Leeds printer Pressision has replaced a Heidelberg ST350 saddle stitcher with a Horizon SPF200L booklet maker with three ten-bin collating towers.
Managing director James Taylor says the ability to decouple the stitching unit allows the company to run the towers to collate blocks to a stacker, offsetting each set to allow for ease of feeding into its Horizon BQ500 PUR perfect binder.
“As this makes ready in a few minutes compared to an hour on the ST350, and can collate sections for perfect binding, it’s a bit of a double win for us,” he says. The booklet maker can meet a growing demand for stitched booklets and easing a bottleneck at this part of the workflow. There is no need for folding ahead of stitching and the unit also takes up less space than the old equipment.
“The ability to collate sets was the main reason to buy the SPF200L for us,” Taylor explains. “We do a lot more PUR binding than we do saddle stitching, hence our decision to go down this route rather than investing in a StitchLiner.”
The versatility of the machine has had a beneficial impact on the business. “In the first month of having it we have run Colorplan covers, we have run products with sort covers and one with a pocket on the back cover, things that we didn’t think that this machine could do,” he says.
This eases pressure on handwork automating what is low value work and allowing handworkers to focus on higher value added work for the company’s portfolio of luxury brands.
“Most of the stuff we produce is for multiple use or for a keepsake where print is required rather than merely wanted,” Taylor says. “When you visit a high end jeweller you want to come out with a nicely printed brochure rather than a website address.”
The SPF200 is operated through an icon driven touch screen running at up to 4,500 booklets an hour and in formats from CD to A4 landscape.
The company has also upgraded from an S2 Indigo to an Indigo 7900 able to print metallics and neon colours.
