WOODS OF PERTH

Since its foundation in 1830 by David Wood, quality has always been the watchword for the printer that began as a specialist philatelic supplier catering for the new market created by the advent of the postage stamp.

From those early beginnings, Woods of Perth have diversified into many new markets and is now one of Scotland’s premier commercial printers.

Today’s Woods of Perth has been brought about by a convergence of three companies - Munro and Scott, MTM and Woods of Perth.

"it's an excellent machine"

In its more recent history, Woods has been an all-Heidelberg house but when the decision was made to replace their Speedmaster, a thorough search of all available presses was instigated by the board. As chairman Michael Eddington says: “Our initial contact with Mitsubishi came through Northprint. We were looking for a Speedmaster replacement and we began talking to them about a 5 colour B2 machine.”

After evaluating all the options, Woods decided to purchase the Mitsubishi and it was installed in May 2000. After seventeen years of working with Heidelbergs, Eddie Petterson who now runs the Mitsubishi B2 5 colour says: “It’s an excellent machine. We’ve compared the quality we get with the Mitsubishi against a competitor’s new Heidelberg and ours is sharper. I find the automatic blanket wash to be a great feature - no more messing around with solvents and less wastage.”

On the strength of the their satisfaction with the 5 colour machine, Woods of Perth then ordered a 6 colour Mitsubishi but as Commercial Director, Andrew Hall says: “Whilst we were waiting to take delivery of the 6 colour, we re-examined our changing workload and following discussions with Mitsubishi, we agreed on an 8 colour B1 perfector. It’s really given us the flexibility to tackle everything our customers need and in some areas we can compete against web presses.”

Indeed, Woods of Perth now produce a prestigious weekly property guide on the 8 colour. Donald Buick, shift leader in charge of the 8 colour comments: “The property guide had been produced web in the past. When we got the job it used to take us around 24 hours or 3 full shifts to print it on our previous machine. On the 8 colour, we can now complete the job in half that time. We’re now running a 248 page annual report. I don’t think we could have been that competitive on a job like this before we got the 8 colour. The feeder and delivery are very good and features such as the plate change facility make it very quick and easy to set up.”

The 54 strong workforce at Woods of Perth now work a three shift, 24 hours a day, five day working week to cope with an ever increasing workload for customers including major banks and financial institutions. In its history, Woods of Perth used to be owned by Christies, the international auction house, and it is testament to the quality and service that the company provides that Christies are still a major customer, even though ownership changed some years ago.

As Chairman Michael Eddington comments: “Mitsubishi have enabled us to action our reeingineering programme more quickly, increase our productivity and helped us succeed in a tough market.”