West Yorkshire printing firm invests over £500k to expand in SME market

A West Yorkshire-based printing company is investing more than £500k in new digital and finishing equipment to expand its services to the SME market.

Established twenty years ago, Bahson Colour Print is one of the first printers in Yorkshire to take delivery of Hewlett Packard’s recently launched Indigo 7800 B3 digital press.

The state of the art machine, which complements Bahson Colour’s two large-scale presses, enables the company to print small volumes of brochures, and other types of marketing literature.

This latest addition to Bahson’s factory follows the company’s recent £1m investment in an XL 75 B2 and a £3m investment in an XL B1 10 colour press, which are both part of global printer giant Heidelberg’s XL range and can print up to 18,000 sheets an hour.

Bahson Colour was founded in Hunslet in 1996 by husband and wife team Ian and Suky Jenkinson, who now work as the company’s managing director and financial director.

The company acquired its current premises on Adwalton Moor Business Park near Drighlington in 2001 and now employs in excess of 50 staff.

Last year, Bahson Colour turned over £6.75m and plans to hit the £7.5m mark in the next two years, as well as recruit a new estimator and expanding its sales and customer services teams.

Ian said: “Over the last 20 years we have printed more than 1.5 billion sheets for a vast client base ranging from retail giants Next and Sainsbury’s through to many of the region’s leading design and marketing agencies.

“During this time, our ethos has always been about employing an expert team, as well as continually innovating and investing in the very best equipment.

“This latest machine from HP means we can be extremely competitive on price across the whole print spectrum, whether we’re printing thousands of catalogues for a national brand on our Heidelberg presses or 50 brochures for an SME on the new machine.

“Until now, short digital runs typically produced inferior printed material compared to sheet fed litho presses. However, this new press uses all the latest technology to produce colours, sharpness and quality that exceeds anything the small-scale, B3 market has ever seen.”

Ian added: “Despite speculation about the demise of the print industry which I strongly disagree with, it remains a great sector to work in for those businesses that get it right.

“This means being competitive on price and having a dedicated and knowledgeable customer services team that can advise on everything from paper stock to print finishes for each individual job.

“It’s this level of service and expertise that continually sets us apart from our faceless online and overseas competitors and we are looking forward to a very bright future.”

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