Little more than a year after installation of a £1.5 million Komori GL540, Blackmore has installed a second five-colour plus coater B1 Komori, this time the GL540 Advance along with a Ricoh Pro C9200 digital press. The Shaftesbury company reckons to have spent around £1 million in this round of investment. The latest machine also offers inline UV varnishing, closed loop colour and PQA quality monitoring to mirror the first GL540.
The investments has set Blackmore up to expand the growing packaging side of its business as both litho and digital press can print on carton boards, the Ricoh up to 470gsm. A key difference between Ricoh and other suppliers is the matt fusing system that reduces any shine when printing on matt coated materials.
Blackmore is aiming to tap into businesses in its area with packaging for food, drinks including sleeves and presentation packaging with runs from 500 units to 250,000 backed by storage and fulfilment options.
It also sets the business up to work in collaboration with other printers, something that took off during the Covid period. Managing director Andrew Robbins says: “During the pandemic, we looked for new opportunities by collaborating with other UK printers and suppliers to provide additional print services, mitigating other areas of the business that were temporarily affected by the situation.
“This worked really well for us and our suppliers, and we are looking to continue and expand on our collaborations. Not only are we looking to work with other suppliers, we are also happy to offer our services to other businesses, too. With our full complement of equipment, we can offer a wider range of print services than ever, backed up by our eco credentials.”
These come from the low energy LED UV drying or printing white as well as the inherent benefits of running a more efficient litho press, reduced make ready and onboard quality controls. The latest generation of Lithrones consume around a third less energy than the 2011 model that was replaced in 2021. The company runs Kodak Sonora processes plates, which earned it recognition under Kodak’s Greenleaf award in 2018 and 2019. It also offsets carbon emissions from paper through the World land Trust.
This will be part of the appeal as the company positions itself as a partner to other providers. Says Robbins: “We are looking to collaborate with other print providers, whether they are interested in joint ventures, consolidation, looking to sell, change or expand. We would welcome other printers getting in touch with us.”
As well as the new digital press and versatile B1 litho, Blackmore operates a coldset Solna Distributor web press, and offers perfect binding, die cutting and foiling in house.
