Member Article

Hull’s Springfield printers set to hit 100 million label benchmark after £1 million investment

Digital printer Springfield Solutions is on course to print 100 million labels in one year for the first time in its 40-year history after investing over £1 million on machinery.

The labels and packaging specialist, based in Thomas Street, Hull, printed 62 million labels by June 30, putting it on course to smash the milestone target by the end of the year.

The increase has come about after the company invested £750,000 to transform its print room from a mixture of analogue and digital presses to all digital – a process it completed in 2012 – which saw the company print 93 million labels in 2013, a 26% increase compared to the previous year.

That figure is continuing to grow as earlier this year the company invested a further near £1 million in Europe’s first Screen Truepress Ink Jet L350UV digital label press as well as a finishing line from Bridlington firm AB Graphics.

The upgrades mean Springfield Solutions is now able to process around 2,000 jobs per month, compared to the 800-1,000 it could complete with a mixture of analogue and digital printing.

Average print length is currently around 300 metres, according to Springfield Solutions joint managing director Dennis Ebeltoft, but can go as high as 10,000 metres.

Mr Ebeltoft said reaching the 100 million mark was a major milestone in the company’s 40-year history which underlined its position as one of Europe’s leading all-digital printers.

He said: “We were among the industry’s earliest adopters of digital presses, buying our first one in 1996. Over the years we have we have watched the quality increase until it equalled, or in some areas even surpassed, that of analogue.

“When that happened it made sense to go all-digital because our clients were demanding faster turnaround times and it is only with digital technology we can meet those deadlines.

“Even when we made the change we had no idea we would see such a jump in the number of jobs we handled so soon. Just a couple of years ago to print 100 million labels in a single year would have been unthinkable, now we are well on course to reach that target before the end of this year.”

Springfield Solutions works with many FMCG and industrial Fortune 500 ‘Power Brand’ clients, supplying a full design-to-print service, including pre-press, asset management, personalised labels, and smart interactive label solutions.

The company recently reshuffled its board, appointing Matt Dass as joint-managing director and innovations director alongside Mr Ebeltoft who is also joint-managing director and retains his role as operations director.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .