The new Morgana was delivered to the operation’s Rotherham-based production site in September and replaces a semi-automatic laminator.
The Morgana's automated feeding capabilities will allow the company to take on longer runs up to 2,000, which would have previously been turned over to trade finishers and therefore add an extra “two or three days” to order wait times, according to founder John Brailsford.
He said: “We currently run some Uchida kit supplied by Morgana that we were looking at upgrading so we were already in conversations with [Morgana vice-president for offline business] Ray Hillhouse. He asked us about our laminator and offered to drop off the Pro 450 for us to play with.
“Next time he had a van up in our neck of the woods, he sent one over to us and it has never been returned to him. We did not anticipate that Morgana would be able to provide exactly what we were after, but it has excellent productivity and has boosted our offering.
“We also invested in the foiling add-on which has proven useful. We offered foiling before, but it was often erratic and we could not get the results as easily as we had hoped. Ray showed us that it was not just an afterthought to the machine’s design, but was intended to be incorporated and it has given us the confidence to offer that service to our customers.”
Morgana’s Laminator Pro 450 runs at speeds up to 10m/min and can take sheets ranging in size from 210x210mm to 450x700mm at thicknesses from 130-350gsm.
Its deep-pile, automatic suction feed system was a major bonus for John Brailsford Printers, which had been running hand-fed machines previously. The system can achieve speeds up to 1,875sph at SRA3.
Having spent the past three years bringing much of his firm’s technology portfolio up to date, Brailsford is now happy with the “smooth, simple workflow” he has coordinated and is ready to settle into his new offering and consolidate his status as a dependable local printer.
With 12 members of staff and a turnover of £1.2m, John Brailsford Printers spans the South Yorkshire region with a production base in Rotherham and a further shop-front premise in Barnsley.
