Micropress pushes on with paper wrap project

The Suffolk commercial printer believes the pandemic will lead to opportunities for the business as it gets to grip with a paper wrapping investment.

Micropress is this week beginning socially distanced training on the paper handling abilities of its new Sitma W100S hybrid wrapping line.

The Reydon, Suffolk, printer took delivery of the £500,000 line in March and has been running it in poly mode, something the company’s finishing team are familiar with from the Sitma one it has replaced.

There are no customers lined up for paper wrapping though the company has been fielding inquiries, says director Rob Cross. “A lot of customers have been asking for it,” he says. “I’d like to think that in five years time, we’ll be shocked at how much we were sending out in plastic. It’s a very exciting move for us.”

The company will have the ability to print single colour on the wrappers on the line as it has for wrapping in film. It will also be able to offer preprinted wraps, says Cross.

The Sitma will also be integrated into the company’s MIS and digital network along with its latest press and folder. A Speedmaster XL106 was installed last year followed at the start of this year by a Stahlfolder KH82 and an AMS X inkjet unit to enable Micropress to work with naked mailers.

The company had planned to look at saddle stickers at Drupa along with checking the progress on inkjet presses. That will now be postponed until next year. In the meantime the company will have opportunities to pick up work smaller business affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are a very broad range of work, most in trade print. We are also working for a lot of publishers, agencies and print management as well as for other printers. We do not focus on any one particular sector,” he says.

“Commercial printers are suffering at the moment and the market has significantly dropped off. However, we are financially strong and whilst we are experiencing some short term pain, we are confident that there will be a great time ahead of us when we are through this. It’s also given us an opportunity to make some changes to our factory layout and work on efficiency so we are able to future proof the business for when the good times return. We have tried to focus on the opportunities as well as dealing with the negatives .”