Finishing & Screen Printing

Kingfisher refits finishing to keep pace with Speedmaster XL 75

Thursday 25. October 2012 - In a move to enhance its niche in the estate agency print sector, Kingfisher Print & Design has made a major investment in its finishing department.

“Last year we transformed our business by swapping out two Speedmaster SM 74s for a new and highly specified Speedmaster XL 75-5+L with Inpress Control. I believe this latest investment in finishing will have at least as much impact by cutting out processes, and by implication time, from our production and enabling us to offer customers top quality even faster,” says Ross Bellotti, managing director.
The company has replaced an older guillotine with the latest Polar 92N Pro but it is the move from B2 to B1 format folding with the automated Stahlfoder KH 82 with additional knife unit that will make the biggest difference.
“Much of the estate agency work we handle is A4 landscape. With a B2 folder we had to cut work down and score it on a Cylinder. With the bigger format combination folder we can handle 8pp landscape and score inline. This gives us massive time savings and makes us more competitive in this market. We are one of the leaders in the field with a number of national estate agency contracts,” says Mr Bellotti.
The Totnes based £3.5m turnover company sells on the quality of its work. Finishing it sees as a key part of that, the results impacting on the final look and feel of the product. For this reason it has always invested heavily in finishing.
“We achieved good resale on our older Polar and Stahlfolder because of the make and because we always look after and maintain our kit well. This impacts on our decision-making. Buying kit with good retained value means on-going investment is more achievable,” says Mr Bellotti. .