With the UK technically in recession after two successive quarters of falling GDP, including a worse-than expected fourth quarter of 2023 as household reined in Christmas expenditure in response to rising retail prices and borrowing costs, it doesn’t seem like the most optimistic time for commercial print, often seen as a bellwether of the economy.

But doom and gloom is very much not on the cards for the UK’s trade print sector, where investment continues and ambitious growth targets are still being set. The positive attitude is perhaps

best exemplified by Where The Trade Buys’ (WTTB) Gary Peeling, who says, ‘Fear can be paralysing for businesses and being afraid can have a knock-on effect on demand and growth.

‘Reacting less and acting more will be our watchwords, going forward; you can’t wait around for bad – or good – fortune, both come and go.’

Richard Campbell, the new MD at Northside Graphics, which runs the TradeDigitalPrint websites for UK and Ireland, sees it as more of the same. ‘The biggest challenge to our business is the same one as it’s always been, the macro environment, which is challenging in both of the markets in which we operate, UK and Ireland,’ he says.

‘Costs are going up and customer expectations also continue to grow. So we are doing what we have always done; keeping a keen eye on pricing to make sure our customers are getting really good value.’

A focus on value and competitive pricing is arguably business as usual for the competitive trade sector, but Tradeprint’s Anthony Rowell alludes to ‘pivotal issues’ affecting both printer and their customers:

‘The rapid development in both automation and digital printing methods demands that companies remain well-informed about technological progress to maintain their market edge. Additionally, ongoing disruptions in supply chains are impacting the availability and cost of essential materials.

‘This is further intensified by increasing environmental issues. The demand for sustainable and eco-credible printing solutions is escalating, driven by both regulatory bodies and consumer preferences. Moreover, there is a shift in customer expectations, with an emphasis on quicker delivery times, bespoke products, and superior quality at competitive rates.’

It’s also the case that the political maxim ‘never waste a good crisis’ applies here. Steve Wenlock at Flexpress notes that ‘every situation presents opportunities, as well as threats, so we just work harder to exploit whatever opportunities may be present’, while Mr Peeling agrees and summarises his call to action thus: ‘Don’t wait for the environment to be perfect, it never is’.

Why go trade?

That sounds like a pretty comprehensive description of the issues facing all printers, so what is the trade printers’ pitch? Do current circumstances merit altering the proposition, or merely strengthen existing reasons for looking outside your own factory to get things printed?

Mr Wenlock feels it bolsters the existing rationale, arguing, ‘Financial pressures and political uncertainty are making a lot of smaller printers ever more cautious about investing in expensive equipment to fulfil occasional orders. It makes far more sense, particularly now, to outsource to a capable and trustworthy trade printer that can produce what you need reliably and cost-effectively.’

Mr Campbell concurs, suggesting that this is already happening: ‘Our sales continue to grow on our trade sites, which indicates where the industry is going in terms of buying habits and the move to online. We see a growing number of printers choosing to use us rather than continue trying to produce the work themselves or get someone locally to produce it.’

An automated Müller Martini binding and trimming line supports book-of-one production at WTTB.

Macauley Hardeman of Route 1 adds, ‘We don’t believe these reasons for using a trade supplier will fundamentally change, although we are seeing an increasing number of partners focusing more on customer-facing aspects of their operations,’ suggesting that at least some printers are prioritising winning business over the act of producing it.

Mr Peeling backs that view too, saying, ‘Trade printers have always provided capabilities, solutions and expertise that would necessitate several years of internal development and significant capital investment for companies to establish [themselves].’ ‘The invaluable expertise we collectively bring to the table is pivotal. Through outsourcing, trade resellers can focus their time and effort on cultivating closer relationships with key customers and identifying project streams that yield optimal margins or demonstrate strong demand,’ he adds.

For Mr Rowell, it’s about understanding customers’ needs and motivations. ‘We recognise that print projects aren’t ‘widgets’– they have meaning and applications and are often an important driver to support our customers growth with a human touch,’ he says.

To back up their arguments and deliver what they promise, our trade printers are continuing to invest in a variety of directions. At Tradeprint this means technology – advanced printing techniques, automation and using AI to boost efficiency and quality – as well as expanding the range of services and product catalogue to include more customised products, self-serve design tools, an ‘amazing’ range of prepress and design options, plus a Resource Hub and sustainable solutions, according to Mr Rowell, who also points to the company’s buying strength as part of the Cimpress group. Direct connection with clients’ e-commerce via API is also offered, something that Solopress has also done, reducing transactional costs and admin overhead.

At WTTB, a 2024 goal is to overhaul the online pricing engine for ‘core’ categories, in order to enable customers to get an immediate price on most specifications of most key products. ‘First often secures the order, this new pricing engine will mean fewer delays waiting for a bespoke estimate,’ explains Mr Peeling.

Improving the user experience is also central to Northside’s plans, with both the UK and Ireland trade websites having recently been re-launched with a ‘completely different look and feel’, according to Mr Campbell. Further products recently added include labels on a roll, a bespoke products service and 13 same-day delivery products, with a ‘large pipeline’ of further new products to come in 2024.

The focus at Route 1 is very much on books, following the acquisition and integration of Kingsbury Press into the Wath-Upon-Dearne production site. ‘We’ve recently rolled out a significant expansion to our perfect bound book range, with new stock options and hardcover variants. Books will continue to be our main focus, so you can expect to see the introduction of additional binding types, innovative embellishment options, and much more throughout the year,’ confirms Mr Hardeman.

The South Yorkshire production capability will no doubt be bolstered by the addition of the company’s second Landa S10P B1 digital press, scheduled for the spring of 2024. Route 1 probably outscores just about everyone in terms of spend, too, with the Landa being part of a £5 million planned investment; further details of this are expected to be announced later in 2024.

Mr Wenlock says, ‘For us, it’s less about introducing new products and more about improving what we already do,’ but that still requires investment. He says £500,000 has already been spent this year, with a highlight being the purchase of a Duplo DuSense DDC8000 B2 digital embellishment press, which will enable ‘sensory spot UV and metallic foils to be applied to a greater range of products, ‘more cost-effectively and faster than ever’.

No drupa delay

It looks like the imminent drupa isn’t causing any delay to investment plans, though its influence on the market is undeniable. ‘We are always looking three to four years down the line, so drupa 2024 will probably not change our plans but may help to inform us better,’ opines Mr Campbell. Mr Rowell is enthusiastic about the return of the event, noting, ‘I think the anticipation of new technology announcements presented at the event will significantly shape future investment strategies in our amazing sector’.

At WTTB there’s no hanging around for possible announcements, it’s a case of buying available kit as and when it’s justified. Mr Peeling gives the example of Müller Martini PUR and case-binding equipment installed in September 2023, which he says supports one-book publication through to offset runs and operates with zero makeready thanks to the use of job barcodes in the trim area of the books.

Summarising the outlook, Route 1’s Mr Hardeman says, ‘We have entered 2024 with cautious optimism. No doubt there will be some big challenge that hits us all this year but the one thing we’re confident in is the amazing ability of UK businesses to adapt and make it work!’.

Tradeprint sees opportunities across the board, from direct mail to promotional and gift offerings to exhibition graphics, plus work that should arise from the expected general election, whenever it comes. ‘We think there’s some great opportunities for growth out there and we are super-determined to grow in a sustainable, profitable way,’ enthuses Mr Rowell.

Mr Campbell at Northside perhaps puts it most succinctly for everyone: ‘2024 is about continuing to do what we have always done while offering an even bigger range of products and services to our customers.’

If you’re not already using trade services to benefit from their equipment and expertise, it’s surely worth taking a look – there’s nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain.

This article was first published in the February/March 2024 issue of Digital Printer, which you can read online here. 

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FLEXPRESS
Steve Wenlock – managing director

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
That it’s much easier to produce and sell a smaller, more specialised range to a larger customer base than it is a large range to a smaller customer base.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
Keeping up with technology has always been a challenge for digital and that’s unlikely to change. It can be an expensive risk going with new technology that then doesn’t do its job, but likewise not keeping abreast of technology can be a risk too.

What innovation, technology or development are you most excited to see more of?
Anything that lets my existing team achieve more within the same hours. Through AI and automation, we’ve hit our best ever monthly figures this year with 30% fewer staff.

You’ve often spoken about how print needs to sell itself based on its merits and not just price. What steps can the industry take to make this a reality in 2022?
Use print to sell print. At Flexpress, print is a major part of our marketing mix. Yes, we promote ourselves online and sell through our website, but we use print to convert a prospect into a client. It amazes me how many printers use e-shots and emails, but not print, to try to win new clients and then expect their clients to use print!

IMAGECO
Nathan Swinson-Bullough – managing director

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
Stay positive, no matter what, and health is the most important thing in anyone’s life.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
Everyone knows how focused we are at Imageco on sustainability, in 2022 I expect to see more of a shift industry wide and more of a collective effort to change the way we work.

What innovation, technology or development are you most excited to see more of?
More in the way of sustainable material developments as many of the products in the wide-format print industry still can’t be recycled. There needs to be more collaboration between suppliers, printers, end users and waste management firms.

What is your organisation’s main goal for 2022?
We need to reset after the damage Covid did to us in 2020 and 2021. We have some interesting ideas for work in the community and further plans to look at carbon balancing our business. This aside we just want to work on what we do best and produce some really creative work. It’s going to be a busy 2022 and I am looking forward to it.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact over the next 12 months?
It’s all about sustainability, but that aside I think interior décor and fabric are still on the rise and we have seen more work in the areas of short run packaging and display.

ROUTE 1
Christie Darling – head of marketing

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
For us, it was reiterating that the customer is central to what we do. Retaining our customer base through our team’s commitment and support has been incredibly important to us as well as making sure we’re always adapting to meet their needs.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
We believe that print will face struggles when it comes to longer run lengths as a consequence of ongoing aluminium shortages. There will be more demand for digital because of the shortfalls in the aluminium industry as printers become unable to maintain supplies.

What innovation, technology or development are you most excited to see more of?
Automation for sure. We believe that we will start moving towards lean manufacturing, switching up the way we manage jobs and increasing workflow systems to get orders through at more impressive speeds than we’re currently working at.

What is your organisation’s main goal for 2022?
Sustainability. Recycled products will be a large focus for our clients, looking more closely at how print can take on sustainable formats whilst remaining tactile and engaging.

Is there a particular market or application you think might ‘take off’ in 2022?
We’ve really seen e-commerce take off and we’ve seen a rise in popularity for combination products such as business cards that are accompanied by e-commerce products or stickers used to seal and complement packaging. Greetings cards soared in popularity during lockdown as well and we see these print products staying strong as we move forward.

CANON
Stuart Rising – head of commercial print, Canon UK

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
Customer expectations will continue to evolve, with many consumers expecting 24-hour response times and higher quality standards. We can also expect further expansion in online ordering, and demand for integrated web-to-print solutions.

What innovation, technology or development are you excited to see more of?
New applications have helped spur developments in the home décor space and digital production of wallpaper is set to become even more popular. We also expect to see inkjet technology make further strides in the marketplace.

Is there a wider trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
Further increase in volumes, as more of society opens up and a sense of optimism returns. There is an opportunity for printers to take advantage of this wave of optimism and seek growth in areas such as visual communications. Sustainability is also set to remain high on the agenda.

Can we expect more Canon product products in 2022?
2022 promises to be another exciting year. Our customers are always at the heart of what we do, and we work closely with them to ensure we create solutions which will help them stay ahead of the curve.

EFI
Ken Hanulec – VP world-wide marketing

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
No matter what kind of challenge is thrown at you, there is space for innovation and creativity to overcome such difficult situations.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
Perhaps the overarching challenge in any print or packaging application involves the supply chain for media. That challenge is not new, and we hope it will ease over the course of the year. But for now it is more important than ever before to drive the efficiencies and reduce waste and increase automation to minimise the time when a tight supply chain could impact the mix of products a print business is able to offer.

What innovation, new technology or development are you most excited to see more of?
There will be a concerted push forward in automation and digitally printed décor will continue to be an important trend in everything from corporate environmental graphics to home furnishings.

Is there a wider trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
In terms of pure growth in digital, it is hard to bet against corrugated. The e-commerce trend driving corrugated is not slowing.

EPSON
Phil McMullin – UK sales manager, Pro Graphics

What is your organisation’s main goal for 2022?
I am afraid it looks much like a repeat of 2021 with challenged product availability putting upward pressure on prices, certainly for the first half of 2022.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
Epson continues to invest heavily in R&D, particularly in the textile print segment. Leveraging the credibility and brand equity inherent in its proven Monna Lisa direct-to-fabric range will be a key focus.

What innovation, technology or development are you excited to see more of?
Epson continues to invest in developing the best in digital print technology whether that is for textile, photo, labels, signage, CAD or décor. 2022 will be about insulating our customers from the challenges of global manufacturing and logistics so that they can continue to focus on producing profitable print output. We will do this by ensuring continuous supply of Epson ink and consumables while improving our internal processes to keep price increases to a minimum.

Is there a wider trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
Reshoring of textile printing will accelerate further, creating huge opportunity for savvy UK print providers.

PREMIER
Jon Vic – sales director, digital media

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
The challenges faced throughout 2021 have been unprecedented but we have met those challenges and have been very focused on maintaining a strong and stable supply chain, with the help of our dedicated staff.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact over the next 12 months?
Sustainability will continue to be important throughout the industry. The trend for printers to diversify into different print technologies will continue as they look to expand their print offer and open up to new markets.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
Many manufacturers are anticipating that the current cost pressures on energy, raw materials and logistics will continue into the second half of 2022. The biggest challenge will be for Premier to manage the supply chain in order to ensure product availability and customer service levels.

Premier joined Fespa in 2021, can we expect to see the company more involved in wide-format in 2022?
Wide-format and display has been a huge growth area for Premier for a number of years. We have recently invested in industry leading conversion facilities at our Dartford branch as well as new ‘double-decker’ delivery vehicles. In 2022 wide-format and display will continue to be a primary focus.

RICOH
Simon Isaacs – national sales director, Ricoh UK

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
Print, as a medium for communication, will remain enduring, and whilst it will change, adapt and become more meaningful, it will continue to remain and important component of the overall communication mix.

What is your organisation’s main goal for 2022?
Digital print will need to become more impactful, innovative and meaningful, in order to effectively compete with online and digital only campaigns. In 2022, we expect the further acceleration of offset-to-digital migration, impacted by the continued improvements and viability of inkjet platforms. It will also see greater addressing of concerns around housing customer data and managing cyber security.

What is your organisation’s main goal for 2022?
To continue to support, work and collaborate with our customers and partners within the print sector to allow them to scale-up and skill up in new directions, and to enhance their competence to be able to offer purpose-driven solutions, delivered faultlessly, allowing them to grow their business to its full potential.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
Hybrid working patterns may change the print and fulfilment requirements, making production more localised, resulting in a reduction in shipping, containers, and waste, as well as an increase in personalisation.

ROLAND DG
Rob Goleniowski – head of sales, UK & Ireland

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
We have always put our customers first, but the last 12 months have taught us to listen to what they want even more. We understand that many of them have had to adapt in some form or another during the pandemic. In light of this, we want to support and enable the changes to their business.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
To keep innovating, by bringing new products to market. This is particularly crucial post-pandemic, since many of our customers have upgraded their online presence and digitalised their offerings. They, therefore, increasingly expect innovative digital solutions which can further add value to their print business.

What innovation, technology or development are you most excited to see more of?
For me, it is software and the ability to integrate the hardware and software to give greater remote operation and remote support. We are also seeing the start of a service and support revolution with software like Roland DG Connect.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
Following COP26, sustainable printing has been thrown into the spotlight more than ever.

SWISSQPRINT
Rob Goleniowski – head of sales, UK & Ireland

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
Dealing with challenging and uncertain events, like the pandemic, requires an organisation to be flexible and creative. Learning how to prepare our business for future uncertainty and rapidly respond to change has been a key lesson for me.

What innovation, technology or development are you most excited to see more of?
A challenge for our industry is ensuring our businesses operate sustainably and minimise their impact on the environment. Energy efficiency is a key focus for businesses when looking to invest in new equipment.

What innovation, technology or development are you most excited to see more of?Over the past year, an impressive range of machines and materials have come to market which are more energy-efficient and sustainable. It is a great time for businesses to invest in new, more energy-efficient technology, to meet the demand of their customers for sustainable print solutions.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
During the pandemic, we have seen many of our customers working with less staff but still needing to deliver quality products on a tight deadline. Therefore, businesses are looking for ways to improve efficiency without compromising on quality, this is changing the way businesses invest in new equipment.

XEROX
Kevin O’Donnell – head of marketing, Graphic Communications and Production Systems, UK, Ireland and The Nordics

What what was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
To be adaptable and open to new ideas and opportunities. Keeping faith in what we do but listening to our customers, and the wider market.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
The continued drive for automated and connected workflows that reach out to integrate seamlessly into the client’s workflow, this will also mean a requirement for higher levels of security and integrity.

What innovation, technology or development are you most excited to see more of?
As well as the ongoing development of our Xerox Baltoro cut-sheet inkjet platform and how we can further partner with our customers driving Beyond CMYK, it is bringing higher levels of automation, analytics, AI and AR to the both pre- and on-press operations.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
Outside of the global supply chain issues which are affecting us all, it is to ensure the relevance and value of print is understood, evidenced and promoted.

DUPLO
Martyn Train – managing director

What innovation, technology or development are you excited to see more of?
For me it’s been about never underestimating how good your people are and what they can achieve under really adverse conditions.

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
I think rising costs of raw materials and supply chains, inflation, and cost of money could be the biggest challenges. Overcoming these challenges will be about looking forward, being bold on decision making, driving out unnecessary cost and automating as many processes as possible.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
We can’t wait to see more connectivity and the move to real Industry 4.0. Of course the interactivity with systems is important, especially with our automated solutions, but it will be an interesting learning curve for many UK printers.

With PSPs looking to diversify, what do finishing manufacturers need to do meet their needs?
We need to keep helping the printers maximise the benefit of all aspects of our solutions. The multi-finishers and DBM range are so much more than simple slitter-cutter-creasers and booklet makers. Also, with the automation available, so many printers can save hours of workflow setup.

IFS
Jason Seaber – technical sales director

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
The most important lesson that we have learned is to survive by knowing and managing the costs of the business and by investing in solutions that help to make the company run more efficiently with less cost. One example of this is our investment in a new Cloud ERP software platform to provide integrated management of all our main business in real time to help us operate more efficiently while also providing an enhanced customer experience.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
As demand continues to grow, we foresee the finishing sector facing more challenges with staff recruitment and wage inflation. Investment in more finishing automation will be key to helping businesses operate more efficiently, and more productively, with fewer people.

What innovation, technology or development within finishing are you most excited to see more of?
Robotics is an area that Horizon, Tecnau and BaumannPerfecta are all now involved in and we are excited to see how our customers will use and benefit from these new technologies.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
We do expect the level of interest and investments in new B2 digital inkjet sheet-fed presses to continue to grow in 2022 and we have a very comprehensive portfolio of B2 digital finishing and binding solutions to complement these new printers.

With PSPs looking to diversify, what do finishing manufacturers need to do meet their needs?
Finishing manufacturers need to stay in close contact with all the digital printer vendors to follow what new printing technologies are coming through in the years ahead. They should also understand what new markets and applications these printers can serve and design and build finishing solutions that enable these new applications to be realised.

MULLER MARTINI
David McGinlay – sales manager, UK, Ireland and Iceland

What was the most important lesson you learned in 2021?
Expect the unexpected – we have strategies in place for many eventualities, but the last year has been like a moving target, as we came across some challenging situations. Logistics and transport have been really challenging when importing emergency spares.

What will be the biggest challenge digital print faces in 2022?
The conventional finishing sector will come under serious pressure from the sophistication and efficiencies of the digital touchless workflow sector, in my opinion. In general, I believe conventional customers will need to invest to try to keep pace with the new breed of data-driven organisations.

What innovation, technology or development within finishing are you most excited to see more of?
Smart Factory is a major subject and discussion point at the moment. We have customers pushing the envelope to see how Müller Martini can take this from an idea to reality. Having a Smart Factory would entail best-in-class automation, IT and workflow solutions. I am excited to see how quickly we can conclude a full-blown Smart Factory contract.

Is there a wider industry trend that you think is going to make a big impact in 2022?
Most companies are having trouble attracting new talent to our industry. Our latest generation workflow (Connex) and new Control Systems can support companies without finishing skills available, by being intuitive, smart solutions.

With PSPs looking to diversify, what do finishing manufacturers need to do meet their needs?
Robotics is another big discussion point. We demonstrated our use of robotics at a previous exhibition, where our Connex Suite workflow was not only controlling a robot feeding our solutions, by means of JDF creating impositions, queuing the jobs for the print engine, product tracking and JMF files being fed back, but also controlling AGV forklifts, prepress impositions, cost control and ultimately despatch.

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Christmas printing? I know, I know, by the time you read this we should still be in Autumn, but for many printers the time to start thinking about the holiday season is right now. As Route 1’s brand manager Christie Round tells Digital Printer, ‘Every business’s seasonal plan is unique and when you start thinking about Christmas really depends on what each business wants to get out of the season. However, we would recommend that our clients be set up no later than October.

‘This is because, as a reseller, you need to be ready even before the end-users themselves start their Christmas marketing. Your customers will want talk to you about their ideas, to check out quotes and find out what possibilities you can offer them. If you’re not ready, they can lose confidence in you as a print supplier.’

For Gary White, managing director of digitalprinting.co.uk, October is too late. ‘Generally, we would start in July, getting our own Christmas marketing material sorted out,’ he says. ‘This leads on to making sure we have all the product lines we want to sell online this year available on DigitalPrinting. co.uk and price check them all to make sure we are competitive in the online market with a view to having them all live by mid-August. ‘

During lockdown Precison Proco produced ‘Sitees’ – full size figures which could be produced in the image of family and friends

Even July is leaving it too late though, at least according to Jon Tolley, chief innovation officer at Precision Proco Group. ‘January,’ he insists, when asked when his company starts planning for the festive period. ‘That’s when all the product development and integration kicks off again. It’s where we look at the processes which were in place for the previous Christmas and look at what process improvements can be made.’

This might seem slightly absurd to some, but as Mr Tolley says, to Precision Proco Christmas is ‘massively important, it’s a huge part of what we do and is responsible for the vast majority of personalised products we produce and a huge amount of revenue. The gifting market plays a crucial role in our business and for that market it’s the busiest time of year.’

Unsurprisingly the sentiment is echoed by both our other contributors. As Mr White explains, ‘Like most commercial printers, whether online or offline, the last quarter of the year is normally the busiest period and a lot of that has to do with Christmas. There is always a real buzz across the factory floor and the whole business in November and December and it is when we are at our most efficient which always makes me extra proud of the team. ‘

Ms Round concurs, adding, ‘Christmas is very important to us at Route 1 Print because it’s important to our clients. We have a peak season that starts in September and runs all the way through to New Year. Above all, we want to make sure our clients have everything they need ahead of time to get through that peak period.’

Festive products

All well and good, but which products spike in demand when Christmas rolls around? ‘It’s all pretty predictable,’ Ms Round concedes. ‘We see increases in orders for greetings cards, but also New Year items like diaries and calendars. We also see a boost in invites because there are typically a lot of work parties at this time of year. One thing that’s interesting though is the increase in embellishments across the board. We get more Spot UV and more foiling work at Christmas, not just red and green foiling either!

Mr White says much the same thing, ‘It’s all the usual suspects for us, invites, Christmas cards and calendars. Stickers and labels are one segment that has a taken a jump in demand. It seems to be for adding that personal touch for gift wrapping, and the craft and artisan markets are big users of these.’

Route 1 offers a range of Christmas products

For his part Mr Tolley highlights the importance of custom products. ‘At Christmas there’s a huge demand for all categories in our personalised product range. We are monitoring all the key drivers like basket value, repeat customers, profitability for our clients. The product ranges are never ending – from the more obvious ones such as cards, calendars and books to mugs, garments, tea towels, tote bags and baubles. One of the most unusual ones in recent times has definitely been personalised feeding mats.’

The bling’s the thing

We’ve just touched on personalisation and embellishment, always key selling points for digital print, but are these the key trends to watch when it comes to Christmas printing?

‘Embellishments is definitely the big one for us,’ Ms Round says. ‘Customers are more likely to go all-out to create some truly special print around Christmas. We see lots of gold and silver foil, and the number of requests for red and green options is what led us to launch these options in the first place. We’ve also received several requests for calendars with a drilled hole in for hanging, so we launched those last year too. The other thing we get asked for is Carte Lumina – a stock that is coated on one side but uncoated on the other. This is ideal for greetings cards as it gives the front a glossy, premium feel, but it’s still easy to write on.’

Similarly, Mr Tolley mentions personalisation. ‘As above, personalisation is a massive driver for the Christmas market. Although we produce more than 100 million products over the year, everything to us is a quantity of one which is about as short as it gets! What’s particularly important is content rather than embellishments – for us content is king.’

Mr White just states that, ‘As we are a digital printing business, short runs are our speciality and demand appears to be growing for shorter runs which suits our strengths. This is as true at Christmas as any other time of the year.’

To wrap up, we asked each of our three printers what advice they would give to someone looking to ramp up their presence in the Christmas printing market. ‘Get yourself some samples,’ says Ms Brand. ‘It’s much easier to sell luxury stocks or finishes when customers can see, and feel, the print in their hands. You should also take the time to understand why your customer is asking for something. Once you understand, you can make better suggestions for upselling and cross-selling other items.’

Mr Tolley recommends sorting your workflow early on. ‘Think about scale – can your system cope with a possible huge influx of orders of one? Be realistic about what you’re capable of.’

Mr White, however, brings us full circle. His advice is simply, ‘start preparing in June!’ We hope that this late July reminder is still in time.

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The API allows clients to link their website or order management system directly to Route 1’s factory. This means that customers can have their specifications supplied automatically to the production team without having to spend any time transferring order details from their MIS to the Route 1 website.

Predicted benefits of this new system include time saved on duplicating job specifications, money saved on transactional costs per order and peace of mind when it comes to getting the best price thanks to the automatic pricing updates that come with the API. It also means print buyers can offer shorter turnaround times because their orders are entering the production workflow as soon as possible.

‘We’re thrilled to bring more integration into our buying process,’ said Sarah Kilcoyne-Guilliam, who has been central to this new development. ‘Automated solutions can give so much back to our clients and we anticipate a big shift towards this way of buying in the future. Our API will help clients to focus on what really matters to them.’

The Yorkshire-based company has developed the API by creating bespoke solutions for select clients. It is only after a number of successful migrations to the system that it is offering it to a wider audience. 

‘The API has been a huge help to our business growth,’ said one of the early adopters, a ‘high profile’ print procurement business. ‘We would not have been able to handle such large order numbers without automation and this means we still get the Route 1 Print service. Having worked with Route 1 Print for a couple of years now, we can trust that they will give us the quality we need.’

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The South Yorkshire trade printer’s latest initiative centres around the Essential Guide to Rebuilding Your Business After Lockdown, a free eBook which contains advice on how printers can prepare their businesses for re-opening.

‘We want to do whatever we can to support our clients at this critical time,’ said brand manager Christie Round. ‘This resource launch is just another example of how we’ve been working to support printers over the past year. We will continue to work with our clients to find out how we can best help them at every point in their rebuild plan and beyond.

‘If there is something else that we could be doing to make things easier for print buyers, we want to hear about it. After all, client feedback is the best way we can learn how to improve our service. We’d like to encourage our clients and other print buyers to get in touch if they have any ideas, and we’ll get to work on finding a solution.’

The guide is designed to help printers form a comprehensive rebuilding business plan. It is intended to provide readers with information about important product and pricing considerations, as well as marketing and sales strategies to ensure they are driving a healthy profit margin from the start.

In addition to the eBook, Route 1 Print has also released a series of marketing templates. All are focussed on ways printers should be promoting themselves to their own clients after lockdown. Each collection includes an email, poster, social media post, and a direct mail piece.

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The move has come in the wake of the group establishing Bluetree Medical, a new division which is focused on manufacturing medical grade surgical masks for the NHS, in April of this year.

Adam Carnell and James Kinsella, co-founders of Bluetree Group, both moved to central roles across both divisions leaving a space for Mr Young, who has taken up his new position with immediate effect.

‘As James and I move to a more central position, we are thrilled to pass on the reigns of our print operations to someone who knows the business inside and out,’ Mr Carnell said. ‘We know that Mark is the person who can confidently lead our print division through all future developments.’

Mr Young himself added, ‘Whilst it has been an incredibly difficult year within the industry, I’m very excited to be given this opportunity to help drive the company towards future growth. It was Adam and James that first interviewed me in 2012 and I’ve learned so much from working with them since. They’ve built an amazing team here, all of whom have helped me learn and develop over the years. It’s an honour to be given this opportunity and I’m ready and more committed than ever to making Bluetree a success.’

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Following the WHO’s call to increase global mask production by 40%, Bluetree, parent company of InstantPrint and Route 1, converted its 45,000sqft facility into a surgical face mask factory, installing the necessary machinery from its longstanding supplier, Diecut Global.

The Rotherham-based business is now looking to produce 1.4 million masks per week from mid-June, with the masks available on a subscription or contract basis for businesses. It says it has the potential to increase capacity to 20 million per week by September.

The business will be producing type IIR-certified surgical masks, one of the most commonly used types in UK healthcare, and will be launching them under the product name Obisk.

The final stage of production is certification, where the products must be sent to a lab to undergo extensive testing. There are a limited number of companies in the UK able to carry out such work and current demand is understandably high; however Bluetree Group expects this final stage to be completed in the coming weeks.

‘We are in a fortunate position where our existing setup lends itself well to mask production, so when it became apparent that help was needed, we immediately began planning what we could do,’ explained Adam Carnell, managing director at Bluetree Group.

‘The team has worked hard over the last eight weeks to work through the understandably complex regulations around producing medical products; building a clean room production facility and securing some of the most sought-after materials needed to make the masks.

‘We are still operating our business-as-usual product lines, dedicating a separate task force to this project, but aim to make mask production a sustainable line of business for the foreseeable future to help protect the nation.’

Steve Waterhouse, managing director at Diecut Global, added, ‘At a time where all anybody has spoken about is bringing control back to the UK, we have done this, so we are not reliant on any other countries and are also helping our economy bounce back.’

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Route 1 Print’s factory on a quiet industrial estate in Wath-upon-Dearne, just north of Rotherham, looks large but otherwise unremarkable from the outside. But inside, it’s a working showroom for state-of-the-art presses, both analogue and digital, finishing equipment and a custom workflow that can handle thousands of jobs a day. A tour of the factory floor is an exercise in classical perspective, with lines of overhead trunking and data and power cable drops converging almost at infinity.

How did they get here? Adam Carnell and James Kinsella launched Instantprint in 2009 as an online small format digital print business before merging in 2012 with screen printer Bluetree in 2012, and launching Route 1 Print, initially an eBay store. This attracted print resellers as customers, filling what Mr Carnell saw as ‘a shortage in the market’. 2012 also saw the group’s first investment in litho print; wide format print was added in 2014.

The fist £1 million turnover month for Instantprint was achieved in 2016, and the year after for Route 1. A Fujifilm JetPress B2 inkjet was installed in 2017 and is used exclusively for printing business cards in a ‘cell’ arrangement that surrounds the press with the relevant finishing and packing equipment; the spot-UV and foiling capabilities of the MGI JetVarnish 3D Evo 75 installed at the start of 2020 are being tested as an upsell option for business cards, among other items. The cell approach is also applied to book production (including both booklets and perfect bound) and for flat and folded products such as leaflets and flyers.

A Screen TruepressJet 520 roll-fed inkjet was added in 2018 for booklet production, and last year saw the addition of a second unit on the site which will bring total space to over 140,000sqft, with plans to link the two buildings already underway. The Landa S10P B1 perfecting nanographic press was installed some months ago but shown to the public last month.

Route 1 Print now has over 400 staff, pays all of them a living wage or more and head of Route 1 Mark Young told visitors to the open days ‘our factory is your factory’. Its approach to helping its customers grow their businesses includes offering an API to integrate online ordering directly from customer websites, including those based on WordPress, into Route 1’s production systems, a development of the Bluetree Connect concept introduced in 2013. Mr Kinsella said that he sees this integration with customers as ‘a big part of the business going forward,’ and the service is now being pitched as an ‘easy-to-use web platform’, supported by industry experts whose advice is intended to help clients grow their business.

Adding to the repertoire

Inside Route 1’s premises in Yorkshire

Additions to the product offering in addition to the expanded wide-format services include the option to have unfinished sheets delivered, for customers to manage their own
finishing. Value-added services such as item counting and branded labelling are in development. A straw poll of desired products on the open day that Digital Printer attended included personalised brochures, foiling, embossing, split deliveries and bespoke sizes. Many of these are already in the pipeline, and the bespoke sizes – within limits – are being investigated too, though within the constraints of what Mr Carnell called ‘standardised processes’, which are key to Route 1’s ability to handle thousands of orders a day.

To do this, the company wrote its own production management systems to keep everything moving in as automated a way as possible. ‘From printing, the first touch is packing shrink-wrapped items,’ says Lewis Rogal. The data flows to support this offer real-time tracking, plus API-based integration with courier services such as TNT and Royal Mail. The digital print fleet also includes Xerox iGen 5 for SRA3 output and an HP Indigo 10000 for B2, used extensively for flyers and leaflets; in November 2019 it recorded 4.8 million clicks, though 4 million a month is more typical. Indigo is used for higher coverage jobs, while lower coverage work is routed to the Screen inkjet. Perfect binding is done on Horizon BQ 470 and 480 binders and is one of the biggest growth areas at the moment. Booklet-making is done with Horizon Stitchliner Mk IIIs and a 5500, typically handling between 120 and 150 booklet jobs per shift with finishing make-ready achieved in around three minutes. Polar guillotines are also set up electronically and can be ready for a new job in 30 seconds.

Folding duties are performed by three Stahl machines which can process batched-up work at up to 90,000 items an hour in total. Work on heavier stocks from 200 to 450gsm is handled on MB Bäuerle units at up to 30,000 items per hour; ‘digital’ folding solutions were rejected as being too slow. Die cutting is done on a venerable Heidelberg cylinder. Dashboard displays around the production floor show workload and progress.

‘We used to focus on getting work to process,’ commented Mr Rogal, ‘now it’s about getting it away from it’. To further this, roller feed systems are used to transport finished work to wrap and despatch stations. Barcodes are widely used to route jobs. In the November 2019 peak some 8000 jobs a day were being processed. ‘We don’t stack pallets, work goes straight into despatch,’ he adds.

On the wide-format side an HP Scitex FB500 hybrid printer churns out signage, PoP and exhibition work a rate that can cover the entire factory floor in a shift. It’s paired with Kongsberg cutting table and Route 1 produced 450 roller banners a day, a figure that it says is the highest in the UK. Mr Carnell told Digital Printer that Route 1 will be moving into textile printing, initially via offering soft signage products. ‘We’re learning the materials and the technology at the moment,’ he said. Given what the Bluetree Group has achieved in little over a decade, you might think that they will have to slow down now. They’re not showing any signs of it. 

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Running from 4 – 6 February, the open days saw a range of Route 1 trade customers and Landa guests visit the factory at Wath upon Dearne, where head of Route 1 Mark Young told them ‘our factory is your factory’, and together with other parent group Bluetree and Route 1 staff explained the company’s approach to helping its customers grow their businesses. This includes offering an API to integrate online ordering directly from customer websites, including those based on WordPress, into Route 1’s production systems. 

The demonstration of the Landa press was the part that interested attendees most. On the day that Digital Printer attended, it featured jobs prepared by Landa rather than work for Route 1 customers, though Route 1 confirmed that the press was already producing paid work. The samples showed a wide colour gamut even in CMYK-only mode, which is how Route 1 has its machine configured, so that work will match across all its press types. Samples of what is achievable using the seven-colour configuration (which adds green, orange and blue inks) were also shown separately, along with a explanation of the nanographic printing process.

Head of Route 1 production development Lewis Rogal said that the press had been running at its rated speed of 6500 sheets per hour (simplex, duplex throughput is half that) and faster; a forthcoming speed hike to 10,200sph was mentioned by the Landa demonstrator, as was on-the-fly correction for quality drift.

According to product and pricing specialist Jack Crofts, the B1 MGI embellishment press brings a great improvement – 20 times the capacity – to the firm’s digital ‘spot UV’ capability, while the foiling made possible by the iFoil L component of the embellishment system will be launched over the next few months. The unit’s camera system that provides image-based registration was a key factor in its selection.

A report on the open day will appear in the March 2020 issue of Digital Printer.

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The embellishment press, which will be used to add ‘high value effects’ to print jobs, joins 10 other digital presses at the company’s 147,000sqft site in Rotherham.

From there Route 1, the trade print division of Bluetree Group, dispatches over 5500 jobs every week. It had been relying on an older digital varnishing press for creating spot UV effects, but customer demand had started to outstrip capacity.

As a result Route 1 invested in the MGI JETvarnish 3D Evo 75, a B1 format digital spot UV and foiling press, which can process up to 2291 B1 sheets per hour, and stock between 135 and 800 gsm. It can lay down coatings from just 6 microns in thickness up to raised 3D tactile effects at 232 microns, all done using a single clear varnish, while the integrated iFoil L module adds hot foil effects. The press also benefits from a range of automating features, including the Artificial Intelligence Smartscanner for precise and fully automated registration.

‘We were incredibly impressed with the capabilities of this machine and the opportunities it offers,’ said Route 1 managing director Adam Carnell. ‘With the MGI JETvarnish 3D Evo, we can introduce spot UV on a wider range of products, the option for low and high-build spot UV and, in due course, foiling. It’s also highly automated, meaning we can set up multiple jobs one after the other, moving from long-run booklets to short-run business cards with ease. This was especially important to us because the demand for spot UV has increased in the past year. We needed equipment that would speed up production times without sacrificing quality. In fact, the MGI will improve our spot UV quality due to the AIS registration and inline corona treatment.’

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