General commercial Welsh operation The Print Co has added inhouse PUR perfect binding to its portfolio of services following investment in a Horizon BQ470 perfect binder from Intelligent Finishing Systems.

“We were looking to expand our digital operation and previously outsourced all our PUR binding,” explains Chief Operating Officer Danny Lock. “We have a very good relationship with our suppliers but it was time to bring the shorter runs inhouse.”

The group based in Bristol, has offices in Cwmbran, Edinburgh and Reading. Litho printing is carried out at two sites on Heidelberg and Ryobi presses with digital on Konica Minolta Bizhubs at all sites.

“Investing in the binder will mean we are able to offer a quick response to our customers’ needs and enable a greater control over costs. We can be much more certain with critical timings. No matter how good our relationship was with our suppliers there was still inevitably a time delay.”

The small-footprinted 1,350 books per hour PUR BQ-470 four-clamp perfect binder 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.

Adds Lock: “It is so easy to set up and run, enabling all shifts to complete jobs as and when they are needed.”

Print Co reviewed the market before choosing the Horizon BQ470: “We considered the alternatives but there were a number of features on the Horizon we found important. One main reason was the safety factor of the glue application and setting.  Because of turnaround times we are unable to wait to check the books so we needed an application process we could be sure of. We feel the Horizon gives us this.”

He continued: “This is especially the case for short runs that need to be delivered quickly by bringing this work in house we have control of turnaround times, quality and costs.”