Applications rich

And why shouldn’t he; the company’s latest investment in an Agfa Anapurna M2050 - installed less than two months at the time of writing - is upping Key2 Group’s game, enabling it to create all sorts of fantastic applications on a variety of different substrates. And he’s finding that clients both old and new are willing to experiment and go that little bit further to create something new and exciting.

It’s a long way from where Keating started when he set up Key2 Group 11 years ago as the threat of redundancy from the plastics and metal stockist he was working at loomed large on his horizon. Armed with just his expertise and £15,000 that was originally earmarked for a new family kitchen, he set up a plastics fabrication company in an industrial unit no larger than a shed, with one other member of staff and a part-time accounts person.

If you were to draw the progress of the Key2 Group, the graph would feature a year-on-year upward trajectory. The operation now employs 22 staff and occupies premises of just over 2,787m2 (30,000 sq ft).

The company offers several distinct areas of service: plastics, which includes bespoke fabricated acrylic products, point-of-sale, newspaper and magazine dispensers, display and engineered parts for retail, commercial and industrial clients.

The company added signage to its arsenal of services early on when, after buying a small plotter for vinyl cutting, it was asked to produce signage for existing plastics client Co-Operative Southern Region.

Investment in Roland printer/cutting machines followed, and the relationship with the Co-Operative continues to this day, with the company responsible for undertaking all the rebranding work for all stores in the Southern region in an exercise that initially lasted two years and was completed a year ago.

Key2 Group now produces a whole range of signs including totems, neon, cut and vacuum formed letters, illuminated signage, window vinyls plus interior signage formed from Foamex and Dibond. Wide-format digital printing, display products and a graphic design service are also part of the portfolio.

"I'd say we were reactive, more than pro-active initially,” admits Keating. “We didn't specifically intend to offer the wide range of services we do now; it was more a case of hitting the ground running, reacting to client demand, something we are proud to say we do very quickly and that our clients really appreciate."

Five years ago, Key2 Group invested in an Apollo UV flatbed printer, becoming the first company in the UK to install this machine. Expectations were high, but sometimes being the first, as some companies can testify, can be a rather painful experience. For Keating, glitches and instability with the machine turned out to be insurmountable. In the end, the Apollo was left gathering dust in the back of the workshop, as the £8,000 needed to fix all the issues was more than the machine itself was worth.

Given that the company¹s first foray into UV was not a happy one it continued production with its existing plant list that included Roland print and cut eco-solvent machines and Mimaki solvent printers, complimented by a 2m wide plotter, 2m wide laminator, laser engraver, diamond polishing machine for plastics, and two 2 x 3m CNC routers amongst others.

"We had a pretty impressive plant list already however, the option of being able to print direct to substrate and handle even larger scale work was a natural progression for us, particularly as the Apollo offered eco friendly ink processes, something more and more of our client base demanded. It was a real sales feature," says Keating.

So this summer the company took delivery of an Agfa Anapurna M2050 and the impact has been immediate. The machine has bought in new clients, increased the breath and depth of jobs for existing clients, and has even returned old clients to the fold, which is always very gratifying.

A recent job for an old client for example, involved printing directly onto 18mm ply timber for outside hoardings. “We also used one of our CNC routers to cut holes into it. It was a good job,” says Keating.

For Keating, the Anapurna M2050 has bought a just balance to the company’s productivity. “The Anapurna is an amazing printer,” he says. “It’s almost as if all the issues that we had with the Apollo, have now all been addressed with this machine, and we have been producing sails for boats, pop-ups, banners, printing onto wood, Dibond and Corex.”

Another recent job was creating a huge banner directly printed onto composite material for the Milton end stand at Portsmouth football stadium. The banner that runs at 80m long x 2m wide is suspended at the top of the stadium for all to see.

“We actually did a similar, large scale banner for Portsmouth a few years ago, but now the club is owned by the supporters, the new banner proclaims this fact,” says Keating.

The company is heavily involved in the cosmetics industry producing prototypes for high-end display including tester stands, However, thanks to the white ink capabilities of the Anapurna M2050 work that was once screenprinted is being done on the new printer and bringing with it positive cost implications.

"The speed and quality of this printer is second to none, it helps enormously.  Whereas the Apollo was all about large impact, the additional precision and detail the Anapurna gives us is fantastic," enthuses Keating.

As far as marketing is concerned, the company has e-mailed its customer database announcing the capabilities of the machine and the response has been excellent with the possibility of wallpapers, fabrics and unconventional substrates catching the imagination.

The feedback from clients, many of them long standing is testament to the hard graft Keating and his staff put into the business. “It’s hard work. I used to work seven days a week but now I work six but even then its 10 - 12 hours a day, but I absolutely love it. I am proud of the business and I’m proud of the staff. They too are proud of the company and they really like working here.  We’ve got all our quality and environmental ISO accreditations in place - we have also just had a very positive ethical audit undertaken on our business by The Body shop. Our secret is that we put everything back into the business. We invest in the equipment that will help our customers grow. We can offer our clients any application they want, and that puts us in a really strong place.”