Crystal Printing Solutions is about to flick the switch on a $380,000 energy investment as it prepares to take delivery of a high-tech Heidelberg.
Worldwide Printing Solutions' Perth hub will install the five-colour Speedmaster XL 75 in January. The press will include a coating unit and Heidelberg’s proprietary InPress Control and will be the highest spec’d XL 75 in Western Australia, according to Heidelberg.
Crystal managing director Arnold Whiteside said the press would "drive efficiencies, improve speed to market and ensure colour and quality consistency".
He told ProPrint it would reduce makeready sheets by more than a 50% compared to the 12-year-old Heidelberg it would replace.
Whiteside also said the cut in power use would help the 75-staff operation maintain its carbon neutral rating.
Meanwhile, Crystal will flick the switch on a new solar power unit this week after commissioning an energy optimisation unit in April. Whiteside valued the combined investment at $380,000.
[Related: Crystal installs a Kodak Nexpress]
The investment was partly financed by a $147,000 Clean Technology grant Crystal received in 2012, which was part of $2.2 million worth of energy efficiency grants that the Federal government made to printing and packaging companies.
Whiteside told ProPrint the government would provide 80% of the grant once Crystal submitted its final paperwork and the final 20% once it proved it was generating the promised power savings.
"It's been a fairly painless exercise. The original assessment of the grant wasn't arduous. AusIndustry were more than helpful in getting us up. From the grants perspective, our experience has been very positive."
However, the grants handed out to the other five industry companies may be under threat, according to The Guardian.
The newspaper reported that the Federal government may retract grants from companies that had not signed contracts as part of a budget savings measure.
The grants announced last year were $723,000 for Amcor, $465,000 for Focus Press, $373,000 for Supa Stik Labels, $302,000 for IPMG firm Hannanprint and $179,000 to The Camerons Group business Baradoma.
All five companies told ProPrint they were unwilling to comment.
[LinkedIn: Have you ever looked into getting a government grant?]
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