£750k large-format expansion for Kingswood

Kingswood iOptus has invested in a raft of new kit for its new large-format facility as it aims for a 50% turnover boost over the next two years.

The London-based printer also bought a Kongsberg XN24 digital cutter, two HP Latex 370s, two HP Latex 570s, two Summa cutters and two large-format laminators, which join two large-format EFI machines purchased in August in its new 560sqm Swanley, Kent facility.

Total spend on the kit, which includes the EFI H1625 LED and EFI super-wide Vutek GS3250lx Pro LED, totalled around £750,000.

All the new machines have been installed in the past two months, wxcept for the two HP Latex 570s, which are due for installation in early 2017.

Kingswood managing director Robert Long said he realised he wanted to expand the company when he attended events of Kingswood's financial and legal clients and realised there was a market he was missing out on in terms of printing large-format work for events. 

Kingswood has traditionally taken its main work from legal and financial companies in the City, using its central 740sqm Moorgate, central London facility, although it also does general commercial print work.

“We decided to expand and move outside London but very close logistically so we could still offer a City-based service,” Long said.

“The marketplace is bigger than in legal document solutions and we felt there was more opportunity in large-format. The new kit is working well already. The digital cutter is essential to accompany the Vuteks and it’s been a fantastic machine; we bought it fully loaded with just about every tool you could possibly see.”

Long said the two machines complement each other by giving Kingswood the consistency to print smaller short-runs on the H1625 and higher-volumes on the 3.2m-wide Vutek.

“Consistency in colour management across the machines is fantastic and the speed of both gives us high-volume capacity, so that works very well,” he said.

£5m-turnover Kingswood employs around 85 staff, nine of which have moved to the Swanley facility. For the commercial and document side, it runs Ricoh Pro 9110s and 7110s, and Canon ImagePress and VarioPrints.