The new machines arrived at AA Labels at the end of September and quickly entered production, with speeds so far reaching up to 3,000sph of book rate of 4,600sph. The TruCoat, bought directly from manufacturer TecLighting, provides gloss, satin or matte finishes at up to 4,000sph.

The web-to-print business’ expansion into packaging – largely cosmetics and food items – was a well-thought-out process.

Sohail Sethi, AA Labels’ MD, told Printweek: “We researched for nearly a year, through 2021 and 2022, to find out what our competitors were doing, and how they were processing their orders.

“That was very interesting, because we found that a lot of people were either outsourcing, or using more economic equipment.”

Sethi added that the team had surmised that by building an in-house carton operation, it could eliminate delays in delivery and turn orders around within a few days, which would be crucial in making the investment pay for itself.

“To set up this packaging business, it cost us £1.5m. To make that money back within five years, it’s about having enough orders on a daily basis,” Sethi said.

For six months prior to launch, the AA Labels team set up a comprehensive marketing campaign to push the business’ new capabilities, and ironed out its production process so that it could hit the ground running.

“It’s about it being a minimal-fuss process for the customer,” Sethi said.

“The order is placed, and we take the responsibility to produce that order. We don’t go back to the customer, and ask about costs of the die – no, it’s a given that we’re going to pay for a die, it’s a given that we’re going to get the sample approval from them. 

“So we don’t need to ask those questions, we just need the size of the box, and the designs uploaded, they choose the quantity, and add it to the basket.”

AA Labels typically turns around jobs between five and seven days from artwork approval, which is done online, though Sethi said he was considering a varied pricing structure for longer and shorter lead times later on down the line.

In the first year, Sethi hopes to turn over around £250,000 with the new packaging business. From the second year, he said, sales should open up: “When you’ve proven that you are doing a good job, and you have reasonable turnaround times, that the pricing is good and you are efficient, that’s what brings the customers back.

The choice to go with Indigo technology was not a given, with Sethi’s team looking at UV single-pass inkjet machines from several maufacturers – but in the end, print quality was the deciding factor.

“There’s no comparison, to be honest, HP is a unique technology, and the prints are exceptional. To be honest, there’s nothing in the market that feels like that quality,” he said.

AA Labels has two sites, with its UK site in Peterborough – where the Indigo was installed – employing 23, and with 27 more at its Lahore site.

The company currently turns over around £4m.