13 April 2018

Hickling and Squires start their 2018 investment programme

12 months ago the management team at Nottingham based Hickling & Squires; comprising of Lee Jordan, Jamie Gilbert and Steve Seddon, took over the day to day running of 40 staff strong Hickling & Squires from existing owners Richard Wells and Paul White. Since then they have increased turnover from circa £4.7m to circa £5.1m.

12 months hence and as part of a £1m investment plan, the company has purchased and installed an 8 colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75 to replace their 6 colour Speedmaster CD 74 which was part-exchanged with White Horse Machinery. This will sit alongside two other existing CD 74s - an eight-colour and a 10-colour. This marks the first time the company has opted for an all-perfector fleet.

Lee Jordan, Sales Director, said, "The press was purchased to increase capacity and better accommodate the firm's increasing turnover, given that we weren't fully operational on a shift system on the six-colour press, we were just running it on days. So putting in an additional perfecting press and running it in the same shift pattern as the other two machines just made perfect sense in terms of efficiency and productivity and has reduced our overtime costs when we've been really busy."

This forms part of the plan for 2018 which has also seen the internal area of the firm's production department increased and reworked to give an improved fulfilment capability along with the extension of its mezzanine floor. Later this year the company is also planning to bolster both its digital offering and finishing department.
Dawn Reid added, "Investment in our members in the current climate can be nothing but good news, it's great to see ongoing growth and continued support by the new team."

For further information please visit http://www.hickling-squires.co.uk/