Print Solutions
Somerset general commercial printer Carly Press has chosen an Intelligent Finishing Systems supplied Horizon SPF/FC-200L bookletmaker and a Horizon CRF-362 creaser folder to streamline its bindery and boost production capacity.
The digital and wide format printer services local and national customers and specialises short to medium run lengths with short turnaround times. Its print production portfolio of systems includes several Ricoh production machines and an HP360 64” Latex printer.
Mark Gladstone-Smith, managing director, explained: ‘We had an ageing system and we were doing a lot of monthly magazines with one week in each month getting increasingly rammed. We also had to hand insert anything over 40 pages. We were working flat out and didn’t have much spare capacity. We reviewed the situation for a couple of months and decided we needed a replacement.’
The SPF/FC-200L A4 landscape booklet production line incorporates all the highly automated features of the SPF/FC-200A bookletmaker combined with the ability to feed A4 landscape sheets up to 640 mm in length. The feeding system can run at speeds of up to 42,000 sheets per hour with A4 short edge feeding. JDF ready, it enables instant set ups via a large icon based colour touchscreen for user friendly operation and can store and recall up to 200 jobs.
Mark continued, ‘We were also sending out a lot of A4 landscape work which meant we didn’t have total control. There was also a time consideration in palleting the work and sending it out. We do a lot of short run quick turnaround jobs with a turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours and so keeping them in-house makes everything smoother.’
The impact was felt immediately: ‘It was a massive step up. The monthlies fly through now. The SPF/FC-200L is a game changer. It runs a lot faster and that has generally made production easier. We now have the capacity to confidently take on more short run work. The old system took two people to run it. This one takes just one freeing the second person to run something else.’
The Horizon CRF-362 creases and folds in one pass a wide range of light and heavy weight stocks, coated or uncoated. Capable of up to ten crease lines on a sheet, it uses an impact scoring technology that eliminates or minimises cracking of the stock or printed image. Set up and changeovers – including fold pattern, creasing number, and up/down crease selection – are completed on the high resolution intuitive colour touch screen.
Mark said, ‘We only had a creaser so we had to fold everything over 250 g/m2 by hand which was time consuming. We do a lot of hand closing of menus, brochures and cards. It has been an absolute godsend.’
He reviewed other systems before making the final decision: ‘The Horizon systems were more robust and easy to use. We bought a laminator from IFS a couple of years ago and the service was great – nothing was too much trouble. This time round was no exception. The training was very comprehensive. The service has been great all round.’
