It was a video presentation of the machine at Northprint two years ago and Murley felt that it was not the press the £3.5m turnover, 40-staff firm was seeking to address a need for short-run four-colour marcomms work.
The company, bought by Murley and his business partner managing director Eric Stevenson in 1999, was built on the back of contract work for the likes of the NHS and others channelled into the firm from print managers.
"We only really do contract work, so tenders and pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs) are a firm part of our life," he explains. "When we first moved into this area, we looked at all the types of work that were being requested and went out and bought the kit that best suited that product list, so that we could provide a full solution in-house."
Producing all the work in-house is essential, according to Murley, as he says you need control over all the processes so you can guarantee the quality and delivery timescales of the work. Hence, along with the print capacity, PBL has laminating, binding and die-cutting lines, as well.
This need to fit perfectly with the work being requested is what led to the viewing of the SM52 Anicolor at Northprint.
"In our work for Charterhouse and Communisis, we found that our five-colour B2 machine was having to do smaller and smaller run lengths and so suddenly we were printing 500 A4 flyers on a big B2 machine, and doing those short runs on that machine created problems with colour consistency," he explains.
"Hence we needed a press solution that could offer short-run high-quality colour work."
The company has always been a Heidelberg operation, with Murley stating that since 1999 when he took over at the company the turnover has increased from £275,000 to the current £3.5m, and the manufacturer had played a big part in that. Hence, when it came to finding a solution, they didn’t look too far afield.
"We didn’t look elsewere, because as a business we have grown hand in hand with Heidelberg and they have become a key partner for us. It is important for us that they understand our business and so can advise us and help us more effectively."
Second look
Not that Heidelberg’s first effort at persuasion for the best option for the next direction for the business went well with the Northprint video demonstration, but luckily for the manufacturer Murley was persuaded to attend a follow-up open house where he could see the press in action. This time around Murley was more impressed – considerably more so in fact.
"I tried to buy the one being demonstrated. I was that impressed," he reveals. "It was just so consistent with its printing and so fast with in terms of makeready.
The quality was just so good – once it had done 10 sheets, every sheet thereafter was the same."
While he may not have got his press in a doggy bag to take home that night from the Heidelberg event, the manufacturer’s technicians were soon travelling to the North East to install another off the production line. Murley says the process was seamless and that the press was up and running within five days. The staff then had another five days training.
He explains that the Anicolor is a different beast to conventional machines and so operators need to be talked through the intricacies of where it differs to what they may be used to. That said, he reveals that there is probably less to fiddle with on the press, which means there is less that an operator can mess up.
One of the biggest lessons of the training process, however, was the importance of maintaining and cleaning the press.
"Heidelberg makes it clear from the outset that you need to maintain the press properly if you want to get the best out of it," says Murley. "It takes us six hours to do a proper clean down. We do that once a week, every week. Even if we are desperate for a job to go out, we still down tools on a Friday afternoon and ensure the machine is properly cleaned down. It makes such a big difference to the other four and a half days printing 24 hours a day. It’s the pay-off for the quality and consistency we achieve when it is running."
Murley considers the quality of the press to be second to none and says that the colour quality is "particularly excellent". It has changed the way the business operates, not just because it can now pitch for work that once it could not – it recently became one of Communisis’ top-tier suppliers for four-colour as a result of the Anicolor purchase – but also in how it manages its work roster.
"We found in the past that a certain operator was better than another on certain machines so you would move certain jobs to when that operator was working," says Murley. "With the Anicolor it makes no difference who prints the job, the output is always of exactly the same high quality. That is what we really need, to be able to print the work when we need it, not when we have the right staff member available."
Since installation, Murley says the press has had the normal minor issues you get after any installation, but it has also had a problem that got even the most technically gifted members of the Heidelberg team scratching their heads in puzzlement.
"We seemed to have an issue with the ink density," recalls Murley. "It didn’t affect the print, but we knew something was wrong. It was affecting the number of sheets we were using, and how we did things."
Pressure point
Heidelberg sent up a team for three days to analyse the press to see what was going wrong and tried various attempts at a solution. At one point they thought they’d fixed it but a switch of inks saw the problem return. In the end, persistence paid off.
"It was something to do with the pressures between the cylinders and the impression blankets," reveals Murley. "We were pleased at the commitment of the Heidelberg engineers. They didn’t just pretend there were no problems, they accepted there was an issue and addressed it. Since then, this is something they check as part of preventative maintenance."
Murley stresses that, aside from the odd minor irritation like this, the machine has surpassed all expectations and that it played a key role in the business right from the off. He explains the machine enabled PBL to expand its work with existing clients and that having the reliable capability has influenced the company’s direction.
"It has really influenced the growth path of the business," says Murley. "Heidelberg talks you through the break points of the press with digital machines and with the B2 press. We have rewritten those as the
makeready is so quick with the Anicolor, as little as 10 minutes, and the consistency is so good. We have pushed the boundaries and are doing longer and longer runs on it."
Murley says PBL will always have a B2 press, but that at present, the direction they are taking is B3 four-colour and so they plan to buy a second Anicolor. The company is in the midst of trying to secure a new site, but even if they don’t move, Murley says it will still be purchased.
As to whether he’d recommend the press, considering the competitive nature of the tender work the company is involved with, his slightly tongue-in-cheek answer is predictably not without ulterior motive.
"We would say no-one else needs one… definitely not… " he says, which sounds like an unequivocal recommendation.
SPECIFICATIONS
Max speed 15,000sph
Max substrate size 370x520mm
Max substrate thickness 0.03-0.4mm (Optional up to 0.6mm)
Max printing area 360x520mm
Dimensions With high-pile delivery: 6.2x1.9x1.6m (LxWxH).
Price From £500,000 depending on spec
Contact Heidelberg 0844 892 2010 www.heidelberg.com
Company profile
PBL Print was bought by director Chris Murley and MD Eric Stevenson in 1999 and has since grown its turnover from £275,000 to £3.5m. The Tyne and Wear based, 40-staff printer produces marcomms and other commercial work for a number of key clients including the NHS and gets much of its work through print managers such as Communisis and Charterhouse.
Why it was bought...
"In our work for Charterhouse and Communisis, we found that our five-colour B2 machine was having to do smaller and smaller run lengths and so suddenly we were printing 500 A4 flyers on a big B2 machine, and doing those short runs on that machine created problems with colour consistency," explains Murley. "Hence we needed a press solution that could offer short-run high quality colour work."
How it has performed...
Murley says the press has surpassed his expectations and that the quality and consistency is second to none. He adds that the introduction of the press has influenced the way the business operates and is dictating the company’s future direction. "It has really influenced the growth path of the business," says Murley. "We have pushed the boundaries and are doing longer and longer runs on it. "
