MacroArt invests for stronger, greener growth

As leading large format print and installation experts, we have invested over £500,000 in a raft of new hardware and software solutions at our production hub in St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, to support our drive to deliver increased productivity and sustainability in 2023.

With a powerful focus on eco-efficiency and operational capability, we have added several key pieces of equipment to our plant list, including the UK’s first Durst P5 TEX iSUB dye-sublimation production press, a Mimaki UCJV300 and a 1.6-metre-wide Canon 1650 UV gel.

Alongside investing in new hardware, a critical part of our investment is the addition of new innovative operational software that streamlines and optimises all areas of print production to maximise efficiency and minimise waste within the business.

Linking directly into the recently acquired Durst Lift ERP system, the new Enfocus Switch Pitstop server, and Tillia Labs Phoenix AI software systems deliver a host of efficiencies, from instant artwork checking/resolution and rapid, accurate proofing, to ganging up of print jobs, higher productivity, and reduced downtime.

This highly efficient bespoke system is already delivering positive results in many key areas of our production, ensuring that the business contributes strongly to its sustainability credentials whilst boosting its capabilities. The new software programmes are tied together using visual flows, allowing for a seamless processing of artwork files directly from our ERP system via an API set up through to the RIP stage of the production process, all without the need for manual intervention.

We are seeing significant reductions in material, energy and ink wastage through the efficient ganging and collating of multiple projects, and in turn, this efficiency is reducing lead times for clients, with increases in output by as much as 150 percent being regularly achieved, on top of the reduced wastage.

Mark Rose, our Operations Director, is delighted with the improvements being experienced across the business: “At MacroArt, our forward planning is as much about delivering a truly sustainable result, as it is about enhancing productivity, and with these considerable technical additions in both our hardware and software capabilities, we are achieving both.”

This commitment to true, measurable enhancements in sustainability is supported by our recently announced initiative to provide, in conjunction with the services of its Waste Management Partner Prismm, a complete ‘end to end’ recycling service for all clients that order graphics for use at the ICE event at Excel in 2023.

Mark adds: “We know that there are two sides to the delivery of an effective sustainable project – minimising waste in production and maximising recycling and reuse of the graphics we produce. With our in-house efficiency improvements, and the ground breaking initiative at the ICE exhibition, we are addressing both, with the passion and technical expertise for which we are known.”

More information of our recycling initiative at next year’s ICE event at Excel can be found here.