We are delighted to be featured in an edition of PrintWeek as the star of its Best of British profile.

As a business founded in Manchester in the early 1980s and with roots firmly laid in the North West, we are proud to serve printers and converters around the world with flexo and gravure pre-press solutions, which allow them to use the full potential of their printing presses and maximise throughput.

Below is a sample of the article.

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The Flexo Plate Mounting Specialists

Heaford is a 43-year-old company that makes flexo plate-mounting and proofing equipment, plus gravure cylinder proofing machines. “Our end-customers are typically people that are printing for the brands or for the supermarkets,” says Managing Director, David Muncaster. “That predominantly is for packaging. So our machines are either for label or flexible packaging, sometimes for corrugated.”

Based in a pair of units on a modern industrial park in Altrincham, to the west of Manchester, it employs 25 people in manufacturing, sales and support. It ships equipment globally, from Brazil and Peru to Japan and the US. A permanent field service engineer supports North America from Virginia, and a part-time engineer covers Brazil.

These are supported by a worldwide network of around 30 agents, that account for roughly 80% of export sales. Muncaster recalls a business consultant putting that into perspective: “You’re really a business of 55 because you’ve got 30 agents and they’re all part of it as well.”

Heaford began as a gravure proofing manufacturer. Flexo mounting and proofing soon followed and rapidly expanded to become the larger side of the business.

Design, prototyping and final assembly are all carried out in-house, using SolidWorks for 3D modelling and EPLAN for electrical panel design. Machined components come from local precision engineering suppliers that Heaford has worked with for two or three decades, while drives and electronics are bought in from Siemens, Bosch Rexroth and Festo.

Heaford offers a range of installation options including travelling to sites worldwide. Some customers install manual machines themselves, says Muncaster; Heaford supplies documents and videos to guide this.

The Heaford story started in a garage in 1983. John Heaford had been working in sales for George Moulton Successors (GMS), a gravure proofing manufacturer in Manchester, when he decided he could design and build a better product by going alone. This was a brave step to take with five children at home.

After creating his first design, he moved into a rented unit not far from Heaford’s current site, and built from there.

The company moved to its current Altrincham site, off Atlantic Street close to the Bridgewater Canal, around 1990. It occupies two units: one with offices and the assembly floor, the other a warehouse handling components and spares, plus meeting rooms. Components for new builds are collected onto trolleys in the warehouse and wheeled across to the assembly floor, where each machine is built and tested.

Today it remains a privately owned family firm, now employing its third generation. John Heaford retired more than 10 years ago and sadly died in 2022. John’s son Nigel ran the company after that but has now retired. Sally-Anne Heaford, John’s daughter, joined in 2002 and is now chair. Nigel’s son Gwilym completed an apprenticeship within the business and is now the company’s gravure specialist.

For years the company traded as JM Heaford, using John’s initials. When Muncaster joined 10 years ago, he commissioned an insight study into marketing. One result was the rebranding as Heaford. “Everyone called it that already, although legally it’s still JM Heaford Limited,” Muncaster says.

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