The newly acquired Printstore business has invested in a new PFi Blade B2+ digital cutting table from Duplo which was installed at the end of April 2021. Peter Andreou made the purchase of the company from retiring owner Brendan Donoghue at the beginning of the year. Predominantly working with Restaurants, Home Fragrance & Skincare, Make-up, FMCG & Supermarket sectors. Printstore now wants to bring in-house the digital die-cutting work using the PFi Blade B2+.
Gez Clarke, Commercial Director at Printstore said, “We have many high-profile agencies and brands that we’re helping with their packaging solutions. Purchasing the PFi Blade B2+ allows us to utilise our in-house creative design facility and show our customers what we can achieve in a very short turnaround and in some cases with the customer present offering a truly amazing quick turnaround of prototype packaging and design allowing faster products to market. Prior to the investment, we would require a 5–6-day turnaround.
“Internalising this process is a major time-saving benefit, and we can also keep track of all our inventory and control the quality and materials more efficiently.”
“We did have a look around the market and there are many very similar devices, but we’ve always been a fan of Duplo, and working with them has been really great. They are very supportive and have been looking after our operators as the learning curve on these machines is quite steep. Since purchasing the machine, we’ve been able to integrate it into our current production process and accelerate the creative process.
Adam Drummond, Regional Sales Manager at Duplo said, “Printstore is a very prominent commercial printer based out of Kingston-Upon-Thames running both B2 and B3 litho, Xerox Versant and large-format digital with HP Latex digital presses with a Duplo DBM-350 digital that they bought a few years ago. They also have an in-house design and creative team which means getting the most out of the PFi Blade B2+ will be quite simple for them. Established in 1988 they have a very loyal and stable customer base which meant they fared better than most printers during the global pandemic.
“I’ve been working with Printstore for years, they’re a great bunch of people. Peter is bringing new strategies online to bring this very well-established commercial printer into a new age of commercial success – and good luck to him! Duplo market the Blade B2+ as the machine that will help find new markets for your print – that is exactly what Printstore are going to be using it for.”
Gez concludes, “The PFi Blade B2+ although a very small machine, it’s made a huge impact and we can look at expanding our product portfolio to our existing customer base, but also start targeting growth in new sectors where Printstore has never had a presence."
