The Guernsey-based print arm of the personalised gift card website, which is owned by WH Smith, relocated to a new 3,700sqm site, also in Guernsey, in July after outgrowing its previous site and has since invested circa-£140,000 in an Argos F400 cold UV coating machine and an automated Kugler ProPunch 50.
The machines’ supplier Renz, which took the coater on for UK distribution in July from its Belgian manufacturer Argos Solutions, said the coater, installed last month, is the first in the UK to be equipped with remote diagnostics software.
“Every card we do has a UV varnish on it,” said Funky Pigeon general manager Grant Bewey, who viewed the coater in Belgium before purchase.
“We’ve had a few different ones before and because we’re remote we need something fairly well built and reliable. We’ve had stuff built before that’s not necessarily the most reliable, while this does look the part.”
Representing around half of the total kit investment at just shy of £70,000, the Argos has been configured with an optional feeder, vacuum conveyor and jogger. Operating nearline with its four HP Indigo machines, two 5500s, a 7800 and a 7900, Funky Pigeon is likely to add two more Argos coaters inline in the early part of next year. It also runs two Duplo Ultra UV Coaters.
The coater runs at speeds of up to 45m/min or 6,000sph (A3) and can handle paper at a maximum width of 400mm.
“We’ve got quite a bit of Renz kit and when we tend to look at new equipment we look at three or four of that certain product so we have something to compare to and this had cost saving on the UV, build quality and we didn’t have to wait months and months for installation, which for us was a plus,” added Bewey.
Intended for notebook and calendar punching, the ProPunch will come in at the start of next month in time for the Christmas rush, at which point the 30-staff print operation will take on around 80 to 90 more temporary staff.
Bewey added: “Our whole business is built around quick turnaround times, many orders taken prior to the gates shutting at 5pm, which is same day dispatch in the post, so what this allows us to do is for any orders that come in we can turn them around quickly and it uses less resources and staff to run it."
Aside from the new machines, the operation also runs Renz kit that includes two Mobi 500 automated wire binders, five ECL 360 electric wire closers and five P500 heavy duty punchers.
