Our Print Plant & Machinery
Our purpose-built facility in Keighley houses Heidelberg, Buhrs and Ricoh equipment, covering every stage from pre-press to despatch.
Fretwell's Keighley facility covers over 50,000 square feet of purpose-built production space. Everything is under one roof - pre-press, litho, digital, large format, personalisation, enclosing, finishing and despatch - which means we control every stage of your job's journey without hand-offs to third parties. This single-site model is the foundation of the quality, lead-time and accountability commitments we make to every client.
The plant list below represents our current main equipment. It covers eight production categories, each staffed by specialists who have been running the same equipment - or its predecessor - for years. Investment in new equipment and digital workflow automation is ongoing; if you have a specific requirement not covered in the list, contact us to discuss capability.
Our Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75 and CX 74 B2 litho presses are the core of the operation and among the most capable sheet-fed presses available in a Yorkshire print facility. Combined with our FOGRA-certified digital presses and Buhrs mailing house lines with camera-verified enclosing, the plant list represents a complete end-to-end commercial print and direct mail capability that is unusual to find under one ownership.
The machines behind the work
Every job runs through Heidelberg equipment, calibrated for consistent, high-quality output at commercial volumes.
Software, Systems & Processes
Our Accura MIS (Management Information System) connects estimating, job management, production scheduling and despatch under one platform. Every job is tracked from quote to delivery, giving your account manager live visibility of progress and enabling proactive updates throughout production.
- Accura CRM / MIS WorkflowIntegrated management information and job workflow system across the business.
Repro / Pre-press
Our pre-press team checks every supplied file before a plate is made - resolution, bleed, colour profiles, font embedding and trap. ISO 12647-2 calibrated colour proofing means your digital proof is an accurate prediction of the printed result. Secure SFTP is available for large file transfers; login credentials are supplied on request.
- Heidelberg Suprasetter A75 Generation 3 CTPPrint Ready PDF/JDF workflow.
- Integrated digital proofing (PrintSpec)ISO 12647-2 calibrated proofing.
- Secure FTPLogin provided on request for safe file transfer.
- Full Adobe Creative Suite & QuarkAcrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop and QuarkXPress.
- Epson P7500 SureColorColour proofing with built-in spectrophotometer.
Heidelberg Litho Presses - Speedmaster XL 75 & CX 74
Our two B2 Heidelberg presses - a five-colour Speedmaster XL 75 with inline coater and a four-colour CX 74 with coater - are the workhorses of our litho floor. Both run with Inpress Control and Axis Control colour management systems, delivering consistent, densitometrically verified colour throughout each run. Typical litho applications include direct mail outers, brochures, catalogues, leaflets, posters and folding cartons. Minimum practical run: 500 sheets; best economics typically from 1,000 copies upward.
- Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75 (B2)5 colour + coater, Inpress Control, max sheet 750 × 530mm.
- Heidelberg Speedmaster CX 74 (B2)4 colour + coater, Axis Control, max sheet 720 × 520mm.
- Prinect Axis Control & Bodoni pressSIGN-5Colour measurement and management across both presses.
Digital Printing
Our digital presses operate to FOGRA-certified colour standards, the same as our litho floor - ensuring consistent, matched colour whether a job runs digitally or lithographically. Variable data capability across all machines means each printed sheet can carry unique text, images and codes, making this section ideal for personalised direct mail, donor appeals and trigger campaigns. No minimum run length on digital - from single proof sheets to 50,000-run programmes.
- Heidelberg Versafire LP DigitalHigh-quality cut-sheet digital colour.
- 2 × Ricoh Pro C651EX SRA3330 × 487mm, 4 colour, FOGRA certified, Graphic Arts Premium for variable data.
Direct Mail
Our mailing house runs three Buhrs enclosing lines with 4-way Taurus camera matching and Driver Southall checkweighers on every machine. Camera matching verifies that the correct documents are in each envelope before sealing - delivering 100% pack integrity on personalised mailings. We are a Royal Mail Approved Mailing House and Mailmark accredited supplier, meaning we manage sortation, barcoding and postal submission in-house.
- Buhrs BB6006 stations + friction feeder, Driver Southall checkweigher, 4-way Taurus camera matching.
- Buhrs BB3006 stations + friction feeder, Driver Southall checkweigher, 4-way Taurus camera matching.
- Buhrs BB3004 stations + friction feeder, Driver Southall checkweigher, 4-way Taurus camera matching.
Personalisation
A full range of personalisation equipment covers everything from short-run colour variable data to high-volume mono and continuous-feed inkjet personalisation. Our Kyocera TASKalfa Pro 15000c continuous-feed inkjet handles very large personalised runs - millions of pieces - efficiently and cost-effectively. Astrojet address printers handle outer envelope addressing and barcode printing at high speed.
- 2 × Ricoh Pro C651EX SRA3Variable data text and images.
- 2 × Konica Minolta AccurioPress 6136PHigh-volume mono variable data.
- Ricoh Pro 8320High-speed personalisation.
- Kyocera TASKalfa Pro 15000cContinuous-feed inkjet colour.
- 2 × Astrojet 3800pAddress and variable data printing.
Print Finishing / Binding
All finishing is completed in-house - no subcontracting. Folding, guillotining, saddle stitching, collating and bundling are handled across our dedicated finishing line. Lamination (gloss, silk and soft-touch), spot UV, foil blocking and embossing are available, as is full handwork and contract packaging for complex assembly jobs. Keeping finishing in-house means we control lead times and quality throughout - you are never waiting for a third party.
- Muller Prima Stitching Line6-station + auto cover feed with book folding attachment.
- Heidelberg Stahl TH66 Folder66cm, 2× slitter, inline perforating, vertical stacker.
- 4 × MBO B30 FoldersB1/B2 with Tri-Crease scoring and perforating.
- Heidelberg Ti52 & T800 MBO 4/4/4 FoldersAdditional folding capacity and configurations.
- Wohlenberg MCS3 & Polar 115X Plus Guillotines1150mm cutting with microcut and touchscreen control, plus Polar 76ES.
- 2 × Gordian JK-5 Ram Bundlers & Boston StitcherBundling and saddle stitching.
- 2 × Iram Drills & 2 × Smipack 5560 Shrink Wrappers2-4 hole drilling and A3 shrink wrapping.
- Handwork & Contract PackagingExtensive in-house handwork and contract packaging services.
Delivery
Our own unmarked delivery vans handle local and regional deliveries discreetly - useful for white-label trade jobs and time-critical shipments. For direct mail campaigns, finished packs are transported to Royal Mail postal depots or downstream access collection points on our own account. National courier services are managed through our established carrier network for larger or long-distance consignments.
- 2 × Unmarked Citroën Relay VansDiscreet, reliable in-house delivery.
- Local Courier NetworkLarge loads handled via trusted local couriers.