Swedish Print Shop Invests €13 Million

Swedish print shop Atta.45, based in Järfälla, near Stockholm, made the biggest investment in its relatively short history. Production operations in the new building to which the company relocated in April last year benefit from a comprehensive package comprising new equipment, services and consumables worth a total of more than €13 million. The biggest part of the solution was installed by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg).

“We’re keen to continue growing in the future, so we needed more space, better logistics and the most cutting-edge equipment available on the market at present,” said managing director Erik Mauritzon. “We’ve enjoyed an excellent relationship with Heidelberg from the outset and obtain everything from a single source.”

The two Speedmaster XL 106 eight-color perfecting presses – one achieving a speed of 18,000 sheets per hour and the other 15,000 sheets per hour with a coating unit – have been in operation for a few months now. The Speedmaster XL 162 eight-color perfecting press was taken into service in fall 2015 after no fewer than 26 trucks made the journey from Wiesloch-Walldorf to Järfälla.

Other new acquisitions include the Suprasetter 162 CtP platesetter, the Stahlfolder TX 96 folding machine and one Stitchmaster ST 500 saddlestitcher. The company is also planning to add inks and blankets from the Saphira range to its existing consumables. In addition, it has already reserved a space and laid the foundations for another large-format press.

When Atta.45 started out in 1999, it had 12 employees and most of its machines were from Heidelberg. The company is now one of the largest print shops in Sweden, employing a workforce of 115 and generating sales of more than €22 million in 2015. Magazines in short runs account for a third of products, traditional commercial jobs such as flyers and brochures 40%, annual reports 10% and digital printing the rest. The average run per job is around 3,000 sheets.

“That makes machine makeready times extremely important to us. We currently perform around three job changes per hour,” said production manager Tomas Reinhed.

“Our aim is for further growth to come primarily from short-run magazines, but we’re also looking to combine jobs from different customers on mixed forms and move into the web-to-print sector,” says Mauritzon.