Herbert Walkers continues £10m expansion with new Speedmaster XL 106
Herbert Walkers will take delivery of its second Speedmaster XL 106 from Heidelberg in June
Solopress has announced it has made a £3.4m round of fresh investment in both litho and digital printing technologies
Solopress has announced it has made a £3.4m round of fresh investment in both litho and digital printing technologies.
The strategic investment includes the acquisition of a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 4 litho press with coating unit; a HP Indigo 120K digital press; a Konica Minolta AccurioShine 3600 with iFoil One; a Horizon AFV-566FTK Ice Folder; and an MBO T800 section folder.
According to Solopress, its “dual approach” will ensure the company can leverage the strengths of each method and provides its customers with the highest quality print solutions regardless of the job’s requirements.
The investment in a second B1 litho press also cements the company’s commitment to high-volume litho printing whilst the HP Indigo 120K provides the latest B2 digital print technology.
Simon Cooper, managing director of Solopress, says: “We see a strong future for both lithographic and digital. The new Speedmaster allows us to continue delivering unparalleled litho print quality on large runs.
“At the same time, our investment in the HP Indigo 120K positions us to meet the growing demand for high-quality, digital print runs, with minimal downtime. By pursuing both approaches, we ensure that whatever jobs come in on any given day, we can address the needs of a diverse range of customers in a timely fashion.”
With installations taking place throughout 2024, Cooper adds: “We have experienced success in the past using quieter periods to carry out installations. The pandemic was a case-in-point, where we were able to use the period of suppressed demand to set up HP T250 high speed inkjet production.
“Similarly in the summer of 2022, we opened up and installed the XL106 10-colour in our new ‘Site 4’ – the same site where we’ve now just installed our second B1 press.”
Cooper explains that when planning this next round of investment, this year has proven to be “predicably unpredictable”, due to the general election.
“We’d anticipated it landing at the end of the year so when it was sprung on us in June it put the cat amongst the pigeons,” he says, adding: “However, it’s a testament to the excellent team we’ve built up that we were able to meet record-breaking demand without dipping below a 99.3% despatch rate for the YTD.
“We’re now getting ourselves set up for the next peak which will happen in Q4, where we expect to be firing on all cylinders.”
