Platinum Print has increased finishing capacity, replacing a long serving Horizon StitchLiner 5500 with the latest Horizon StitchLiner MkIV.
This can produce A4 landscape products, so eases pressure on its Muller Martini lines and replaced hand finishing for very short run work. Speed of makeready and versatility will also create extra capacity through automation and a much larger sweet spot for work that can run at full pace.
“While the rated speed is only 500 copies an hour higher with the new machine, the reality is it is much quicker,” says managing director Anthony Wyvill. “We have a regular A5 landscape job which would have to run at 2,700 mph on the old machine, We can run that at twice the speed speed on the new machine.”
The reliability of the old Horizon and back up from UK distributor IFS meant there was little consideration when the time came to put the old machine out to pasture. In fact it will have another lease of life elsewhere in the world even with 25 million books on the block.
The MkIV has been installed with three towers, each with six deeper than standard bins able to produce a 72pp A4 landscape product. Extra blowers ensure that both litho and digitally printed sheets are trouble-free to work with. The Harrogate company operates an Indigo 1200 B2 digital press, a Ricoh C9500 purchased earlier this year and a B2 Komori Lithrone. The B2 machines are capable of handling stiffer boards for carton work as well as conventional commercial print.
The StitchLiner continues a refresh of the finishing department. A Polar 115N guillotine, Autobond laminator and most recently a Bacciottini Pitstop Oxo creaser folder have been installed.
Like these the StitchLiner has hit the ground running. Staff have adapted quickly to the touch screen controls as the underlying principal behind operation remains the same.
“While the previous StitchLiner offered a good level of automation, the Mark IV takes this much further. The enhancements deliver clear advantages that support highly efficient and economical production,” says Wyvill. “In the end we knew operator training would be simple. It was a simple decision for us to take.”
