J Thomson Colour Printers has doubled folding capacity at its Glasgow factory with the installation of two new MBO folders supplied by Friedheim International, replacing existing models from the same manufacturer.
The £400,000 investment has led to the installation of a K8/4 S-KTZ combination folder set to run standard section work at 275m/min. The second machine is a T800 1/642 which will handle the jobbing work.
Combined the machines will double folding capacity and eliminate the chance of bottlenecks in production says managing director Kevin Creechan. “The K8 RS can match the speed of our offset presses, thereby reducing the possibility of any bottlenecks occurring,” he says. “Also, by making such a significant investment with the two MBO folders we will be more competitive on larger projects, which up until now we have probably not been able to consider.”
Friedheim International has also supplied a Palamides Alpha 700 Plus strapping unit which can be moved to either of the folders.
The investment brings the folding area up to speed with the company’s Heidelberg litho presses and underlines the company’s position as the leading commercial printer in Scotland. It employs 120 at the factory in Glasgow and at four satellite operations across the country.
“Although we had added speed and capacity to our printing operation, we had not done the same with our finishing capabilities, and realised that we needed to correct this ‘imbalance’,” says Creechan.
“Folding technology has progressed significantly since our last purchase, and therefore we took our time assessing what we required before making a decision. Once we had seen what was on offer it was apparent that the range of capabilities provided by the MBO folders was ideal for our business mix.”
As well as the twin B1 press litho operation, the company runs HP Indigo equipped digital printing, offering web to print and enhanced print services.
J Thomson Colour Printers has replaced two of its existing MBO folders with the latest K8-RS and K800 folders with an additional Palamides wrapper to ease what has become a bottleneck for the business.
