News

April 2026

Vale More Than Doubles Throughput in One Year with RMGT

Vale Press, a part of The Vale Group, is a family-run printing company based in the Cotswolds. For over forty years they have been providing the finest quality, eco-friendly printing solutions for a huge range of business sectors.

At the beginning of 2025 Vale took delivery of a new RMGT 9 Series four-colour, SRA1-format offset litho press. The RMGT replaced a German-built B2 press, and the move to the larger sheet size has completely transformed the business, providing a significant cost advantage over the previous set-up. Vale now print all of the “B1” work in-house – work that had previously been outsourced to another printer.

A key driver behind this success has been the RMGT’s exceptional turnaround of jobs and uptime, or availability. The simultaneous plate change system, combined with smart make-ready, allows operators to perform other tasks while the press prepares itself for the next job.

Commenting on the first year with the press, Edward Stowe, Commercial Director of Vale, started by thinking back to the initial discussions with Steve Ennew, Technical Director of MPL: “Steve gave us some fantastic statistics about switching to RMGT. We really didn’t think that one machine could change our business so radically – but it has! Sections fly through, change-over and make-ready are just a breeze, and the jobs are produced incredibly quickly. The sheet format means that we are already printing twice as much as our old press, then the production speed and press reliability mean we passed our previous press production totals in no time at all!”

The benefits don’t stop there: the RMGT 920 occupies a smaller footprint than the old B2 press, and power efficiency has dramatically improved – even allowing for the LED-UV curing. Both are big benefits given the space in the factory and the current energy issues that we all face.

In the first year the press has clocked up 20 million impressions – compared to just 18 million in a year on the previous B2 press. That 20 million, however, equates to some 40 million B2 impressions, because of the larger SRA1 format of the RMGT. All of this was possible through close collaboration with the production staff – often seen as a concern when making a transition to a new press manufacturer. The ease of operation is something RMGT have worked on, so coupled with quality, hands-on training the change was smooth and seamless.

Gone are the days of costly repairs and associated downtime for the new Vale. They have gained in both reliability and a flourishing partnership with RMGT. What began as a consultative conversation with a press supplier three years ago has now blossomed into a trusted, high-value collaboration with the RMGT UK and Ireland distributor, MPL.

For further information on RMGT offset printing presses, or about MPL please contact:

Russell J Hicks
Genesis Marketing Services (Milton Keynes)
21 Foundry Walk, Thrapston, Northamptonshire NN14 4LS

Phone: 07885 852 428

e-mail: Russ.Hxs@Gmail.com

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