Impress Print Services has freed up a bottleneck and tripled productivity following investment in a Horizon HT-80 automated three knife trimmer from Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS).

The Walton-on-Thames general commercial printer had been running a Horizon HT-30 nearline single-knife book trimmer with Horizon BQ-470 four-clamp perfect binder.

Michael Kille, Managing Director, explains: “We wanted to be more productive and to streamline operations. In the bindery this was our most problematic area. A lot of our work is urgent and has very short deadlines. We also wanted the flexibility to produce longer runs inhouse. Before we were sending those jobs out and we might have had to wait a couple of days for them to be completed. Turnaround times are much shorter now and it wasn’t always ideal to wait.”

The company chose to invest in the Horizon HT-80 and run it inline with their Horizon BQ-470 four-clamp perfect binder. Says Michael: “Now work comes off the folder and goes straight onto the Horizon book binding and book trimming line. It is faster and more streamlined. We can also do everything now inhouse. We can be confident that we can turn jobs around much quicker with this Horizon investment.”

He continues: “Productivity has jumped up hugely. It has tripled. We are much more effective. The new trimmer will continue to help us improve operations and generally be more efficient.”

Impress’s HT-80 automated three knife trimmer runs in-line with its Horizon BQ-470 for fast, efficient book production. All jobs can be set up automatically by inputting the untrimmed size and finished size into the intuitive colour touch screen for quick and accurate job changeovers. Books of the same size, but different thickness, can also be trimmed at the same time, for true book of one production.

Michael concludes: “Not having to manage outsourcing means we can be confident on promising work. We can say yes to more things and we can go after work we wouldn’t have targeted before.”