Installed in March, the DBM-350 has removed Indigo Ross’ need to farm out longer booklet runs, allowing the company to keep tighter control over production times and increase its profits.
“Our operators know the end products really well, but automating the process was a game changer,” said Phil Roper, Indigo Ross’ managing director.
“It has really opened my eyes to automation – we should have done this much sooner.”
He added training had been simple, and staff had no problems with the “intuitive” touch screen interface.
“It gives us so much more confidence to take in much more and demanding work that we would normally send out and in turn increase costs to the customer.
“The automation in makereadies, job setup and changeover and the speed are obvious standout features – my operators are happy, the automation allows them to drink more coffee!
“Joking aside, it’s enabled us to employ more staff because we are bringing in so much more work in-house. The challenge we currently have is in recruitment.”
Indigo Ross currently employs 13 staff across its operation, with the print team working from a Xerox Versant 3100 production press, and Epson P9000 and S8600 wide-format printers.
Craig Harry, Duplo UK’s regional sales manager, said: “I’ve known Phil and Indigo Ross for quite a while from my last role, and developing their business has been one of my goals.
“I thought that the DBM-350 was a perfect fit for their style and their operators. It’s a really cost-effective machine and hits the perfect place between Phil's run lengths and the myriad of different jobs they run.”
Indigo Ross also purchased a Matrix laminator alongside the bookletmaker.
Roper said: “Covid was very tough to get through for us, and we lost approximately two-thirds of our turnover and had to reduce our staffing.
“However, with the help of the New Anglia Growth Hub, we purchased both these new devices and it’s really managed to help us develop and recover really quickly – we are now back to pre-Covid levels of production. The process was quite simple as long as we were transparent.”
