Owner John Davis said: “The vast majority of our production is focused on training materials, typically short-run books that need to be durable. 

“PUR binding is ideal for finishing these products. It also allows us to use a wider range of substrates, particularly heavier stock weights and coated materials.”

The DigiBook 200 handles spine lengths of 110mm to 320mm and thicknesses of up to 50mm. It replaces a KBC 2000 hotmelt machine.

Davis said considered other options including the DigiBook 150, which required manual feeding, and an alternative from Duplo, but decided the DigiBook 200's automated features made it the best fit for the firm's requirements. 

Morgana Systems launched the DigiBook 200 at Ipex 2014 and it has a list price of £27,000.

Retractable spine milling enables the Morgana to go from soft- to hard-cover binding at the flick of a switch. Side gluing for the cover hinge is adjustable depending upon the cover style required.

Davis said: “We are taking on books on coated paper and needed PUR; we have just gone on to paper over board for a customer.”

The four-staff company based in St Leonards, East Sussex offers printing and last-minute delivery to clients across the UK and beyond. Its turnover is around £400,000.

In addition to its training-focused customers the company also produces work for self-publishing authors and for the local Fishermen's Museum.

“Our customers can order anything from 25 up to 500 books from us, often at short notice. While they are not huge runs, they have to be presentable, durable and able to last the pace.” 

Impression IT runs two Canon printing units, a varioPrint 135 monochrome machine and an imagePress 6010. The company also runs a Mimaki large-format machine.

Morgana Systems sales and marketing director Ray Hillhouse said: “The DigiBook 200 offers the ideal solution for businesses seeking PUR binding for short-run work with an effective level of automation.”