Futureprint has replaced a 15-year-old booklet maker with a Horizon SPF200L capable of producing A4 landscape products.
The Horizon was supplied by IFS which two years ago provided the Northampton company with a Petratto carton folder gluer. Since then the company has acquired a new Versant and large format printer, part of a strategy to keep as much work as possible in house.
The company also runs an Oliver 75 litho press along with two Xerox presses.
The impetus for the latest investment was the increasingly temperamental nature of the ageing machine and a need to keep pace with technology. Director Max Bishop says: “We had an older system in place but wanted something faster, easier to set up, that ran smoothly. We also wanted something that would complete landscape work so we could offer that as a service knowing we could complete it inhouse.”
It will increase productivity thanks to faster set up and will meet an increased need, both from its acquisition of Print Projects in 2021 and from customers to “get what we have done quicker and more effectively” says Bishop.
There will be an impact on operational costs as service charges will drop and on operational efficiently thanks to touch screen control, JDF connectivity if needed and greater automation. The line was installed at the beginning of March and has yet to hit its stride, though the automation is already appreciated by the FuturePrint operators he says.
“We like to keep what we can in house as that helps to keep everyone here busy. It’s much better if you can do things from within your own four walls,” he adds. “We did look at alternatives, but this is the right thing to do for us.”
Investment in a digital cutting table and carton gluer were part of this strategy. However, a perfect binder has not been. “Demand for perfect binding is very sporadic. We’ve had four or five perfect bound projects recently and it might be several months before we get another,” says Bishop.
