| It was great to see so many of you at this year’s PG Live, we are already seeing some major success stories from the show and look forward to working with more of you as your follow ups continue. It was so nice seeing everyone in person again, and feel the positivity in the industry that has been lacking over the past few months. We are already working with organisers on next year’s show, which we hope will be even better. We are also attending other major trade shows on the calendar and hope to see many more of you throughout the rest of the year. Imaging Centre InPress Seminars Launched: The Imaging Centre are pleased to announce that we will be holding our first InPress Seminar. These seminars, created to help designers on their path to becoming successful greeting card publishers, will be held on site at The Imaging Centre in Kent. Attendees will hear from experts across the industry including The GCA, PG, Greeting cards Suppliers, Existing publisher and Retailers with top tips on how to become a successful publisher, as well as getting the chance to create their very own designs, see them produced and take home their very first printed cards. In Press seminars are free to attend for new and existing customer and will run from 9.00 – 15.30 September 15th 2022. For more details and to sign up please follow this link. Places will be offered on a first come first served basis, however depending on take up we will look to run further sessions. Stock, Supply, Pricing & Turnaround Update: With extreme caution I am pleased to say that it does finally look like things are starting to settle down on the cost front, we are in constant communication with our suppliers who are also sounding more confident about not only pricing, but supply. At the Imaging Centre, as we detailed in our last update, we have been working extremely hard on overcoming these issues investing significantly in increasing our stock holding in order to provide a consistent supply to you our customers and we are now fully stocked on all fronts, along with processes in place to ensure that it stays that way. This has helped with maintain our turnaround times (detailed below) over the past few weeks, now everything is in place our major focus will be to start reducing. Current turnarounds: Proofs: 4.5 Working Days Print: 4.5 Working Days Print & Packed: 6 Working Days Special Finishes: 9 Working Days Special Finish & Packed: 10 Working Days I am also pleased to be able to share the news that INVERCOTE is back! Since October, when the supply of our most popular board was interrupted, we have been working on trying to re-stock it and have now found a way to re-stock the board have significant supply as well as back up in place to re-offer the board on a permanent basis. SYMBOL ECO 50 300gsm which has been used as a replacement will still be available for those currently using it. However, if you do wish to revert back to Invercote then please let us know and we will update your specification accordingly. July Proof Code: To receive you free set of 30 proofs for July 2022 please use voucher code JULY2230 when checking out. New Machinery: In a continued attempt to reduce our lead times I can confirm that in addition to increasing our stock holding, The Imaging Centre has invested heavily into developing and improving its machinery. In the past month we have confirmed the purchase of a new Block Finishing Machine arriving July 2022, which will triple our current capacity for special finishes, We have also purchased a new Digi Foiler – arriving August/September 2022 helping speed up our turnaround times on cards with a Digi foil finish. Finally, we are one of the first companies in the UK to purchase a Duplo B2 Cutter Creaser – Arriving August/September 2022. This will help us increase our capacity and speed up our larger orders which will in turn reduce turnaround times across the board. This has been a significant investment – over £250,000 for The Imaging Centre and one that we feel shows our commitment to you our customers and the greeting card industry. For anyone wanting to come and visit the Imaging Centre and see these machines in action and see how your cards are produced please do let us know, we would love to have you. |