The Darlington-based company has invested £41,000 in a Polar 92 guillotine, Baumann handling equipment, a Morgana Autocreaser and a Tharstern Primo MIS system in recent weeks.
The firm bought a Speedmaster 74 five-colour press to replace a two-colour B3 press in December 2011 and has since seen its existing customers driving up orders throughout the year.
Addo Printing managing director Kieron Bayley said: "Because we do trade work, we knew the work was already there before we put the press in."
He said that existing clients and local print companies were now turning to the company for higher quality work, which has pushed its £150,000 turnover to over £500,000 in the past six months.
He added that print runs still averaged around 2,000 but requests for higher end brochures and mailings had brought in higher invoices. The shorter makeready time on the SM 74 had also enabled the company to turn work around quicker.
But all the extra work had created a bottleneck at the guillotine station, he added, so Addo swapped its Ideal 7228 machine for the Polar 92 last month.
Bayley said: "We were turning work away before, not because we couldn’t print it but because we couldn’t get it out on time.
"The Polar is saving us 60-70% in cutting time. The printing and getting it out of the door is the easy bit now."
Soon after, Bayley decided to bring in the Baumann handling equipment to save transportation time.
Additionally the arrival of the Morgana Autocreaser has enabled Addo’s apprentices to hand fold pieces in house and saved the company "a small fortune" on outsourcing, according to Bayley.
The eight-strong team is also training on its newly installed Tharstern Primo MIS system and currently running estimates for work.
Bayley said that the company had to revert to the automated system from the "old school" manual administration due to their sheer volume of work.
In the same period, Addo brought in new production director Anthony Bayley.
The company intends to recruit at least four more members of staff in 2013 and expects to double turnover again in 2013 to become a £1m outfit.
