TWO FOR ONE
Colprint swaps two machines for one Hans Gronhi
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Reports of the death of two colour offset have been exaggerated!
Birmingham's Colprint has a diverse range of business-to-business customers, mainly in the West Midlands. MD Stuart Mills says the company has seen ever-greater demand for full colour print over the ten years the company has been trading, but not to the exclusion of simpler work such as stationery, forms and carbonless sets. “We keep expecting the two colour market to die out, but it shows no sign of slowing down,” he says. “Perhaps we’re picking up work other printers are no longer interested in, or perhaps because of the economic climate there are fewer two colour printers out there.”
Modernising with Hans Gronhi
Colprint has just installed a new Hans Gronhi GH522NP from Printers Superstore. The press, a two colour 52cm with numbering and perforating, replaces two Heidelberg machines which according to MD Stuart Mills had come to the end of their working lives.
“We had a single colour GTO 46 dating back to the 1970s and a two colour GTO 52 dating back to the 80s, which were holding us back,” he says. “It had got to the point where we would sometimes have to put single or two colour jobs onto our five colour machine, so it was clear we needed to update.”
He continues: “We wanted a more modern, automated type of press but at first we thought we would have to buy a used machine. We were amazed to find that we could get a new Hans Gronhi two colour for around the same price as a five or six year old equivalent from another manufacturer. At first we were skeptical but once we had seen the press in action and spoken to some other local users we were convinced.”
Surviving and thriving
Being a survivor today is all about economics, says Mr Mills. “It’s a price driven market, and this is why the Hans Gronhi press is such a good buy – the low investment and low running costs help us stay competitive, and we didn’t have to compromise on quality. We would be happy to put full colour jobs through it as backup for our five colour.”
Mr Mills also says the GH522NP has shown Colprint a new way of working. “It seems so quiet, and so fast – and features such as the auto plate change are a revelation as we have previously run manual machines. Wash up times are almost a thing of the past, which is great as we will normally do a lot of job changeovers on an average day.”
The rise in productivity and reduction in production cost represented by the Hans Gronhi machine reflects Colprint’s recent history and current philosophy. The company has managed to survive some challenging trading conditions – maintaining an annual turnover of around £450,000 - by ‘slimming down and working harder’ according to Mr Mills. Colprint now shares premises with its two sister companies, Set and Match and Dataproof, and staff numbers have reduced to 7 as retiring or leaving personnel have not been replaced. Mr Mills concludes; “It’s been a difficult few years but I’m pleased to say, we’re keeping busy!”
