All Hands to the Pump in South Yorks…

If you were looking for a way to celebrate 40 years in the printing industry, being flooded out and having every piece of kit ruined would not be top of the list… unfortunately that’s exactly what happened to South Yorkshire Printers!

But such is the dedication of owner Christopher Grey and his 28-strong team that, within a few months of their Sheffield premises being engulfed in the flash floods of last summer, their operation was up and running at full-strength and with the order book back on track.

The recovery was made possible by the support of a loyal customer base and the speedy response of key manufacturers and suppliers – none more than finishing equipment specialist Graphic Arts Equipment (GAE) who worked wonders to short circuit lengthy order lead times and shuffle busy installation schedules to help keep the team afloat.

“GAE was very quick in getting all the stock together and in fact they were the first to get us everything we needed,” explains Christopher Grey. “We had to get back up and running as soon as possible because, although we were insured and had business interruption cover, we wanted to ensure our customers experienced as little disruption as possible.”

GAE moved fast to replace the flood-damaged stock and with new Horizon StitchLiner and Horizon AFC566F automated B2 folding systems.

The StitchLiner - a fully-automated JDF-ready 5,500 bph saddlestitching and three-knife trimming line – was supplied with four six-bin VAC-Turbo PowerCollating towers (two extra PowerCollating towers were added to increase productivity and improve flexibility). Features on the six-plate AFC B2 folder include a large icon-based colour touch-screen for one-minute set-ups, 200 job on-board memory store, 17 standard fold patterns (including roll fold, zigzag fold and DL fold) and unique combination of steel and urethane foam rubber on the folding rollers for superior grip and a sharper fold. The patented advance rotary drum suction feed system delivers up to 42,000sph productivity.

Christopher Grey took over at South Yorkshire Printers from his father in 2006: “We bought the original StitchLiner in 2006 and it fitted into the operation very well so when we got flooded we just needed a quick replacement. We wanted exactly the same again but decided to add the two extra collating towers so we could run faster. They replaced an older collator to give us extra capacity. We are now back to where we were before the flood and that would not have been possible without the help of our suppliers.”

South Yorkshire Printers specialises in corporate print for a variety of operations including to local businesses, national and international blue chip companies, local authorities, education authorities and advertising agencies.

Other replacement equipment included a five-colour Heidelberg SpeedMaster 74 and a five-colour Heidelberg SpeedMaster 72.