Printed Easy is going live with its expansion into ordering casebound books via its website. The hardback books price calculator is now live but it will be a further week before the Letchworth company begins to accept orders.
The company completed orders for a swathe of equipment at Drupa. This featured the latest Horizon BQ500 with gauzing option and end sheet feeder with connection to an HT1000 three-knife trimmer. It also purchased case making equipment from Schmedt, including head band and ribbon gluing. A Smyth sewing machine will provide sewn section options for adhesive bound as well as casebound books.
As with all other items that Printed Easy enables to be ordered via the website, there are minimal restrictions on format. The range of formats extends from 85mm square to an A3 portrait with a maximum fore edge of 314mm. End papers can be plain or printed on one or both sides. There is a choice of 71 colours from Papago or Colorplan, 48 head band colours and 32 ribbon colours. Outer covers and dust jackets can be have one of five laminates and benefit from other services that Printed Easy has on site, including Scodix foiling and varnishing.
The standard turnaround is five days for jobs valued at less than £2,500 with a next day dispatch option for orders up to £2,000 in value, but carrying an 80% surcharge for this speed of service.
As ever with Printed Easy’s approach the challenge has been to write the software that combines all options into the application and to present this as simply as possible for buyers. “It has been a long eight weeks developing all the software to bring something to the internet that is at the usual Printed Easy standard,” says managing director Jon Lancaster.
The company has produced perfect bound books for a number of years with a Kolbus binder the mainstay of this service. Case binding is increasing in demand for all kinds of books, making this a logical option for the business.
Books can be printed digitally on Indigo machines or offset on its XL106. This is to be enhanced with investment in a Canon iX3200, a popular machine with book printers.
