grgprint.com is a family partnership of two brothers John and Gerard Grogan and their sister Margaret Roberts, founded in 1981. The business has recently repositioned itself in the market place through a £2.5 million investment programme in a new 20,000 sq ft factory, two presses, B1 CTP system, B1 folder & guillotine and a state of the art management information system running on the internet. A new corporate identity focuses on the role of being a print management company providing warehousing and distribution.

"the Rolls Royce of printing presses"

grgprint.com operate in the travel, retail & publishing market all of which are very demanding in respect to deadlines. Investment has targeted improved communication through the MIS system on the internet which clients can access to check on work in progress, inventory or delivery details. Work is both received on the internet or ISDN and proofed in the same manner through the use of PDFs.

grgprint.com have been utilising CTP for 7 years which is a measure of their commitment to technology as they were first commercial colour printer in the UK to successfully install CTP. It continues to be technology and automation that drives the firm forward.

Upon receipt of files from clients, jobs are immediately checked through a rigorous flight check programme which undertakes 130 individual checks to identify potential problems at an early stage in the process. The digital work flow introduced automatically impose plates, incorporating chokes and spreads where appropriate, shingles the pagination and sets up the ink ducts on the press via a CIP3 interface. CTP ensures perfect registration first time and perfectly clean plates eliminating the need for deletion pens.

In choosing their presses grgprint.com were just as meticulous. John Grogan explains that much of his career in printing was spent overseas, particularly Japan, at which time he became familiar with Japanese presses and standards which have long been superior in print quality. All the five presses at grgprint.com are Japanese, the last two additions being Mitsubishi presses which Mr Grogan has always acknowledged are the Rolls Royce of printing presses and he should know, having worked for the group that built Rolls Royce cars and Chieftan Tanks.

In keeping with the standards of automation in pre-press there was no let up in specifying similar standards for the presses which incorporate automatic plate loading, plate, blanket and cylinder washes, IR drying and temperature controlled inking rollers. However, the feature which confirms the high standards of engineering to Mr Grogan is the transportation of paper from feeder through to delivery, "It's just streets ahead of anything else for speed and quality of the pile." To make the operator's job even easier a pile turner was also acquired. Ask Mr Grogan if he is satisfied and he will confirm he is actively negotiating a further B1 press which will be the third in almost 12 months.