Apprintable, a fast-growing UK commercial printer based in Wembley, has transformed its production speed, flexibility, and in-house capability with the installation of a Duplo DC-648 Multi Finisher and PFi DI-CUT 310 Rotary Die Cutter.
The team recently faced a good problem: surging demand was pushing its finishing department to the limit. Their existing finishing equipment – a cutting table, a guillotine and an aging cutter creaser – had become major issues. “We had a huge bottleneck with our cutting table, and our old cutter creaser was on its last legs,” recalls Managing Director Peter Haddad. “It was clear that to keep up with the influx of orders, we needed a more automated, efficient finishing solution.”
By investing in Duplo technology, they’ve doubled output, reduced outsourcing, and created the headroom to take on more business – all while maintaining their sustainability commitments and small, family-run ethos. Peter did his homework before making any big moves. “We do our research… we speak to other printers with similar setups,” he says. “I know I don’t know everything and I’m always learning. But I do want that reassurance from an expert.” That expert input came from Duplo. After visiting Duplo’s showroom and speaking with their Showroom Manager, Peter was confident he had identified the right fix for his production woes. “It was a huge confidence booster to know that yes, it was these machines that we needed,” he says.
Apprintable began its journey in the hustle of the events industry and evolved into a thriving all-round print business. Peter, built Apprintable on the back of a student events venture. While at university, he grew a large network of events companies and brands, which sparked an idea. “The origin was really events – that was my background,” Peter explains. In 2015, armed with industry contacts but little print experience, he started brokering print jobs for his network: “It was just like, what do you need? So I would get print produced and send it to them… It was quite an interesting time. Word spread quickly. At one point our website even ranked number three on Google for “cheap business cards,” driving online orders beyond the events niche.” What began as a one-man side hustle rapidly snowballed into a full-fledged print operation. So as their reputation increased, so did the number of orders and productivity issues started to arise. As demand grew, so did the need for greater control and efficiency. What started with outsourcing soon evolved into bringing more production in-house, first with small digital presses and entry-level finishing kit, then progressively moving toward professional-grade systems as volumes and expectations increased.
“It's really quite amazing to watch unfold” Says Lyle Rainey, Regional Sales Manager for Duplo UK. “Each investment marked a step toward faster turnaround, higher quality, and more autonomy. That journey has now led Apprintable to their latest additions: the Duplo DC-648 slitter, cutter, creaser and the PFi DI-CUT 310 rotary die cutter. These automated finishing systems immediately tackled the company’s pain points by streamlining multiple processes and bringing previously outsourced work in-house. The DC-648, in particular, quickly became the heart of the operation.”
Peter continues, “We use the DC-648 for all the basics like business cards and greeting cards, but it’s not limited to those – we can do a lot more with it. In fact, we even rearranged our factory floor around the new multi finisher, making it the centrepiece of a newly streamlined workflow.”
The impact on throughput was dramatic. The DC-648 automates slitting, cutting, creasing and more in one pass, handling almost every job that comes off Apprintable’s presses. With so much work flowing through one fast device, it’s even generating paper offcuts at high speed. The DC-648 is so productive that without an optional waste conveyor, “we’re replacing bins every 20 minutes,” Peter laughs. It’s a small price to pay for a machine he calls “the best on the market.” Having seen many finishing solutions, Peter insists that “nothing can compare to its flexibility.” That flexibility, he believes, keeps Apprintable “on top now.”
Embracing Duplo’s automation translated directly into growth. “We doubled our order intake with only one increase in staff,” Peter confirms. “Without the DC-648’s efficiency, we would have had to have one or two more staff members just to keep up. Instead, the multi finisher absorbed the extra workload. It’s come at just the right time, allowing us to scale smoothly.”
“The PFi DI-CUT 310 has been just as game-changing” says Peter. “This rotary die cutter brought all of our shape-cutting work under one roof, eliminating long outsourcing delays and costs. The difference in speed is almost unbelievable. The cutting table would take a month,” Peter says of a typical large job. “On the PFi 310, the same job takes 4 or 5 hours… it’s incredible. We had, a 47,000-piece order that once required round the clock work on the cutting table for six weeks, but now that same job can now be finished in just a couple of days. What was once a production nightmare is now routine work.”
The new die cutter has also delivered a boost to the bottom line. Where Apprintable might have spent £1,300 outsourcing a large cutting job in the past, now “apart from the die, it’s going to cost me zero!” Peter says. He notes that all those outsourced jobs could easily have added up to over £100,000 a year, and an enormous amount of time on the cutting table for short runs – an expense now wiped out. By performing intricate cutting in-house, Apprintable not only saves money but also gains control over quality and turnaround times. Now they can offer die-cut products faster and more affordably than ever.
In addition to boosting productivity, the Duplo upgrades have helped Apprintable advance its sustainability goals. The team is exploring a waste conveyor and single-stream recycling for the DC-648’s paper offcuts, now that the machine produces enough volume to make single-stream recycling viable. Previously, their waste output was too low to recycled appropriately, using the estates own recycling procedures; now that scrap paper could even become a revenue stream. Apprintable has also made its outgoing packaging 100% plastic-free (no plastic tape since 2018) and partners with the Woodland Trust to offset carbon by planting trees for each paper shipment. As Peter points out, “print is renewable and paper is a renewable source. With the right practices, a print business can be both profitable and planet-friendly, which is something that all printers need to start talking about more with their clients.”
Ultimately, Apprintable’s story is about a small business embracing innovation to punch above its weight. In just a few years, Haddad and his team have transformed a humble startup into a thriving contender in the UK print market. By automating finishing with Duplo’s DC-648 and PFi DI-CUT 310, Apprintable removed the shackles of its old bottlenecks and gained the capacity to grow further. Jobs that once seemed impossible or unprofitable are now completed with speed and confidence. “Now we can print the entirety of a huge job at once and just go,” Peter says. It’s a simple statement that speaks volumes about how far Apprintable has come with the right technology behind it.
