“We had been outsourcing for a number of years and now we will be a completely standalone operation,” said managing director Alex Evans (pictured).

The firm’s 12-station Muller Martini Bolero binder, which is being installed this week, was configured with a splitting saw to enable the firm to produce double-parallel A4 and A5 magazines.

Typically, the firm had been outsourcing around £800,000 worth of binding per year.

“We had been wanting to do it [bring perfect binding in-house] for a while, but we had to build a financial case for it. Once we had done that, it was a no-brainer,” said Evans.

The investment, the firm’s last major process to be bought in-house, will run alongside four Muller Martini stitching lines at the £30m-turnover firm, the commercial print operation of newspaper group Midland News Association.

According to bindery manager Michael Hill, who will oversee the installation, PCP’s experience of Muller kit, in particular its service and training offering, was “an important element” in the investment of the 21-clamp 8,000cph Bolero.

The firm, Printweek’s 2006 consumer magazine printer of the year, will be retraining a number of existing staff as well as recruiting around 10 additional staff.

Should printers bring pre-press and finishing in-house? Email letters.printweek@haymarket.com