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PRODUCT PORTFOLIO EDWARDTHOMPSON
Words Simon Creasey
When Chinese plates first
ME & MY...
Lucky HuaGuang
Switching to new plates on the back of a UK trade show has
increased production and resulted in significant cost savings
started being sold in
Europe a decade or so
ago, many printers were
too scared to take the
plunge. Despite offering
significant cost savings
over plates sold by
established global manufacturers, there were
numerous horror stories about how the plates
performed on press.
Dan Miller, digital manager at
Edwardthompson, in Sunderland, was familiar
with the stories. So when he attended a UK
trade show in 2018 and found himself chatting
to representatives of Lucky HuaGuang
Graphics on their stand, he wasn’t seriously
considering switching to them because the
printer was a long-time user of Agfa plates.
However, later that year, the printer started
using a new plate line and that’s when the
problems began. “Agfa came in to recalibrate
the new plate line,” says Miller. “Historically,
we had always had a problem because we use
UV inks and we were only getting 80,000
impressions on the Agfa plates. So we thought
that while they were in it would be a good time
to work with Agfa, get it all recalibrated and up
to spec, and get that number of impressions
up. But we had a lot of
problems and they
didn’t solve the problems.
In fact, it ended
up a lot worse, so in
the end we kind of fell
out over it.”
This falling out
coincided with a serendipitous phone call
from a representative at Lucky HuaGuang.
“They contacted me – purely based on that
visit to their stand at the trade show – at the
right time,” says Miller. “I explained the difficulty
we were having and three of them flew
over from Germany within a week with their
plate specialist and some sample plates. It was
the first time I’ve ever had a company come in
like that as a team rather than just sending
individuals.”
He explains that they reconfigured the company’s
Screen PT-R4300 plate setter for Lucky
HuaGang’s TP-U thermal CTP plate and guaranteed
Miller he would experience a run that
he’d never experienced before. “And we did,”
he says. “We have never ever had a run like that
off one set of plates.”
Printweek April & May 2020
Because of what had occurred with Agfa,
Miller says he was about to start shopping
around for alternatives anyhow and would
probably have taken a look at what Fuji had to
offer “but they Lucky HuaGuang flew over,
took the headache away and saved me a lot of
legwork. They were so confident in their product,
they were happy to fly to the UK to show
me what they could do and so I gave them the
chance. The proof is in the pudding and what
they said would happen happened”.
Despite being wooed by the performance of
the company’s plates, he admits he still had
reservations about committing to a long-term
relationship with the plate provider.
“We’ve all heard the horror stories,” says
Miller. “They show up with one type of plate, it
performs phenomenally on the day, so you place
your first order and the plates are a little different
when they arrive. However, I can honestly
say we’ve never had any of those problems.”
Operator error
Indeed, the only problem the company has had
with the plates to date was due to operator
error. “When we alerted them to the problem,
they flew a technician over within a day and it
turned out that our operator was doing something
wrong,” says Miller. “They’re happy to
help you with any situation, which is great
given they’re a Chinese company based in
Germany. I was a bit worried at first about
them being based in Germany, but they’ve
been really good and I can’t fault them.”
The high levels of service Edwardthompson
has enjoyed from Lucky HuaGuang doesn’t just
relate to rapid response to any technical issues.
“They monitor our usage, which we do anyway,
but they do it from their end. So usually
when we feel it’s about time for us to place an
order, they’ve already phoned or emailed to say
‘you’ve used x amount, which is your average
use, so are you ready for another order?’”
Lucky HuaGuang also keeps additional
supplies of certain stock in Germany, so if
Edwardthompson ever needs a larger order
than usual, these can be readily supplied. “If
COMPANY PROFILE
Sunderland-based Edwardthompson was
founded more than 150 years ago.
Traditionally, the company was heavily reliant
on the bingo market, selling supplies to
bingo halls such as colour printed bingo
tickets, and novelty bingo dabbers and
markers. In more recent years, it diversified
into the direct mail market and also started
producing posters, brochures and POS for
bingo hall operators. Unfortunately, in 2016,
the company was forced to cut its workforce
following a decline in the bingo market and a
sharp drop in charity direct mailings. The
company is hoping to rehire some of the
people it made redundant as it rebuilds its
turnover base. It currently employs 65
members of staff.
Why was it bought...
The company wasn’t getting as many
impressions as it desired off the Agfa plates it
was using. After switching to a new plate line
the situation got even worse, so it decided to
take a chance on plates made by Chinese
company Lucky HuaGuang.
How it has performed...
Dan Miller has been blown away by the new
plates, which have allowed the business to
enjoy major cost and time savings. “I’ve
worked for the company for 10 years and
we’ve never had runs like that off Agfa
plates,” says Miller. “I can’t champion them
enough.”
for some reason work picks up and we need
more plates, they can do that,” says Miller.
“That was my biggest worry because I didn’t
want to get stuck being short of a plate.”
Lucky HuaGuang has also helped facilitate a
reciprocal arrangement with another local
printer to give Edwardthompson some disaster
recovery cover were it ever needed. “Our
Sanden Quantum web press is the main press
the plates are used on and the only other
Sanden Quantum press in the UK is owned
by the Paragon Group in Sunderland, which
ironically is a five-minute journey away,”
explains Miller. “We cover each other for
plates and Lucky HuaGuang were kind enough
to go over to Paragon and calibrate their line as
well, so if they ever have any problems and
they want plates from us, we could just give
them a set of plates.”
Significant savings
While this high level of service has impressed
Miller, what’s been more impressive is the
significant savings that switching to the new
plates have allowed the company to enjoy. He
estimates this could equate to £9,000-£9,750
per year in terms of plate and chemical costs.
“We are saving at least 30% on the plate,
which is significant,” says Miller. “But to be
honest, that’s a secondary thing because we
weren’t really interested in the price. We were
more interested in how can we reduce our
plate changeovers.”
We are saving at least 30% on
the plate, which is significant, but
we were more intersted in how we can
reduce our plate changeovers” Dan Miller