10-Colour Perfector Press Stimulates Growth

Summerhall is undergoing significant growth, just nine months after adding a B2 Komori 10-colour long perfector press to its Edinburgh facility.

Summerhall is undergoing significant growth, just nine months after adding a B2 Komori 10-colour long perfector press to its Edinburgh facility.

The company has just moved to a new 26,000 square foot site nearby and invested in its first B1 press - a six-colour Komori Lithrone 40 with coater.

A new two-colour B2 Komori Sprint perfector will also be installed before the end of the year.

Until now the company has specialised in B2 print supported by the Komori NL 1028 perfector, a 628 six-colour press and an eight-colour offset press.

The lack of B1 capacity in Edinburgh and generally throughout the east of Scotland is the primary reason the company has made the move in to this sector with the Komori Lithrone 640+C.

Summerhall's customers include Standard Life, Scottish Widows, Scottish Equitable, Wood Mackenzie, Navy Blue and Baillie Gifford.

The company has spent around GBP4m on capital equipment over the past two years, including presses, direct mail and finishing equipment.

George Pryde, managing director of Summerhall, said: "We have also doubled our staff in the past two years to 83 employees today so it has been an incredibly busy period for us.

Following this considerable investment and 60 per cent expansion in space and head count we are aiming to achieve a turnover of GBP10m by the end of 2007." Summerhall has committed to Komori presses to sustain its continued growth and achieve its targets.

The highly automated Komori LS 640+C features colour control and management system (PDCS), fully automatic plate changing and KHS pre-inking and de-inking system.

The coater unit enables Summerhall to offer specialist coatings in response to increasing call for special effects and finishes from local designers and agencies.

A JDF-enabled Tharstern SQL management information system controls jobs from estimating, through production planning and on to all the Komori presses.

"After the instant success of the 10-colour press which attracted considerable interest and several new contracts as a result, we didn't think twice when we had the opportunity to purchase a B1 press from Komori," said Pryde.

"This press provides tremendous potential, particularly in producing high quality annual reports and financial service documents and it will help us and our clients win more business." Summerhall's success is contributed to providing a full range of print services from e-business, sheet fed offset litho, digital printing to data handling, direct mail, fulfilment and distribution.

The company, with the addition of the new Komori Lithrone six-colour press, is capable of producing over 150 million multi-colour sheets a year.

Neil Sutton, managing director of Komori UK, said: "Summerhall is a fine example of a company that has built high-class and highly automated production facilities to ensure it can deliver top quality and service to a demanding customer base.

This is a company that has expanded at speed and is maximising the capabilities of its presses to the utmost to win important contracts.".

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