Two Christchurch printers, Allprint Marketing Services and Pakworld, thanked Heidelberg for a “great effort” following the 22 February quakes.

Allprint managing director Ray Tansey said the business only suffered a few knocks, but “some of our machinery walked its way across the floor”.

“[Heidelberg] got in touch with us straight away to see if we were alright,” he said.

“Two engineers came in, one local and the other from Auckland, who was very nervous about all the aftershocks we kept having. They got us back on track despite the shaking and the liquefaction, which went right through the factory and crawled into stock as well.”

Pakworld operations manager Johnathon Fleet was out of town when the quakes hit, but was on the phone to one of his sales staff.

“All of a sudden I heard screaming and then the phones went dead – it is a phone call that will haunt me for a long time.”

The Pakworld premise received no structural damage, but the machinery received moved significantly.

“All our racking had collapsed and all the machinery had moved from the earthquake pads, but it could have been worse,” said Fleet.

“Incredibly we got up and running within two weeks after everything had been striped, realigned and moved back onto pads.

“I am glad to say that after all the hard work from our own staff, Heidelberg’s engineers, support from other printing companies and a thorough assessment of our building, we are now running to full capacity with day and night shifts,” he added.

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