The Witham, Essex-based business took delivery of the device, which was supplied by Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS), in September.

Managing director Paul Haddow said: “We had an older creaser but we wanted something to fold and crease more responsively alongside our digital press. Now we don’t have to move work to the main bindery area and we don’t have to interrupt production on the bigger folder.

“It helps us to manage short run jobs more effectively and enables us to work more efficiently while adhering to social distancing guidelines.”

The CRF-362 creases and folds in one pass a wide range of light- and heavy-weight stocks, coated or uncoated.

Capable of up to ten creases per sheet, it uses an impact scoring technology that eliminates or minimises cracking of the stock or printed image.

Set-up and changeovers – including fold pattern, creasing number, and up/down crease selection – are completed on the high-resolution colour touchscreen.

Pricing for the device starts from £24,000, depending on the options selected.

Colt Press also weighed up a number of alternatives but it found the CRF-362 to be the best fit for its requirements.

“It is more suited to the type of work that we do and can complete the multiple creases we needed. It is able to crease up and down folds and handle a longer sheet as well. It provides us with much greater production flexibility,” said Haddow.

“It has been up and running from day one. We were using it a couple hours after training. It has proven to be very robust and reliable. Everyone seems to be very happy using it.”

Established in the 1980s, Colt Press produces a wide range of general commercial print on a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75 with Inpress Control colour management system and a Ricoh Pro C9100 digital printer.