The new seven-colour Speedmaster XL 106 with coater is scheduled to be installed during the Birkenhead-based company’s two-week closure over Christmas. 

The B1 device, which features Prinect Press Center XL2 and Intellistart software, will replace a Speedmaster XL 105 and join two existing Speedmasters, a XL 105 and an XL 106. The new press has been specified with the ink.line cartridge system. 

“We bought a Speedmaster XL 106 with CutStar last Christmas and we have been extremely impressed by the way it handles the challenging stock, one side coated, 70gsm material. We now recognise that it gives us the return on investment we want and it does increase efficiency,” said Tipografic managing director Jeff Cornell.  

Productivity was expected to increase by 24%, he said. 

The presses produce wet glue labels for the food and drinks and pharmaceutical markets, while the company also has a solvent-based flexo line for plastic labels used on PET bottles. 

The deal, signed at Drupa, is worth more than £3m and includes a Polar 115 Autocut and a multi-station BM 105 bander. The finishing equipment is due for installation at the end of August. 

The company invested in the Autocut, its second such model, to meet growing demand for square-cut labels. 

“Our wet label business is more buoyant, in part because of some reduction in capacity in the UK and also because we have won work from abroad,” said Cornell. 

Waste from the devices will be removed through a recycling chute, while output will be automatically fed through the new binder, batched and shrink-wrapped.

“Supermarkets and other customers do regularly audit us on all aspects, quality and environment for instance, and that has been good for our business in all sorts of ways and given us the mindset to meet change in a positive way and to remain keen and lean,” Cornell added.

The company is considering investments in LED technology and production and MIS workflows.