Estimated to cost more than £7m for the pair by Bell & Bain group chairman Stephen Docherty, the latest spend comes hot on the heels of the Glasgow-headquartered book printer’s investment in a Ventura MC 200 book sewing machine from Muller Martini, which will be installed next month.
The highly specified new presses, both perfectors – an eight-colour and a four-colour, will be installed in February and April next year.
They will increase capacity to match the desired growth aspirations of the business, which recently acquired local stalwart commercial operation J Thomson in July to create a near 300-staff, £30m-turnover group.
The two new presses will join an existing Rapida 145 at the main Bell & Bain site while a Rapida 142 will be sold on.
The group also operates two Rapida 106 presses, a 10-colour and a six-colour LED machine with a coater which is installed at the J Thomson site.
Docherty told Printweek: “We’re extremely busy this year and there’s been a tremendous strain on the factory and the people to produce. I buy things to make the life of my staff easier and also to give my customers what they require, when they require it. The makereadies on these presses do lighten the load.
“I did look at the market in depth but it’s not just about buying a press, it’s about the sustainability, the service and what’s going to happen in five years – do I feel that that company is still going to be able to support me. Koenig & Bauer seem buoyant so it was an easy choice.”
The new 1,060x1,450mm-format presses can print at speeds of up to 15,000sph and feature simultaneous plate changing, which enables them to change plates in 51 seconds, a 49% reduction from Bell & Bain’s existing Rapida 145 press.
For total paper control, both machines are equipped with Koenig and Bauer’s Sensoric Infeed System (SIS), which is said to enable trouble and mark free production at the highest speeds.
Colour control, meanwhile, is via the manufacturer’s QualiTronic ColorControl which reads a full colour bar on every sheet and provides updates to colour values after every tenth sheet.
Docherty said he expects the extra capacity “to be filled very quickly”, setting the group up to head towards a turnover of £40m within the next 18 months.
Bell & Bain was founded by James Bell and Andrew Bain in 1831. The group also includes 21 Colour, a commercial printing operation acquired last summer. Across all of its businesses combined the group operates from more than 11,000sqm space.
