Installed at the end of June, the three machines were a like-for-like replacement for older versions of the same machines at the Accrington trade print operation.

Supplied to Birtwells by Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS) and accompanied by PJ75 joggers for paper handling, they represented an investment of around £45,000.

Managing director Nick Birtwell said: “We supply all trades, mostly for carbonless books and pads, and this investment makes us more efficient, reducing production and delivery times.

“About 80% of our work is collating and NCR sets and 20% booklets. We have three collating towers on our bookletmaker and three standalone towers. It was time to replace the standalone towers and it was an easy decision to invest in Horizon again.

“They are well built reliable towers and they suit us really well. They were quickly and easily installed. We have seen runs getting smaller and the easy to set up and operate collators enable us to complete the work more flexibly.”

Horizon’s VAC-600H collators can take a sheet size up to 350x500mm at a production speed of up to 9,900 sets/hr. They are equipped with rotary suction feeders that are able to operate on a range of paper stocks, as well as a high-power double feed detect sensor and image checking system.

The trio joins a variety of printing technology at Birtwells, including a Heidelberg Speedmaster SM52-4+LX Anicolor, a Speedmaster SM52-5P and two single-colour Heidelberg GTOs as well as a Konica Minolta Bizhub Pro C7000 and a Heidelberg Versafire.

Covering approximately 5,000sqm floorspace, around 50 members of staff work at the 1904-founded outfit.