"We looked at Muller and Heidelberg and one of the things that took us back to Muller was retained value," said operations director Graham Bromley.

The 12,000cph BravoPlus, which replaced an 11 year-old Sheridan, was configured with six feeders plus cover, an Apollo stacker and an inline four-hole punch unit.

However, the firm didn't opt for Muller Martini's automatic makeready system (AMRYS). "The speed at which we were already changing over, we didn't feel there was a huge amount to gain... our staff are very quick at changing over," said Bromley.

As well as the new stitching line the commercial printer has also updated one of its Merit trimmers.

Family-run Hobbs employs nearly 200 staff at its Totton, Hampshire base.

Story by Darryl Danielli