A 12-strong team, including managing director Jon Lancaster, visited Drupa to scope out the latest technologies and systems before deciding on the buys.
A long list of new kit is heading to Printed Easy’s Letchworth Garden City factory as a result.
The firm’s £850,000 spend includes a Horizon iCE Binder BQ-500 perfect binder with gauze option for casebound books, Horizon HT-1000 dynamic three-knife-trimmer, and Horizon ESF-1000 End Sheet Feeder, all from Intelligent Finishing Systems.
The new setup also includes a Schmedt PräziCase Pro paper over board case-making machine, PräLeg casing-in machine, PräForm Pro book press with multiclamp for speed, and tabletop gluer, ribbon and headband gluer also from Schmedt.
In addition a Smyth DX-80 thread sewing machine is set to arrive at the business in Q4.
“The investment will allow us to produce hardback books, and will also allow us to use thread sewing on our softcover products as well as on casebound, so books can open flat which is a nice option,” Lancaster said.
“We’ll be putting it all online, with our full optional pricing engine, across all of the range, right up to A3 portrait and with Scodix embellishment and all of the different options on that,” he explained.
Printed Easy’s dynamic pricing engine encompasses all of its litho and digital printing options.
Its press hall includes a six-colour B1 Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 with coater, three HP Indigo B2 sheetfed presses, and a seven-colour HP Indigo 7900 with heavy substrate option.
The firm also recently added inkjet label printing with a Durst Tau RSC-E.
The new casebound products will also be available through the firm’s Express+ next day delivery option.
“We are not the commodity, cheap online printer. We are the premium, highly optioned, very fast, high customer service and high quality driven online printer,” Lancaster stated.
“We are bringing offline printing to the online world.”
The post-press spend also includes four new Multigraf finishers from Duplo, three creaser/folders and a scoring/perforating device.
Printed Easy already runs multiple Multigraf machines and the new kit will increase and improve its capacity at that part of the operation with some of the older devices likely to be swapped out.
The business employs 57 and is tracking for sales of £15.7m this year.
Lancaster said the Drupa trip had also turned his eyes to other future investments, with further decisions being mulled as the firm hones its plans.
