UK Bookbinders has set up a digital division to win new work with investment in a Horizon BQ470PUR perfect binder and a Horizon HT30 three-side trimmer.
The Weston-super-Mare trade finisher is also hoping the move into new markets will help to attract new customers as well as increase its offering to their existing clients.
“We moved into an extra 7,000 sq ft at the end of last year and now that area will be where we handle digital finishing,” comments Lee Gray, general manager. “Having the systems close together will streamline production and ensure greater efficiency.
“We work with printers from across the UK offering a range of services for litho print from thread sewing, perfect and PUR binding to case binding. Now we want to broaden our services to handling short runs and digital work in a cost-effective way. The Horizon systems are perfect for that. Before runs of 200 to 300 were cost prohibitive.
“We have a lot of skilled operators here but ease of use was still important to ensure we handle the work as quickly as possible. We also chose the four-clamp option rather than single-clamp because it gives us greater production flexibility.”
On choosing the BQ470 he says: “We had a demo, saw it at PrintWeek Live and spoke to existing users who all championed its abilities. I also looked at reports and piggy-backed research. I didn’t see many alternatives. It is versatile, easy to make-ready, and has a good running speed. It ticked all the boxes.”
The Horizon BQ-470 is ideally suited to mid-range soft back book production with higher production speeds, instant make readies for runs-of-one. It can bind up to 65 mm (2.55”) thickness and offers fully automated set-up through an intuitive icon based LCD touchscreen.
As for the Horizon HT30 he adds: “This will be ideal for when we ramp up the orders. It will streamline the process and we can also be confident in the quality of the results.”
The Horizon HT30 three-side trimmer features automated job set-ups and quick changeovers with the ability to store up to 40 different book jobs in memory. It operates off-line to trim perfect bound books at speeds up to 200 cycles per hour. A colour touch screen allows all set-ups to be performed with full automation.
