Managing director Simon Moore said the step up to web was a "logical progression" for the firm, which recently became the first in the world to run three Heidelberg long-perfectors (two 10-colours and one 12-colour) with CutStar sheeters.
"All that were trying to do is produce the work we already do in a more cost-effective way," said Moore, who added that at 40,000-plus, the firms average run length was "quite substantial" for a sheetfed printer.
The web would give Eclipse the added benefit of folded sections straight off the press, added Moore. "One of our keys is we always try to drive turnover per employee up and we can do this by producing more folded products off the press," he said.
"We dont see it as daunting at all," said Moore of the move. "Its like CutStar a lot of people are frightened of that but we slotted into it immediately."
Moore and his fellow directors David Birkbeck and Ben Ward all have web experience and a new production manager, Mike Day, will join the company from web house TPL Printers on Monday (6 October).
The new kit will be equipped with remoist gluing, pattern perforating and automatic plate changing. It will be housed in a new 2,300m2 unit based 100m from the firms existing site.
Eclipses press is the third 16pp web order from a Northamptonshire printer in recent weeks. Heidelberg has also sold an M600 to Northamptons The Print Factory (see p4), while York Mailing is installing a 16pp Komori at its Centre Web operation in Brackmills (PrintWeek, 25 September).
Story by Lauretta Roberts
