The firm will install a Prinect Printready pre-press workflow next month, with a Ti52 buckle folder arriving in October, a Stitchmaster ST400 saddle-stitcher in November and two KD82 combination folders with stacker bundlers in December. 

Alden operations manager Craig Harry said: "We already have a bank of Heidelberg presses, so we've decided to have one supplier that we can link into our MIS, which we've written ourselves, in terms of the JDF workflow." 

Harry said that the company is hoping to make the move to a full JDF workflow in 2005. "We need to get all the equipment in first up and running before we can really start getting down to full connection," he said. 

"We operate in a very short turnaround marketplace, so this equipment will help us to sustain our service reputation," he added.