key thing is not to let equipment drive decisions for the business. We are seeing what the market tells us and we are doing this on the back of a lot of positive feedback from customers.”
Peterborough currently runs two 72pp Lithoman presses and a Rotoman eight-unit cover press. It also has an available press base and enough ceiling height to install the Lithoman III without the need for costly alterations.
Wyndeham reached a new flexibility agreement at the 114-employee site earlier this month.
“Overwhelmingly, there was great enthusiasm from the workforce. We will recruit a new number one for each shift, and people will flex across from the other three presses,” Kingston explained.
“It shows the attitude of the people who work for us, which is first rate. They are an intelligent bunch of people who understand the realities of the market. The whole factory will be double-flexing across this machine – it’s very exciting.”
Peterborough runs 24/6 or 24/7 depending on customer requirements. The new press, which should be in and running by Christmas, will start up on a 24/3 basis.
“Bill Kent, our chief engineer, is co-ordinating the project. We have had great cooperation from our suppliers and great credit must go to Manroland Web Systems, Paramount, Arcade and Rima who have all been critical to a properly run project,” he added.
Kingston said he hoped to be able to employ some of the minders from Global MP in the new roles.
The factory is also likely to add some more finishing kit as the press ramps up, and bindery workers have agreed to flex across that side of the operation from the beginning of next year.
Some of the other Global MP equipment purchased, including a 1998 Manroland web and finishing kit, is being sold overseas. Kingston said the group was still considering various options about whether to sell or retain the 12-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster with CutStar that was also acquired.
Wyndeham doesn’t currently run any short-grain web presses at its four web offset sites. York Mailing is the dominant player in the commercial short-grain space, while Polestar is due to install a new 64pp short-grain web at the end of the year.
Separately, Wyndeham has proposed the closure of its Stockport-based continuous stationery business Print Direct.
