MacroArt has invested over £500,000 in a raft of new hardware and software solutions at its production hub in St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, to support its drive to deliver increased productivity and sustainability in 2023.
The company has added several key pieces of equipment to its plant list, including the UK’s first Durst P5 Tex iSub dye-sub machine, a Mimaki UCJV300 and a 1.6m-wide Canon 1650 UV gel printer. It has also invested in operational software that streamlines and optimises all areas of print production to maximise efficiency and minimise waste within the business.
Linking directly into the recently installed Durst Lift ERP system are a new Enfocus Switch Pitstop server and Tillia Labs Phoenix AI software systems to deliver a host of efficiencies, from instant artwork checking/resolution and rapid, accurate proofing, to ganging up of print jobs, higher productivity, and reduced downtime.
The new software programmes are tied together using visual flows, allowing for a seamless processing of artwork files directly from MacroArt’s ERP system via an API set up through to the RIP stage of the production process, all without the need for manual intervention. The company said this bespoke system is already delivering positive results in many key areas of production.
MacroArt is seeing significant reductions in material, energy and ink wastage through the efficient ganging and collating of multiple projects, and in turn, this efficiency is reducing lead times for clients, with increases in output by as much as 150% being regularly achieved, on top of the reduced wastage.
Mark Rose, MacroArt’s operations director, said: “At MacroArt, our forward planning is as much about delivering a truly sustainable result, as it is about enhancing productivity, and with these considerable technical additions in both our hardware and software capabilities, we are achieving both.”
This commitment to true, measurable enhancements in sustainability is supported by MacroArt’s recently announced initiative to provide, in conjunction with the services of its Waste Management Partner Prismm, a complete ‘end to end’ recycling service for all clients that order graphics for use at the ICE event at Excel in 2023.
Rose added: “We know that there are two sides to the delivery of an effective sustainable project – minimising waste in production and maximising recycling and reuse of the graphics we produce. With our in-house efficiency improvements, and the ground breaking initiative at the ICE exhibition, we are addressing both, with the passion and technical expertise for which we are known.”
