A clear winner in this category, Northend has won itself more than a few admirers on the judging panel, who described its work as "truly outstanding". The examples of its work were"head and shoulders above everyone else", demonstrating"great attention to all aspects of production" to deliver "truly the complete package". Its entry included a limited edition of250, 116pp case-bound books to celebrate the paintings of renowned abstract artist Harry Ousey, which was submitted tothe printer as copy and pictures. The book was designed and produced in-house, with the pictures scanned on a CreoiQsmart3 scanner and individually retouched with great attention to detail in Photoshop. The text was printed on200gsm Novatech Matt paper using Saphira Excel high-intensity inks with an inline satin coating on Northend's Heidelberg Speedmaster CD74.
"We are delighted to receive this award" commented Client Services Manager, Sue Taylor. "It forms part of our commitment to customers to use paper from sustainable sources and this accreditation allows them in turn to use a range of logos on their products to communicate to the end user their own green 'credentials."
Northend has already switched to processless plates in a bid to cut all plate chemistry and reduce the need for water in the developing of plates.
The new plate set-up will also help the company in its push for the ISO 14001 environmental standard which it expects to achieve in the next few months.
The machine, only the fourth of its kind in the world and the first in the UK, comes complete with an auto plate simultaneous plate-changing facility.
It will reduce make-ready times from 15 minutes to less than five, improve efficiency and increase Northend’s print capacity by 40%. The company plans to fill the increased capacity with organic growth and by acquisition.
The technology was spotted by Northend’s senior management team in Dusseldorf, Germany at DRUPA 2008, the world’s largest printing expo.
The investment is central to the company’s plan to achieve the most efficient and productive plant possible and is a reflection of the optimism managing director Nigel Stubley feels for Northend’s business prospects in a competitive market.
Nigel said: “We are very excited to be making such a substantial investment to bring this world beating technology to Sheffield.
“When we saw the equipment in action in Germany, it blew our minds. The company have built a strong relationship with Heidelberg, beta-site testing their JDF workflow over the last two years and we are well placed to maximise the benefits the equipment brings to the city.”
Northend would not have been able to take full advantage of this technology at their Heeley factory had they not already invested heavily in 2006 to install a JDF workflow, an electronic job management system which manages the flow of print jobs from estimate through the complete production pipeline.
“The substantial investment in the press and the two new printing plate lines allowing Northend to move to processless, chemistry free plates, is all part of a company wide vision for a sustainable future for customers, employees and shareholders.
“Whilst there is considerable nervousness in our industry amidst the current economic climate, Northend is continually proving to be an exception. Sales are already up 8% in the first quarter and our capacity to take on more jobs will only increase now that this exceptional technology has arrived in the city,” said Nigel.
To help bring the XL 75 and the platesetters to the city, Northend attracted funding from Yorkshire Bank and the South Yorkshire Investment Fund.
JDF means Job Definition Format – effectively an electronic job-bag, and it allows all the information known about a job from the estimate stage, to be used by departments and machines downstream in production process.
Many of the glitches in the software have now been overcome and building on our ‘lean’ status, benefits are now being seen in faster make-ready and smoother, more efficient production allowing more jobs to be manufactured in faster times. Next month we go live with JMF (job messaging format) where ‘real time’ information from the presses will automatically feed back into the MIS System.
So not only will Client Services know what the status of your job is... they will even know how many sheets have been printed!
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