Speedmaster helps reshore Card Factory’s production needs

Printcraft, producer of greetings cards for Card Factory group, has bedded in a new press, helping the group to bring back a greater percentage of its card requirements.

Printcraft is up and running with what is possibly the most sophisticated press that Heidelberg has installed in the UK this year.

The six-colour Speedmaster XL106 with coater has replaced a CD102 at the Shipley factory and is running at 1.4 million impressions a week across a four shift system which would equate to 75 millions sheets in a year. Printcraft has been producing 240 million cards a year with plans to expand production to 400 million a year.

The company needs the boost to capacity. Parent company Card Factory has opened its 1,000th store in November and has secured a supply deal with Aldi as greetings card provider to 440 stores in the supermarket chain. It is also starting to supply The Reject Shop as the card provider for its 360 outlets.