To celebrate its 10th Anniversary as a member of the Card Factory Group, UK-based Printcraft replaced a Speedmaster CD102 with a Speedmaster XL106-6+L this year. The new Speedmaster is already producing 1.4 million impressions a week so is on target to complete its first year in production with 75 million impressions, working a four shift system.
The Card Factory Group, which opened its 1,000th store last month, uses Printcraft to produce all its greetings cards without a handmade element, gift wrap and Point of sale products. By investing in world class equipment and keeping up to date Printcraft can give the group a competitive advantage in terms of price and turnaround times which allows the group to offer superior products at value prices while still using quality materials.
The Speedmaster XL106-6+L, part of a £5m investment in kit this year, comes highly specified. It features Autoplate XL, Inpress Control 2, Hycolor Multidrive and inspection Control. It is a hybrid model which means it can run conventional and UV printing.
“In our opinion Heidelberg has far better support than any other manufacturer,” says Andrew Wasley, Managing Director of Printcraft. “Even small issues are automatically reported via email by the operator, even over the weekend, and the issues are resolved with no management intervention. We have been a customer of Heidelberg since 1993 when we purchased a B2 press from them.”
Now Printcraft has repro, platesetting and presses from Heidelberg and it is currently testing some of its finishing kit with another investment in mind. Printcraft is FSC certified and is a member of the BPIF. The company is based in Shipley, has a turnover of £25m and employs 135 full time employees.
