Aquatint has taken delivery of a Duplo DBM700 booklet maker, only the seventh company in the UK to install the machine since its launch at the start of the year.
The Wimbledon printer has also taken delivery of a DC618 which, says CEO Roger Severn, will have a dramatic impact on production of business cards. It is the booklet maker that will have a greater impact, however.
It has replaced a DBM500, a machine that was showing its age in terms of service and maintenance as much as in speed and versatility. “It has been a good machine, but also a struggle to get parts for it,” he says. “And we didn’t realise just how slow it had become. The DBM700 has been a bit of an eye opener.”
The finishing line has only been in place for a week but already operators have welcomed it with open arms. “They are loving it,” he says. “Jobs that used to take the best part of a morning to print and get out of the door are now completed in an hour. We are confident to take on A4 and A5 landscape work.”
Aquatint can print these thanks to the long sheet function on its Xerox iGen, but has not been confident about handling landscape format A4s. Because these can now be processed efficiently and effortlessly, Severn adds: “This is going to be quite a game changer for us.”
The company produces a reasonable number of photobooks on behalf of a third-party distributor that can now be offered soft cover options. As well as the micro runs needed for these jobs, the DBM700 will handle longer runs that used to be produced on its conventional stitcher.
The DC618 multi finisher has been equally impressive he says. “Thanks to the automation, it means that business cards become profitable again.”
