NEC, Birmingham, UK – Europa Print and Mailing Solutions signed a deal at IPEX for a Tharstern Management Information System that will be crucial to long-term growth plans where turnover is predicted to jump by over 50% to £4million within two years.

Darren Ibrahim, Managing Director of Europa Print and Mailing Solutions, which employs 28 people, is confident of long-term gains from the investment. The Tharstern MIS will go live at the site in Belvedere, Kent, in early 2018.

Tharstern’s MIS covers estimating, ordering and integration to the Agfa Apogee pre-press system via the JDF Workflow Connector which is designed to drive efficiencies within pre-press. This enables production-ready jobs to be submitted directly into pre-press. Another benefit is that Europa Print and Mailing Solutions’ proofing cycle will be shortened thanks to the Apogee Web Approval software.

Europa Print and Mailing quotes for between 30 and 40 jobs each day. As one example of the new efficiencies, Mr Ibrahim predicts that with the Tharstern MIS an automated quote will be completed in a matter of minutes. Job quotes created manually at the moment can take up to two hours to finalise, but “human touch points” in the future will be minimal.

Mr Ibrahim said: “This is a huge step forward. The Tharstern MIS is crucial to our ongoing success – it is a long-term gain for us. It puts us on an even more professional footing and enable us to further improve efficiencies to our customers, as well as benefit from any future proofing.”

He added: “We were meticulous in our planning and looked at two specific MIS systems, but Tharstern were ahead in every department including the fact that we know they will be with us to offer full support on a learning curve in the future. Having an automated system with integrated MIS is critical in business. And it will really help free up time for our staff who can now concentrate on more sales and other business development opportunities.”

Digital print and mailing are two specific growth areas for Europa Print and Mailing Solutions, although 80% of its printing is litho. It works across numerous sectors including education, public and retail. Mailing accounts for 20% of total turnover.

Mr Ibrahim and his sister, Charleigh, who is also a director, took over from their father, Kevin, eight months ago, when he partially retired but he still takes an active interest in the business.

Lee Ward, Tharstern Global Sales Director, said: “We know from customer feedback just how important MIS has become in their daily working lives. They realise the huge benefits from installing an MIS, which is now not only essential, it’s a critical component for successful businesses.  Europa Print and Mailing Solutions will never look back once their system is fully up and running – they’ll benefit in so many different ways.”