Print Solutions
Poplar Services Printers has enhanced its landscape booklet production capabilities and increased its application flexibility with a Horizon SPF-200L bookletmaker and two VAC 1000 10 station collators from IFS.
Established in 1986 as a B2 litho company, five years ago Poplar Services Printers switched to fully digital print production. Today the commercial printer specialises in retail and point of sale and offers trade printing as a white label service.
Martin Winders, managing director, commented: ‘We invested in a stitch fold trim line when we went completely digital but it became clear we needed something faster that enabled us to be more flexible. We wanted to produce landscape and smaller sized booklets quickly and easily inhouse. We also needed something that could smoothly handle laminated booklets.’
Martin Winders, Poplar Services Printers managing director, and Michael Fenney, finishing supervisor, with the Horizon SPF-200L.
He continued, ‘We are a forward thinking company and are always considering how we can ensure we are as dynamic and responsive as possible to the needs of our customers. Last year we grew our turnover by 9% and we are hoping to achieve something similar this year.
‘Investing in the new system means we can complete more work in a faster timescale. For example, when we were hand finishing landscape books we could work at about 100 to 150 an hour. Now that figure is around 3000 per hour. We had one job recently that would have taken seven hours before. This time it took just half an hour.’
As for return on investment he stated, ‘It will pay for itself very quickly – between two to three years – because it allows us to cost effectively handle a lot more work.’
Martin did look at what was on the market but chose the Horizon system for its ability to combine stitching and folding as well as handle sheets up to 640 mm in length. He also liked the ability to instantly set up via a large icon based colour touchscreen and the storage of up to 200 jobs.
The Horizon SPF-200L joins a Horizon BQ-270 single clamp perfect binder, Horizon AFC-546 folder and a Foliant Vega 400 laminator at Poplar Services Printers.
