After the devastation and uncertainty caused by Covid, Flexpress faced the same dilemma as most other businesses: what would be our best approach to not only survive, but thrive in the post-pandemic future?
Every set of circumstances is different, of course, but for us, we decided that scaling down our operation was not an option. Pre-pandemic, we were midway through a phase of strategic growth and were highly geared as a result. In addition, we now needed to find funds to cover our CBILS repayments.
Clearly, we needed to upscale rather than downscale, and more profitably than we had ever previously achieved, but in the current climate, was this even possible? We felt it was; even in the competitive trade space. After all, the surge of companies needing to outsource as a result of reducing their own production capacity could work in our favour, so we set about change.
The first step was to rationalise our range. This included reducing products that couldn’t be made more automated, products with particularly poor added value, and products which may be time-consuming to pack or likely to suffer more delivery damages.
The second step was to ensure we could manufacture the remaining products as efficiently as possible by investing in machinery, personnel and training, whilst also optimising workflow.
Whilst the buzzword elsewhere in the industry became “diversification”, Flexpress did the opposite; abandoning our Jack-of-all-trades image in favour of specialisation and expertise.
This summer saw the final stages realised with the installation of our new fully automated Ryobi 924 LED UV lithographic press and a major upgrade to the layout
of our factory.
It’s been exciting, but a somewhat challenging phase. Since the installation of our new B2 HP 100K digital press in January, we’ve been operating with constant disruption, in a less organised environment than we would usually enjoy and inevitably, at times, this has caused occasional backlogs.
Demand for our services surged by 60% in the first 7 months when compared to the same period last year.
Nevertheless, the worst is now over and the benefits of the changes are so far, looking positive.
Despite the chaos, 2022 is proving to be our most successful year ever; and with plenty of additional capacity now available, we’re looking to further expand on our ability to deliver industry-leading quality, service and value across our range.
If you have any queries about your next print project please call our team on 0116 267 6269.