The devices, which were bought from Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS), were installed at the Wolverhampton-based firm’s 697sqm premises in the spring.
The total investment cost was around £113,000, just under £30,000 of which was funded with a grant from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF).
Managing director Darren Ellis said the business is diversifying its services in order to boost turnover after losing a lot of litho mounting trade over the past few years.
“Our turnover has dropped from about £800,000 to £550,000 because some of our big litho mounting clients have put machinery in-house. It’s left a big hole so we’re now looking to diversify into different types of finishing to add more strings to our bow,” said Ellis.
Ellis said the business had received frequent requests for perfect PUR and EVA binding.
“This investment has impacted the business from day one with regular work for perfect-bound books streaming in,” said Ellis.
“It has helped us give our clients a more complete service from laminating book covers to actually binding the books and trimming to the finished size.”
He added: “We needed an automated multi-clamp binder and book trimmer to ensure we could offer a service to the customer base.
“The Horizon BQ-470, with the HT-30, was the ideal solution and will help grow our client list as we can now offer short to medium PUR and EVA perfect binding runs.”
The business also considered a range of options from other suppliers but found that the BQ-470 best suited its needs.
“The BQ-470 is easy to run with fast automated set-ups and can switch between PUR and EVA binding. The 1,350cph production speed was also a key consideration in our decision,” said Ellis.
“The level of automation was a massive plus. The ease of set-up and ability to select jobs from a memory is just what we needed. The BQ-470 is able to offer variable binding and makes ready in seconds.
“We can also get a good book first time, every time, so there is very minimal waste if any at all.”
The 10-staff business also offers trade laminating, die-cutting and wire binding services in-house and is looking to add case-making in the near future as it continues to expand into new areas.
