Print Me It invests for growth

County Durham print firm Printmeit.com has increased its offer and brought wide format work in-house with a facility expansion and equipment investment.

The Stanley-based company, which specialises in short-run digital production, has invested £20,000 in a new Mimiaki JV33-130 wide format printer and a Mimaki CG-130 II plotter/cutter, from UK distributor Your Print Solutions, as it looks to bring production of all of its large format posters, roll-up banners and outdoor signage in-house.

The company is also adding shaped stickers and wallpaper printing to its product offer.

The new equipment was delivered last week with final training taking place today (14 January) and production due to start next week.

Managing director Adam Chetter said the £800,000-turnover company would now start to target new trade customers and that he expected to see a return on investment within four to five months.

He added: "We have never offered wallpaper or shaped stickers so this is all very exciting and being able to do banners in-house has proved really attractive to our existing customers who have already shown a lot of interest."

Chetter said that the success that the company had achieved from its existing Epson 9900 wide format printer, which it acquired 12-months ago, had been instrumental in the decision to invest in the new kit.

"The problem was that the work was taking a long time to produce so most work had to be outsourced. This will really cut turn-around times and give us proper control over quality as well," he added.

As a result of the new equipment delivery Print Me It has had to expand from its existing 92sqm facility into an adjoining space bringing its total footprint to more than 232sqm.

The company currently employs nine people and Chetter said that he aimed to grow turnover by around 20% in 2013 and boost his staff base to maintain the new service.

He added: "It’s all very well to offer a great product but if you don’t offer a great customer service to go with it then people just won’t come back."