Fostering closer links with the local business community, allied to investing in new technology, has seen Swindon’s MLL Print & Digital continue to expand.
Investing in new technology is one way of developing a business but it is not the only way. Another possible smart direction is to engage in a little networking to enhance your business prospects. MLL Print & Digital in Swindon pursued both of these routes and grew by more than a third in the year up to July 2013 as a consequence.
The two most important strands to its current business success are a small digital printing system, the X-Press OnDemand 780, which was purchased from Bristol-based distributor DTP Associates, and the decision to join BNI (Business Network International), the ‘most successful business networking referral organisation in the world’, it claims, with 13,000 UK and Ireland members, who meet up in local and regional chapters. MLL’s Mark Puffett explained: ‘We joined about 18 months ago. Thirty of us meet every Wednesday, from all sorts of trades, but only one from each trade, and we all refer work to each other. We have seen good growth in the last year from that.’
Mr Puffett owns 75% of MLL Print & Digital. He was formerly of the now defunct Manor Press but had been made redundant prior to its demise. Almost five years ago MLL began trading with a two colour Heidelberg GTO and a Canon digital printer.
As digital volumes have grown in recent times it needed an upgrade on the digital press and through an industry friend Mr Puffett heard about DTP Associates and the X-Press OnDemand 780, which can print at speeds of up to 55 pages per minute, but most importantly can handle heavier media stocks.
‘We needed something that could do thicker stocks for business cards – 350 gsm, which the Canon would struggle with,’ Mr Puffett explained. ‘We went to Bristol to visit DTP and took a few jobs with us. They did a demo and we were amazed at the quality and that it could print on both sides of the card. We were very impressed and for the amount of money it was a no-brainer.’
MLL was also printing quite a lot of black on NCR paper on its GTO, in runs of around 500. ‘We put some through the new digital printer and it printed on it beautifully, so straight away it was cheaper to put this work through the digital than the Heidelberg. It’s such a versatile machine, whatever we throw at it – DL envelopes, thick card; it will just eat it up. We have even set it up so we can do numbering at the same time, as long as it is short run.’
The X-Press OnDemand 780 has been in for about 10 months and has done about 165,000 impressions now. MLL finds itself on the borderline of needing a production level press, but Mr Puffett is adamant that he will simply invest in a second X-Press OnDemand.
‘It has had a massive impact for us. We can turn the work around a lot quicker, with no drying time. People have been amazed at the quality it can do. For the average printer and average customer it is ideal.’
