We recently had a 3,000 run that we interrupted for a small 500 book job for Waitrose.

Robson Print Aims For ROI in 18 Months With Horizon SPF/FC-200A

Northumberland general commercial firm Robson Print expects return on investment in 18 months after expanding production capacity following investment in a Horizon SPF/FC-200A stitch/fold/trim line.

Neil McKie, Director of the firm that works with local, national and international businesses such as the home brew market and educational material for the UK and USA states: “We looked at Duplo but felt the Horizon had more benefits to bring to the table. We thought the Horizon had a better trade name.  We don’t pigeonhole any of our operators on particular pieces of equipment. We like them to be able to operate lots of different systems and the Horizon fits in well with that. It was a lot easier to set up than the older machine and our apprentices were up and running on it very quickly.”

Flexible production is one of the main benefits of the 4,500bph JDF-ready Horizon SPF/FC-200A explains Mr McKie: “The programmability is very useful. We recently had a 3,000 run that we interrupted for a small 500 book job for Waitrose. It also offers extremely smooth operation which gives us more confidence to take on the bigger jobs. We can just set it up and let it run.”

The investment was made to replace an aging system and tackle some production issues in the bindery. “Collating used to be a big bottleneck and the Horizon has made a massive impact,” says Mr McKie. “Going from 10 stations to 20 is saving us days at a time. There is no need to pre-collate now. We have also significantly increased capacity and we are getting through the work much quicker. We are getting a good throughput and work keeps coming in.”

A punch unit has been added to Robsons’ Horizon SPF/FC-200A. “We have a regular 3,000 book run but it can be as much as 12,000 books,” explains Mr McKie. “So we took a considered gamble and added the punch to the system to handle this one job much more cost effectively. But we also hope it will help us win similar work.”

Robson Print’s system features a 200-programme job memory storage for instant recall, an icon-based touch-screen for job set-up and two 10-station VAC-Turbo 100 PowerCollators. The patented Horizon advanced suction rotor drum feeding system operates effectively on a wide variety of paper stocks at high speeds. Accuracy and reliability are assured by mis-feed, double feed and jamming sensors on each bin and the feed error history can be monitored via the touchscreen.

The company is continuing to invest in the bindery and has just placed an order for AFC??? highly-automated folder.

About the Horizon SPF/FC-200A

• Runs at 4,500bph
• JDF-ready it enables instant set-ups via a large icon-based colour touchscreen for user-friendly operation.
• Storage and recall of up to 200 jobs.
• A patented Horizon advanced suction rotor drum feeding system operates effectively on a wide variety of paper stocks at high speeds.
• Accuracy and reliability are assured by mis-feed, double feed and jamming sensors on each bin and the feed error history can be monitored via the touchscreen
• A built in error reject tray and a hand marrying tray
• Automated fold roller gap changeover for smooth operation.

Robson Print

Founded:2009

Sector: Commercial printing

Employees: 9

Turnover: £700,000