OUR BUSINESS
Kenton Instore Ltd are providers of point of sale to the retail industry. They currently produce a significant amount of 3D cardboard, all of which is digitally printed. Their unique capability is their ability to design and manufacture, complete from start to finish.
They have invested heavily in printing technology with their Inca Onset S40i – at its top speed their state of the art printer can print up to 500 metres an hour, allowing them to provide their customers with high quality print at a low cost.
IMPACT OF COVID-19
When COVID hit they were obviously deeply concerned about the way they were going to move forward. Their business dropped dramatically, and they had to analyse the way in which they were operating. “We had to twist and change the way we do things,” says Pete Hughes, Managing Director.
They had a call from the NHS asking if they could provide thin sheets of plastic as they were making our own face masks. They went one step further and instead supplied finished masks. Within a week of starting the project they were producing masks in the many thousands, and have continued to do so right back from March up to now! They have produced masks of various types and have had to upgrade their machinery to compensate for the need. The machines they have now are capable of producing 10X faster than their old machines…
PIVOT AND PROSPER GRANT
“In July the Growth Hub contacted us, aware we were doing different sorts of work, and they were also aware of our inability to achieve the volumes we needed to make to satisfy customer demand,” says Pete. They were advised to contact GBSLEP and the help came forward straight away. “A simple, straightforward approach and from that we were able to achieve a grant and bought the machine.”
They can now produce masks/face shields 10X faster than they did previously – what took a week on the previous machinery they can now do in a day or less.
“So it really has upped production, we’re satisfying customer demand and we’re now expanding into new customers.”
“Moving forward with this machine there is a change in the need for the product. And therefore the versatility of this high volume machine means we can adapt it according to customers. Hopefully when COVID has gone we’ll still have a machine that’s fantastic for our business, so it’s been really good this grant has helped us to make the move at the right time.”
Slingshot