Rufford Printing Company is celebrating its 50th year in business with a fresh look at its service offering following investment in a Horizon CRF-362 Creaser Folder from IFS.
Owner Brian Smith established the Ormskirk business in 1970 after a childhood tree climbing accident left him in a wheelchair. As part of his rehabilitation he was introduced to letterpress printing.
Today the business still offers letterpress printing on two Heidelberg platens an Arab platen and a Vandercook cylinder press alongside digital print completed by a Xerox Versant 180 and a Xerox D95. Wide format print is delivered by a Canon IPF8400S and a Roland 540. Smith also shares his passion for hand typesetting letter/press printing with free open days and hosts visitors from local schools and colleges.
Recognising increased demand for high quality, short run, faster turnaround jobs, Smith took the decision to invest in a system that supports a more responsive way of working. He explains: “We wanted to move away from high volume work towards high value and investing in the Horizon CRF-362 allows us to work on more bespoke jobs. We can also keep more work in house.”
He continues: “It folds both sides of the sheet and with a quality of crease we couldn’t do before. We can also now crease 350gsm card and that opens up many opportunities for us. The quality of the finish looks good – it makes us look more professional.”
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 minimizes 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 color touch screen.
It was chosen to replace an older system and Smith considered Horizon as he already had a Horizon SPF/FC-200 bookletmaker with a VAC-1000 collator that was running well. He says: “The bookletmaker is simple and easy to use and the creaser folder has the same set up. We knew it would be quick to get up and running.”
