Stockton on Tees converter Harrison Packaging is implementing the latest EFI Packaging Suite MIS, upgrading from an existing Shuttleworth MIS.
It has been a long time user of the British MIS supplier, which was acquired by EFI last year. The decision to continue to work with a team headed by Andy King, previously joint managing director of Shuttleworth and now senior manager customer base development for EFI Productivity Software, culminated in an order signed at Drupa for V4.0 of the Packaging Suite.
King says: “With Harrison Packaging, we’ve shown that the best option is a transition from the Shuttleworth MIS to the Packaging Suite. For other users it’s been the addition of solutions such as our web to print product to work with their Shuttleworth MIS. I’m delighted to be able to provide the best solutions for all of our clients.”
The EFI solution is now being implemented at the plant which includes Komori and KBA B1 presses to seven-unit configuration. Harrison Packaging sales director Mike Baum says: “We are really excited about the potential for future improvements to productivity throughout the business and the streamlining of our front-end activities.
“In addition, the improved availability of the right management information will help us move the business forward more quickly, all of which will bring visible benefits to our diverse and growing customer base and improve long term prosperity for Harrison.”
The customers are a spread across food, healthcare and household sectors, many for blue chip names. V4.0 is the latest version introduced at Drupa to combine some of the Shuttleworth functionality with the modular approach that EFI has adopted to create different application suites on top of core functionality. At the heart of the packaging version is Radius software, the result of an earlier acquisition.
The Packaging Suite begins with 20 workflows to cover applications within carton, flexible and label printing. This will automate the collection and presentation of business data needed for day to day operation. A Productivity Workbench presents estimators and customer service personnel with function specific information in a usable way.
For EFI, Paul Cripps, European regional vice president sales, adds: “Drupa 2016 was an excellent opportunity for EFI to advance the cause for integrated, automated efficiency for even the most complex packaging workflows using the new advancements added to our Packaging Suite.”
The order follows success that EFI is having with the GamSys MIS in the UK commercial print sector.
Harrisons has upgraded its Shuttleworth MIS to the full EFI Packaging Suite specification. But this is not always necessary says Andy King. Some customers have added a digital storefront to an existing Shuttleworth MIS.
