Offset Printing

Hobbs takes decision to return service to the suppliers

Wednesday 18. March 2009 - Hobbs the Printers has returned to Heidelberg for service after an analysis of costs showed that it was better value than continuing with an independent engineering firm despite their lower hourly rate.

Hobbs, the Southampton company which has four Speedmaster SM 102-2-Ps, turned to Heidelberg for help when a series of calls by a firm of independent engineers failed to resolve a problem on one of its older presses.

Graham Bromley, operations director, says: “Service depends very much on the quality of the engineers and how up to date their training is. Independent engineers may offer a lower hourly rate but we found that the number of calls and time spent on getting a machine fixed was more costly and not giving us the results we wanted. We called in the Heidelberg engineers and a software issue was uncovered and sorted in half a day.”

One of the presses is still under warranty but the other three will now have a major and a minor service each year and that type of arrangement will be extended to other suppliers of equipment throughout the plant.

“We initially gave Heidelberg one press to look after and left the other three presses with the independent dealer. Over a year we anticipate we will save significantly on service costs and downtime by leaving all the Speedmaster support work with Heidelberg. The issue is not about paying less for service as such but what we want is value for money and the certainty that our presses will run – and run productively.”

Hobbs is a specialist in technical, financial and educational work handling a wide range of print from loose leaf manuals to journals, reference books and magazines for publishers, scientific and professional associations, societies and universities.