Report of Branch Visit to Afterprint - Trade Print Finishers

[Chris Penfold]

On the 9^th December 30 members of The East Midlands Packaging Society visited Afterprint Ltd, trade finishers and die-makers, based in Basford, Nottingham. A fantastic turn out for a very enjoyable and interesting trip.

The business has undertaken quite a transformation over the past few years and has now been split into 3 separate business cost centres, providing: trade print-finishing, die making & Point Of Sale (POS) mock-ups.

The factory, although fairly ‘mature’ has some very state-of-the-art technology, which would be the envy of some other establishments.

We saw the CAD/CAM service, drawing cutter guides for the repro house, which then go on to produce samples.

The in-house die-shop uses leading-edge equipment to produce cutting formes, strippers and counters. Die-cutting is performed via 2 x Sanwa Autoplatens. These are backed-up by 3 x hand fed platens (including 1 large
format platen) which enable rapid cutting of POS items and large display units.

Machine-gluing is via a number of machines, including a Jagenberg Diana 90 which can glue straight line & crash-lock base cartons, wallets, pockets, litho laminate and film windows. A dedicated team of professional hand
finishers provide a useful backup to tackle jobs that are uneconomical or
complex to run on the machines.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable visit and our grateful thanks go to David Boulton and his team, who made us extremely welcome, giving us a very interesting tour and provided a great array of
refreshments.

Chris Penfold

External Relations Officer, East Midlands Packaging Society

The next event is a dinner lecture – ‘The issues facing packaging & impact on the environment’ delivered by Jane Bickerstaffe, Chief Executive, Incpen (Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment) on 3^rd
March – but places are limited – so hurry.

There are now other ways to keep in touch with EMPS activity on Facebook & LinkedIn pages by searching under ‘East Midlands Packaging Society’.