Catford Print Centre has created a smoother on demand book production process following investment in an IFS-supplied Horizon HT30C three-side trimmer.

Owner Russell Jones explains: “We have been fully aware of the slow decline in offset litho work over the years. We have replaced it with digital jobs and found that paperback books were one area we felt we could develop.

“We have had great response from a marketing campaign and that lead to an upsurge in book sales. It was no longer feasible to three side trim books manually on the guillotine. It was creating a bottleneck. It was also preventing operators from getting on with other profitable work.”

The 200 cycles per hour Horizon HT-30C three-side trimmer features automated job set-up and quick changeovers. A colour touch screen allows all set-ups to be performed with full automation and the ability to store up to 40 different jobs in memory.

As for choosing the Horizon HT30C he said: “We recognised that we needed a three-side trimmer but initially couldn’t justify the investment. We had plenty of time to causally observe other machines. We have a BQ270 so knew and liked the build quality. We also liked the service from IFS. The HT30C was also perhaps the simplest, yet most effective entry level machine.”

Adds Jones: “It has already made a significant difference in productivity. That increase means we are able to take on more work.”

He concludes: “Our main considerations were freeing up the guillotine and making life more comfortable for our operators. It couldn’t have come sooner.”