HP Indigo will deliver an Indigo 200K to Harkwell Labels next month, somewhat sooner than it might have expected to ship its most productive webfed press for flexible packaging print.
The press will join an Indigo 25K at the Poole business which was delivered in October 2022. Since then Harkwell has established itself in flexible packaging print as well as labels and now needs the extra press capacity to avoid potential bottlenecks as the business continues to grow.
This much HP knew. It also understood that an adjacent unit that Harkwell had been looking at lacked the power and was otherwise not suitable for this investment without considerable work. What HP did not know was that Harkwell had instead decided to refurbish its warehouse to accommodate the investment leaving space for a new machine in a factory where there are no power issues.
Managing director Andrew Mansfield describes a process of dismantling pallet positions and creating a new enlarged storage area to free up a press base in a unit with the power capacity. “We had been planning to buy the press for a little while and had kept delaying the decision as far as HP was concerned. They did not know we were deploying an army behind the scenes, moving 38 pallet positions and bringing in the builders and trades to get the building ready,” he says. Once their work was compete, he adds, “Within hours we signed on the dotted line.”
Mansfield flew to Slovenia where DScoop was taking place with HP executives in attendance for the official signing and photos. Now the press could be delivered within three weeks, providing the HP engineer who looks after Harkwell is not on holiday.
“We know he’s on holiday for the last two weeks in July,” says Mansfield. “We’ve tried to plan everything to be up and running as fast as possible.”
The business needs to machine to keep pace with growth and to avoid the bottlenecks that disrupt the smooth running of the business.
This should go better than the first large Indigo, the 25K. A laminator followed and the company then suffered teething problems as it got to grips with flexible packaging production. There will not be a repeat.
As well as labels, where the Series 3 Indigos backed by five ABG finishing lines, provide the capacity, the company produces pouches, stick wraps, sachets and more for an SME market place. This currently generates sales of £5 million. This is projected to reach £5.9 million this year even without the capacity from the new machine. With improved press availability and operational improvements, it will be 35% more productive than the existing press.
There are no plans in place for additional finishing equipment. The company is well position in terms of laminating, but may start to feel pressure on its pouch making side Mansfield admits.
