Southend business Urban Design & Print has installed a fast makeready Horizon folder to keep pace with demand for fast turnaround print from customers in London.
The company serves the capital with its own courier service for next day delivery. Customers outside London are reached via commercial couriers. The business runs both offset and digital presses and has expanded from posters and flyers into a wide range of products sold direct or through its online portal.
Director Jeff Chaplin says the Horizon replaces an older folder which had reached the point where it needed to be replaced. “We wanted something that was more automated and easier to run,” he says.
The was the AFV566FKT iCE folder supplier by IFS. It has been a success says Chaplain. “The Horizon is faster and stores jobs. You can preset it and it automatically sets up for the job. This is ideal as we do a lot of short run work that we can now complete it much faster. It improves how we are getting things done. It is just a time saver. We can now take an order , complete it, and dispatch it the next day. What might have taken hours to set up before, now takes minutes. That makes a difference when lots of jobs are small runs.”
The level of automation, with storage of 999 job settings, touch screen and icon operation and servo motor adjustment of the elements of the folder, means that the folder does not need the depth of experience the machine being replaced needed.
Chaplin says: “It enables us to have less skilled team members running it. The main operator is highly skilled and he can then train others to run it very easily. We have a Horizon SPF/FC200 saddlestitcher and the interface is very similar. This makes it easy for operators to move around the bindery. It reduces manual elements and enables greater flexibility in the bindery.”
