Galloways last week took delivery of a Horizon StitchLiner MKIII, its first investment since the pandemic began almost 18 months ago.
That came just months after installation of a Speedmaster CX102 at the Poynton, Cheshire, business. The pandemic and lockdowns have since transformed the business and the StitchLiner is needed to continue the transition into a slicker, more responsive business, according to managing director Matt Galloway.
He had himself just taken over from his father Andy, who has an overseeing role as deputy chairman.
“We have been, like many printers in the last 18 months, swinging from feast to famine,” he says. “Now there is a distinct increase in business coning through and there is greater confidence now than there was.”
The StitchLiner fits the pattern of work that the new press has attracted – multi-section stitched and perfect bound brochures with relatively short runs. This is meat and drink to the fast makeready press and work that the company had previously not been comfortable with. But it has placed demands on finishing, based on an ageing Muller and perfect binding. Both require folded sections and, although the business has four folders, this became a bottleneck.
The arrival of the StitchLiner will tackle this, says Galloway. “For the Muller we had to crease and fold off line and it served a purpose for us. But now we can do all this inline which means that the folders can be handling sections for the binder or producing folded leaflets while the StitchLiner will receive flat sheets.
The company has noted a distinct growth in demand for litho over digital, where demand has been steady of late. This may be because the Speedmaster has attracted this type of work as well as taking on work from the top end of digital because of its efficiency.
“The StitchLiner has arrived at the right time: by taking in flat sheets, it gives us more capacity at the folders; it suits the multi-section jobs and because it is a modern automated machine, it fits how we work.”
