The 4,500bph JDF-ready Horizon SPF–FC200A was bought to complement an ageing, seven-year-old SPF/FC-10. It has allowed the £4m turnover firm not only to double its capacity but also eliminate overtime.
"It’s not given us anything we couldn’t do before," reported joint managing director Glenn Whewell. "But it gives us more capacity. We were getting bottlenecks and it’s allowed us to just get more through."
He added: "We do a lot of booklet work, a lot of small format booklet work - 8 pages up to 40 pages varying from 50-10,000 copies. The machine is very flexible. We run a lot of instruction manuals for the gaming industry, advertising brochures for theatres and cinemas and general company brochures."
Key to the machine handling short-runs, is its quick makeready times, said Whewell: "The makeready is very quick, it’s just a series of keypad instructions and very straightforward and simple."
The new machine cost B&D around £40,000 from Intelligent Finishing Systems. The Horizon SPF–FC200A features 200-programme job memory storage, an icon-based touchscreen, Horizon’s patented suction rotor drum feeding system and mis-feed, double feed and jamming sensors.
B&D didn’t look at any other brands when shopping for the new booklet making line, said Whewell. He added: "We were very familiar with this and were just aware it was the product we wanted. We didn’t feel the need to look elsewhere. It was just a case of tried and tested."
B&D Print Services was established in 1976 and also runs two five-colour B2 presses, a two-colour B2 and a five-colour B3 - all Heidelberg. It also has a Xerox Nuvera, Kodak NexPress, two Polar Guillotines and a Heidelberg Stitchmaster.
B&D Print Services doubles finishing capacity with new Horizon SPF-FC200A
Lancashire-based B&D Print Services has announced a doubling of finishing capacity since installing a new Horizon SPF-FC200A bookletmaker two months ago.
