Supplied by Friedheim International, the device was installed at the Witney-based company’s facility at the start of October and will be used for some work previously completed on a Heidelberg Cylinder, although that will be retained for other smaller jobs.
The Kama machine can be used for cutting, creasing, and perforating as well as for blind embossing, Braille embossing, kiss-cutting for labels, fine cutting, and kiss cutting of contours with a magnetic cutting plate.
It can also handle a range of materials, including paper weights between 120 and 800gsm, paperboard and micro-corrugated board up to 1,500gsm, and plastics such as PET, PP and PVC, also up to 1,500gsm.
The machine has a maximum sheet size of 760x600mm and a top cutting size of 743x585mm, as well as the ability to process up to 5,500sph.
Fine Print managing director Dan Bakewell told Printweek: “It’s been going well although it’s a bit of a learning curve because we’ve only ever had the Cylinder so this is our first flatbed cutting device, which takes it into a different level.
“The reason we purchased it is partly because of its speed – it’s nearly three times faster than the Cylinder, and the range of things it can cut is much thicker.
“We’re printing lots more short-run packaging and finding we’re having to outsource the die-cutting, so we’re really looking to bring that in-house.”
He added: “We’re finding that the move away from plastic is opening up opportunities. We’re not a packaging specialist but we’ve always done cardboard engineering and while we can’t do a million cartons for somebody, actually the people with smaller requirements want paper-based products as well, so it’s working quite well.”
Fine Print offers specialist litho, digital, display, design, fulfilment, and storefront printing services and serves a diverse range of healthcare, high-end retail, education, and hospitality and events clients.
It runs two Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75s, one conventional five-colour with coater and one five-colour LE-UV press, an HP Indigo and a Heidleberg Versafire on the digital side, and wide-format kit from manufacturers including SwissQprint and Zund.
In November 2019 Fine Print acquired Technique Print Group and today the combined group employs 55 staff at its 2,322sqm Witney site and is looking to turn over between £5m and £6m this year.
