Digital

I an Savage is a very busy man. The sales director of Guilford-based IQ Laserpress is currently in the middle of what he describes as the company's busiest time of the year and it certainly does appear to be firing on all cylinders.

The digital printer specialises in the on-demand production of training manuals and documentation, a market that, according to Savage, heats up around this time of the year.

It’s a good thing, then, that the company’s recent kit investments means it can output more than 800ppm across its fleet of mono equipment alone. It is this sort of production capability that should help the firm meet its stated aim of breaking the £2m turnover barrier by the end of the year.

The IQ Laserpress journey began in February 2005, when Savage, along with production director Dean Larkham and chairman Gerry Chilcott, set up the company to work alongside Chilcott’s IQ Field Marketing business. “It all started because Chilcott needed in-house, on-demand printing. Dean and I had plans and were ambitious, so we set out to make those ideas happen,” says Savage.

In the three-and-a-half years since its formation, IQ Laserpress has found itself to be one of four in the IQ Group of companies. The original group of two were joined by large-format company Big IQ in 2007 and, in July of this year,
in-house design service IQ Creative.

Invest to innovate
Investment has always been central to the group’s strategy. The organisation upped sticks in March this year, moving from a smaller residence in the Riverside business park in Guildford to a bigger 1,400m2 building in the same complex, a move which provided an additional 470m2 of space.

IQ Laserpress itself is not afraid to spend money either. Over the summer, the printer added kit to its new home, taking in a Xerox iGen3 digital colour press at the beginning of August and, more recently, a Nuvera 288 mono machine from the same manufacturer. As a result, the printer has been completing run lengths of 20,000 on certain jobs.

Of the iGen3, Savage says: “Some of our clients have been blown away by the image quality and are already using us for more graphic arts requirements that they would traditionally have printed litho.”

He adds that the new kit gives the printer the ability to explore new markets. Variable data is something he is particularly looking into, anticipating that it would help the company grow its colour business.

“Much of what we do is what I call ‘non-sexy’ content. By this I mean our training manuals and documentation. But now, with the extra press power of the new machines, we see personalisation as the next stage to build on that extra capacity,” he says.

With the additional mono and colour firepower, the company is also looking to implement new shift patterns, moving to 24/5 in order to cater for the increased workload.

Savage believes the business is well positioned to grow. “The high-end colour digital market is definitely the place to be, which is where we are now,” he says. “Clients’ timescales for print jobs are reducing dramatically due to the pressures in the commercial world.”

Savage adds that customers are now favouring print-on-demand services for an instant response and turnaround time, which has remained a key factor behind the company’s continuing investment.

Turnover targets
Savage’s influence can be seen elsewhere in the group, with Big IQ, of which he is a director, also targeting significant turnover growth by the end of the year. The six-staff arm, formed in 2007, is aiming to hit the £750,000-£1m mark. It is currently carrying out work for some big names, while allowing IQ Laserpress to cross sell and offer existing clients the ability to take their large-format requirements on-board.

Russ Wilcox, director at Big IQ, says: “The clients seem to really like the fact they can come to a professional facility to order both their large- and small-format on-demand printing requirements.”

With the current economic climate undeniably taking its toll on the print industry, along with so many others, it is surely a positive sign for the industry that IQ Laserpress is so busy.

And the future? “We’re now in the position to maximise our capacity and build upon our success,” says Savage. As the meeting draws to an end, I ask Ian about his plans for the rest of the day. “Quoting jobs,” he says. “And lots of it.”

IQ LASERPRESS

Location Guildford
Turnover £1.8-£2m
Staff 23
Directors Ian Savage, Dean Larkham, Gerry Chilcott
Year founded 2005
Sectors training, marketing
Clients include Williams Lea, Etrinsic and HH Associates
Kit Xerox iGen3, DocuColor, Nuvera 288