Ballyprint is on an expansion drive, having put plans on hold for 12 months because of lockdown. Managing director Aaron Klewchuk says “Covid scuttled the plans last year, now we have started to ramp up again.”
That has included investment in Enfocus Switch at the start of this year, a PrintIQ MIS, which is now in the process of being installed, a JWEI cutting table and a roll to roll label press planned for the end of this year.
“In 2017 I bought out my business partner. At the time Ballyprint was a small copy shop, then we bought a Xerox Iridesse, the first in Northern Ireland; an HP Scitex FB500 flatbed printer, Duplo kit and some small machinery to take us into labelling,” he says.
Now the commercial printer is again looking for opportunities and the investment in PrintIQ will underpin that. The decision to buy the system came after a two-year search and examination of one 47-48 different MIS, says Klewchuk. “The MIS is a pretty significant investment. It provides the IT infrastructure to take us to the next level. There are a lot of MIS systems out there, but there was always something not quite right with them. I’m quite IT savvy and knees what I was looking for.
“PrintIQ is more of a pricing engine into a management workflow system that handles everything end to end. The price point made it one of the higher ones we looked at, but we have had a good look under the hood and it is going to help us grow as a business.”
The training and implementation is underway. It will automate much of the business removing time sapping touch points with integration with Enfocus Switch as a key part of this. Ballyprint is replacing a MIS that was focused on large format. PrintIQ gives it a system that sits across commercial print, digital, large format and labels.
The installation of a JWEI cutting table, bought direct, Klewchuk points out, will support the FB500 printer installed in 2019. The options of Kongsberg and Zund were difficult to justify for the level of business it currently handles needing to cut out boards, or short run corrugated work, where Klewchuk believes there will be opportunities for Ballyprint. “It’s a brilliant machine that suits us perfectly,” he says.
The future though will be around automation and the opportunities that PrintIQ opens. “With a brand new customer portal, customers will be able to create their own quotes and orders, upload print ready artwork, track the production of their job, and pay – all online. Built in integration to our existing Enfocus Switch system means that artwork uploaded by customers will be checked to ensure that it’s ready for print, with any problems flagged immediately,” he adds.
