Croydon printer Graphico Printing has bought two new B3 Heidelbergs to modernise capacity that had relied on a GTO and Speedmaster PM52.
The presses are the first in the smallest format that Heidelberg has sold this year. Sales of the format, which remains popular with smaller printers, have dropped as digital printing has risen to take over.
However, run lengths that exceed digital and speed of turnaround that Graphico’s customers demand continues to favour litho printing. The faster makeready will relieve pressure on the fast growing digital printing side, by siphoning off the longer runs and allowing its Xerox digital presses to focus on short runs and a value add approach where personalisation is needed.
The company works in the hospitality sector, providing print for hotels and the service industry, where their on site storage possibilities are increasingly limited. This has increased demand for fast delivery from stock that Graphico holds.
“This will give as a 30-35% increase in capacity and we are optimistic we can fill it,” says managing director Shaukat Dungarwalla. “We upgraded our CTP last year with a new Suprasetter and bought a Heidelberg plates deal so we are ready for these new presses.”
The final decision on the presses, one a two-colour machine, the other a four-colour press, was taken after a visit to the Heidelberg factory, checking that the technology would meet the requirements of Graphico’s customer base. “The kind of clients we have are those that want a job yesterday,” he says. “And that’s how the market is moving.”
But for Graphico at least this does not mean that internet interactions have taken over. “Our clients want a one to one, face to face meeting. If we forced them down a web to print route, we would be introducing two or three extra steps to how they work.
“We will see clients every day,” says Dungarwalla.
The company has been a family business since it was started in 1975 by Shaukat and brothers Munaver and Mustafa. It operates from a 17,000sq ft factory close to the centre of Croydon where it offers a pick and pack fulfilment print management service and prints on all styles of paper, from carbonless paper sets to 600 micron boards.
Graphico is sticking with B3 litho for its latest investment, the family business, comprising (l-r)Shaukat, Abizar, Munaver and Mustafa Dungarwalla, having decided to upgrade to keep pace with demand for its services and replacing GTO and SX machines.
