The DigiBook 200 installation also included a Morgana AutoCreaser Pro 33 to further help the post-press operation of the London print business. The total package cost just under £30,000.
Managing director Michael Peters had used Morgana for 20 years, but his first venture with PUR binding had been with another supplier.
“We used a competitor's machine, but were not able to produce the ultra short-runs as cost effectively as we had hoped. The DigiBook 200 is a significant improvement.
“It is easy to set up, run and use and is reliable – crucial buzzwords,” he said. “We set it up after a couple of copies – it doesn't take hours and cost a fortune – and once it's running it's consistent.
“With this kind of binding you can't see what's happening so trust is important. We've tried perfect binding for two years but it was a bit hit and miss and we outsourced a lot.
“Now we can do it in 24 hours so it makes our operation much slicker. Morgana is good, and the machine great. It's solid; you can trust the quality.”
Peters added: “It produces minimal waste and because of the sealed glue tank you can produce a single copy of a publication and not waste huge amounts of adhesive.
“We produced one job recently, a booklet with a run of 200 copies, and were able to print and bind the job in a single afternoon.
“We used to have to put PUR work out to a trade binder, so having this machine in-house effectively saved us over two days compared to the last time that we produced it.”
City Printing is celebrating 40 years in business this year and provides graphic design, print and marketing services for large organisations, small businesses, charities and members of the public.
It handles a range of digitally printed run-lengths from one through to several thousand and the DigiBook 200 proved cost efficient and productive whatever the quantity, said Peters.
Digital work at City Printing is created from a mix of Xerox, Ricoh, and OKI engines, producing a wide range of commercial work. The eight staff make just under £1m turnover.
Morgana Systems' vice president of offline business Ray Hillhouse said: “The 200 model is ideal for the needs of City Printing, where the fast turnaround of orders in a variety of quantities is the typical requirement.”
The DigiBook 200 is operated by a touch-screen panel and icon graphics. Glue application is direct and hermetically sealed without odour or toxic fume emissions, so no extraction fans are needed.
