The Basingstoke, Hampshire printer, which specialises in letterpress and hot foil printing, is installing a Shuttleworth MIS to replace a Clydo system installed 10 years ago, which it had outgrown.
Managing director Robin Escott, said: “We were struggling over the last five years with it. We thought it was time to invest with the big boys.
“We trialled the big three – Tharstern, Accura and Shuttleworth - and they all came in and gave us really good demos.
“All the systems are customisable but Shuttleworth just ticked all the boxes. They built it around us. The system best fits the bespoke nature of the work that we do. Letterpress and hot foil - they are difficult things to cost. It’s intricate work and can take days with the current system.
“Obviously these things are only as good as what you put into them but if we invest in making sure it has all our information then with this MIS we can do it in half an hour.
“If you get back to the client quickly there’s a good chance they will go with you.”
Escott, whose Shuttleworth MIS is due to go live in five to six weeks, said he liked the company’s partnership approach.
“I’m excited about them. Shuttleworth were excited to work with us I think, they were really nice people too. It’s a big old investment in terms of money and in terms of time - there’s 12 years of data entry - but it was the right thing to do."
The company spent around £16,000 on the investment, including new servers, but believes the system will save money by being more efficient and helping to win new business.
The Liquorice Press started off printing raffle tickets and flyers in Escott’s mother’s garage. It moved into B3 litho and considered moving up to B2 but Escott said he was not keen on the “cut-throat market” with “nosediving prices” and made the decision not to invest five years ago.
Instead he bought a platen letterpress from eBay for £250 and brought experienced printers out of retirement to give masterclasses to his staff on how to use it. The company also specialises in laser cutting, die-cutting, embossing and foiling, runs digital machines and acts as a print manager.
It runs a two-colour Heidelberg GTO, a five-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster, a Konica Minolta Bizhub 7000 and is considering investing in a Ricoh 950.
On the letterpress side it has six platens, used for printing, foiling and die-cutting, as well as a KSB Heidelberg cylinder press and one of just a few SRA3 letterpresses in the country. The oldest platen was built in 1956.
Now clients of Liquorice’s bespoke work include several big brands and the Royal Academy of Arts. It has 10 staff and a turnover approaching £1m.
