Printer adds kit and real estate as growth hits 25%

A Gold Coast firm has invested in printing and finishing kit to keep up with 25% growth rates and 80% capacity levels.

Foyer Printing installed a D&K Europa laminating system in October. An HPM guillotine is scheduled to arrive in December, a Xerox Color 800 printer will be added in the new year and the 32-staff firm may also invest in a foiling machine in 2014, said owner Ron Rankin.

Foyer grew 25% in 2012-13 and is on track to grow another 25% this financial year, he told ProPrint.

"Our whole business has taken off. Our last six months has been huge. We just keep breaking records, which is great."

Rankin said he had owned the business for 15 years. "We've always been on the up and up, but it's really starting to get crazy now. We're at the point where we've just bought a new factory - this is the third expansion we've done."

Foyer has managed to acquire neighbouring units for each of its expansions. The latest expansion, which will occur over the Christmas holidays, has been prompted by Foyer running at about 80% capacity, said Rankin.

[Related: Spot On buys D&K Europa]

The Europa laminating system has allowed Foyer to save about $1,000 per week on outsourcing jobs to specialist finishers such as Daroji Print Finishing and Vivid Effects, he said. However, Foyer has not dropped its rates, he added.

Rankin also said the firm had started selling about 30% more celloglazing because it could now offer faster turnarounds.

"We've been getting orders with celloglazing that haven't been celloglazed in the past," he said.

D&K's local distributor, Graph-Pak, said local customers had been describing the Europa as "the best-value-for-money automatic A2 laminator on the market".

"It's got a small footprint, it's extremely easy to operate, it produces high quality offset and digital laminator results and it's equipped with state-of-the-art electronics, so the machine is highly reliable," said managing director Tom Ralph.

"It offers the customer the chance to in-house laminate. It shortens up their lead times and offers them full control and gives them the chance to go back to their customers and offer them better turnaround times, which these days is so critical."

Ralph told ProPrint that Graph-Pak had recently sold another Europa to Brisbane firm Crystal Media Group.

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