RS Bookbinders has bought its first automated perfect binder from TCS Finishing Systems. The Bourg binder has been installed in the RS factory near Southend in Essex.
“It is our first venture into more automated perfect binding,” says managing director Graham Shaddock. “We have had a single-clamp Horizon BQ160 until now and needed something more. We found that the Bourg gave us the quality we wanted, especially with a squareness of the spine.”
The company is a trade binder working both for other printers, where it handles the short run work which can be awkward for a larger business to cope with, and for end clients who demand high quality and traditional skills. The company has a lot of specialist equipment to produce work requiring a high level of embellishment, but has not previously had higher volume binding capacity. “The Bourg gives us more options,” says Shaddock. “It creases covers at the same time as it binds and we can use it to glue up the backs of sewn section books we produce.”
The work tends to be short run, some 200-300 copies, which is below the sensible level for a high speed binding line. As well as the perfect binder, RS Bookbinders is increasing capacity for presentation boxes and covers. It installed a box maker from Perfect Bindery Solutions around two years ago and is returning to the Oxfordshire supplier for a cover wrap gluer, case maker and gluing machine.
“We have found ourselves a bit of a niche at this part of the market,” says Shaddock. “Times have been tough over the last year, but despite this we have managed to do OK.
“We had originally planned these investments for last May, but put the spending on hold because of the uncertainty around. Now we are noticed that we are getting a lot more inquiries so hopefully we will have everything in place for when the market picks up,” says Shaddock.
