Over the past month the Walthamstow, London-based firm has taken delivery of a fully automatic B2 Horizon AFC-566FG folder and a Perfecta 115SE guillotine from Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS).
The company has also recently installed a second Muller Martini Pantera PUR binder and two Kisun layflat binders. The Kisun devices were bought from Tarrant Machines.
Managing director Tim Clifton said: “In the last 18 months we have been pushing the layflat product quite hard and now it has really taken off. Layflat has added about £350,000 to our turnover last year and we expect that growth to continue by 10% to 12% year-on-year.
“Our existing Horizon folder was 13 years old and we were very happy with it but it was time to swap it out. The new one has helped us to further streamline throughput and increased production 20% to 25% due to faster makereadies and consistent running speeds.
The Horizon AFC-566 offers 17 fold patterns, which are set up via an icon-based touchscreen. All roller gap settings are then performed automatically by inserting a single sheet at the calliper.
The business considered alternatives from Stahl and MBO but decided to stick with Horizon technology and part exchanged its previous Horizon folder.
The company’s new Perfecta 115SE guillotine, which is suitable for paper, board, films and foils, rubber, leather and sandpaper, has replaced an old Polar 137.
Clifton said: “We had a demo on the Perfecta and its functionality, backgauge and knife speed along with knife change option were better and faster.”
The firm’s new Muller Martini Pantera binder comes with an optional PUR glue system and is equipped with a 14-station gathering unit with signature recognition system, a criss-cross delivery unit on the gatherer, a Merit S Trimmer and an Uno stacker.
Clifton said: “We offer PUR as standard and have done now for the last five years as it produces a far superior book and with new glue technology allowing quicker drying times it makes sense, especially when binding so many variant stocks.
“The second Pantera will help us to cope with the increased demand we have seen for short- and medium-run work with quicker turnaround times. It will also increase our capacity due to faster makeready times and higher running speeds.”
Cliftons has 18 staff working across two shifts and a turnover of £1.5m. It specialises in short- to medium-run PUR-bound and casebound books for printers and end-users.
