The focus of the event was stitching, with the company running live demonstrations on the 5,500bph Horizon StitchLiner 5500, the StitchLiner 6000 long-edge fed stitcher and a BookletMaker SPF/FC200(L) configured for landscape work, featuring a new hybrid conveyor that enables inline collating of litho and digital sheets.
“This is completely new for us. The ability to take sheets from the VAC tower has been around for a long time, the ability take pre-collated sets from the digital sheet feeder has also been around for a while too, but now we have the ability to do both on the same machine,” said IFS technical director Alan Harrison.
“This is perfect for a company that produces litho and digital print, because it has the ability to change between litho and digital stocks, or even combine the two.”
The SPF/FC200 was demonstrated with a HOF-400 collated set feeder and, for the first time in the UK, a HIF-400 hybrid conveyor.
The BookletMaker SPF/FC200(L) can handle formats up to 610mm for landscape A4 jobs. The system features a down-feeder from the HOF-400 digital sheet feeder that passes under the VAC tower, which can then either add the collated litho set to the pre-collated digital set or bypass it. It then uses an up-feeder to take the merged set into the inline cutter/creaser. As well as the new driven-belt HIF-400 linking units, the hybrid bookletmaker also incorporates a number of software tweaks.
“This is a fully modular system, so the customer can pick and choose what they want, and then add to it over time,” said Harrison.
The SPF/FC200(L) was demonstrated with an inline cutter/creaser running a head and foot trim and impact crease on the booklet spine.
According to joint managing director Bryan Godwyn, many of the machines featured at the open house will take centre stage on the firm’s stand at Ipex.
“We feel that Ipex will be an incredibly important exhibition, not only for us, but also for the UK print industry – we’re very excited about it. There are some machines we will be showing that we can’t talk about yet. We also hope to be able to unveil a big partnership at the show.”
At the event last week, the company also unveiled new branding, a new website and customer magazine, Unfolding.
“We wanted to try and give our selves a more modern image that better reflects the technology we offer,” said Godwyn.
“The idea is that the logo represents anything from origami, paper folding or paper handling. Basically, it represents that if something needs finishing, then IFS and Horizon can do it.”
