Following its order at IPEX for the UK’s first superwide Durst Rho 500R roll-to-roll UV printer, Service Graphics is unveiling plans to invest approximately £4 million over the next 18 months. The investment by the St. Ives Group’s large-format division will see the company delivering new capabilities, greater efficiencies and an enhanced customer experience.
The new graphics and display production supersite, to be located near Chessington in Surrey, will comprise a 46,000 sq ft purpose-built factory, housing an array of new equipment and systems. These will include a software management system, tailored to the Service Graphics business to integrate core activities such as production scheduling, project management, sales, financial and supply chain management and CRM.
Primarily servicing the South of England and London, the supersite development will introduce new production capabilities while at the same time providing additional capacity to support the company’s other sites in Glasgow, Skelmersdale, Nottingham, Kent and Salisbury. Within the same timescale, Salisbury will move their sales office to a new facility that completes the modernisation plans in the southern region.
Service Graphics claims the investment programme will further lengthen its lead on its competition by boosting an arsenal of high-quality, high-output equipment that is already unmatched in the UK. According to Nick Cole, managing director of Service Graphics, it is a continuation of the company’s aggressive growth plans aimed at doubling overall production capacity.“
Investment in new capabilities is vital to ensuring both continued growth in our share of the large-format market and to growing the market itself,” comments Cole. “We are continually improving the quality of image production on a wider range of formats. By employing the latest technologies we can open up new opportunities for our customers and help define the market in the UK, especially in the lead up to London 2012 and beyond. The latest wide format fabric printing capabilities will prove to be a very significant advancement.”
Service Graphics’ most recent purchase was the UK’s first Durst Rho 500R, which delivers 600 dpi, six-colour print quality at output speeds up to 400m² per hour. Environmentally certified, it is designed for printing a wide variety of large format display items such as vinyl banners, textiles and mesh in widths up to 5 metres.
“Like most major UK businesses, we’re very proud to have the Games coming to our capital in 2012 and we intend to make it about more than just sporting excellence,” concludes Cole. “The world will be watching so we want to see the UK’s print output matching that excellence in every respect. Service Graphics will definitely be leading the field.”
