And now you are heading up the Print Department? 

That’s right, I manage a small team offering an ever-increasing range of print services to our clients. We bought an AGFA Anapurna FB2540i LED flatbed printer back in 2017 and have since added a Roland TrueVIS VG2 640 Printer Cutter, a ZUND 1800x1200 CAD Cutting Table and a Seal 62Pro Laminator. We’ve also just acquired some exciting new kit and are having further clean rooms built to house it… watch out for announcements on the additional new services soon! 

We also have a Stratysys 250Mc FDM 3D Printer and stereolithography capabilities for rapid prototyping and model making. 

That’s a lot of kit to learn… 

Yes, but I love learning and am always looking for the next challenge. Migrating from AutoCAD to Illustrator and other software keeps me interested. All the machines have different software, such as Asanti for the AGFA printer, VersaWorks for the Roland, GTK and Packz for the Zund. So, I have constantly been busy discovering and learning new ways, techniques, and tricks to make it easier for myself and the others to complete the desired work, which is why I’ve also written training programmes on all our equipment for the team. 

And how have you found working in print different to, say, your time in the workshop? 

There’s a lot more creativity involved in my role now, which I love. I’m trusted to run the department my way and I’m given plenty of freedom to implement improvements and new ways of working, as I find better solutions to the new and challenging projects we get briefed in from our clients. 

Can you give us an example of a ‘better solution’? 

Sure, we’ve recently added colour matching to our services. We use an X-rite colour matching tool to help us overcome the issues when working with so many different production methods to ensure a consistent colour across the board. Also, through the Asanti software that was provided with our AGFA printer, we can do a tailored range of colour variations where our clients can see the changes in colours gradually. This provides them with a better view and an easier way in choosing the colour they want, that can be printed digitally. 

What’s next? 

We’re really just scratching the surface of what’s possible with some of our kit. I’m looking forward to continually developing our cardboard engineering offering and driving sustainability through intelligent design and the use of materials.