IFS has taken on the UK & Ireland agency for Italian bookbinding specialist Smyth, adding Smyth’s sewing machine products to Horizon perfect binding technology.
Horizon has shown no inclination to develop sewing capability. Sewing is increasingly of interest to offer a different finish to book compared to adhesive binding, to deliver a lay flat impact and to provide the assurance that pages are not missing.
Smyth has a range across the span of print production including sewing machines with integrated folders for digital printing to high speed machines in combination with gathering lines for high volume work.
The deal comes into effect on 1 September having been completed during Drupa. “It’s complementary to everything else that we do,” says IFS technical sales director Jason Seaber. “It fits alongside adhesive book binding. The DXE entry level system that was introduced at Drupa for example takes flat four up digitally printed sheets folds and sew four page signatures. The DX80 is the faster version that can operate inline to digital printers. At Drupa it was inline to a Canon Titan mono printer with automatic adjustment for different sheet sizes. With the addition of a buckle plate this can produce an 8pp signature as well.”
There are also integrations with Tecnau, which IFS also distribues in the UK, for higher volume digital printed books.
“We have has a high level of interest in sewing machines in projects we have handled in the past year,” says Seaber.
IFS will take on service and support for the installed base of machines in the UK, some dating back decades and some in unexpected locations.
The move follows appointment of a new distributor for Smyth products in Scandinavia and installations of a smart binding solution in France combining both Horizon and Smyth technology. In the UK a similar set up is envisaged at Printed Easy where the company has ordered a binding line capable of section sewn case bound books comprising Horison BQ500 binder and HT10000 trimmer, Schmedt case making in casing in lines and DX80 sewing machine.
Sabrina Pronotto, CEO of Smyth, says: “Forming a partnership with IFS was an easy decision. Both organisations strive to deliver customer focused, top quality finishing solutions that truly add value. Together, working as a team, we aim to make our offer and our know-how available to all those companies that need to speed up and simplify their finishing processes both in the digital and offset printing markets.”
IFS will be competing with Muller Martini with the Ventura sewers and Kolbus UK which handles sales of Meccanotechnica’s Astra sewers in the UK.
