5-Colour Press Quadruples Envelope Print Capacity

SEM has moved from its old premises and installed a new five-colour Komori Lithrone S40 press and coater, which is claimed to have quadrupled capacity.

The bespoke envelope printers' new purpose-built site covers 40,000 square feet and forms part of a GBP3 million investment.

The brand new LS series press with coater was installed as a replacement for an older Lithrone 40 earlier this year and is being used to print flat sheet conversion envelopes with an average run length of 75,000 on various stock thicknesses, in one to five or six colours, dependent on market demand.

The LS40 has increased automation to enable improved make-ready speeds and SEM is already benefiting from significant cost savings, said Komori.

SEM has also installed several reel-fed s/w flexo machines that take weekly production above the 15 million mark.

SEM is part of the Hamelin Group, and with sister companies Surrey Envelopes and Envelope Sales PLC is a supplier of envelopes to the UK market.

SEM is the manufacturing and bespoke arm of the group.

The new brownfield site in Spondon, Derbyshire is larger than the company's old premises in Nottingham and is equipped with design studios, pre-press department and the latest technology, added the company.

General manager of SEM, Howard Sadler, said: "Customer demand is moving towards more specialist designs in smaller quantities and we bought the new Komori to respond to these issues.

SEM has been a Komori house for the past five years and now is the right time to upgrade and update so we can increase production output." He continued: "Savings on paper is substantial, whilst make-ready times have fallen dramatically as the press is linked to the new CTP system and press speed has increased substantially.

The quality of the press and customer care we received from Komori was second to none.

The Lithrone served us well but we are already seeing benefits from the new LS technology." Sadler has ambitious plans to fill the vast area of the purpose built building.

He will be investing in additional envelope machines during this year and is looking at additional reel fed machines.

There is also space for another Komori press in the factory and an additional warehouse being built on the same site will open up opportunities for future growth.

Steve Turner, Komori's general sales manager for the north, commented: "This is a great example of a printer utilising cutting edge technology to respond to industry trends and continually satisfying its customers.

SEM has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past few years working alongside Komori and this new press will not only increase production but bring considerable cost savings.".

Back to top