The busy shop floor at NWRS
Specialist in laser engraved printing sleeves and cylinders, North West Rollers Services has recently added 3,500 square foot to its premises in Runcorn and is seeing ‘phenomenal growth’ according to its managing director, Ian Antrobus. By Neel Madsen.
After some lean years, North West Rollers Services Ltd (NWRS) is experiencing a continued increase in its business and have had to expanded and invest for the future. ‘Five years ago it was hard work getting the business,’ said managing director, Ian Antrobus, ‘but in the last couple of years the floodgates have opened and we keep gaining new accounts.’
It was the installation of a new laser and the surmise of its main competitor that really turned things around for NWRS. The last financial business year saw turnover increase by 17.5% and this coming one is projected to have grown by 10%, paving the way for a large expansion of the company premises on the Manor Park industrial estate in Runcorn, Cheshire. Staff now number 27 after taking on five people last year and another this year.
NWRS has added 3,500 square foot to its factory
In the round
The company, which was originally set up in 1990 in Warrington, specialise in the production and direct engraving of rubber rollers and elastomer sleeves for a wide range of applications, including packaging, bank notes and other security printing, wall paper and tissue printing, and transfer of adhesives, amongst others.
In total, some 80% of the business is sleeve related in some way. Rubber covered rollers can be engraved in very fine details up to 300 line screens and are extremely hard wearing, making them particularly suitable for very long runs.
They can be made in any thickness and from a variety of rubber compounds, offering complete flexibility in terms of dimensions and ink system used, all tailored to suit individual requirements. The company saw a real jump in productivity when it installed the first laser.
‘The new laser technology brought us into this century,’ confided Mr Antrobus. ‘It is just phenomenal the quality and the speed at which it engraves, and it will engrave practically anything.’ The laser led to more investments, a larger autoclave, more grinders and more equipment, a trend that is continuing as the company is now planning to invest in another laser and a grinder.
The new extension of the factory, a £200,000 investment, houses the lasers and the fibreglass sleeve manufacture while in the older part stands the autoclaves and grinders.
The fibreglass sleeve department was set up 12 years ago after the company’s original supplier closed down and it has been very successful, shipping sleeves all over the world. Chinese customers, for example, take large numbers as they struggle to replicate the high quality and consistency needed to form the basis of rubber rollers for printing.
‘The word about our sleeves is spreading,’ said Mr Antrobus. ‘We now have agencies in Indonesia and Malaysia, and have recently opened up in New Zealand and hoping to add Australia very soon.’
