The two machines came in during January in a combined investment of around £100,000, driven mainly in order to save on makeready times. Both Palamides’ agent Friedheim and Renz confirmed that this was the first time the two machines had been put together.
“This was an idea we had to try and save time and improve efficiencies, so quite an innovative thought process, which was developed by thrashing out a few ideas around the table,” said Penstripe head of procurement Charles Hewines.
Penstripe’s production manager had the initial idea before it was taken forward by Hewines to the purchasing stage and introduced to both suppliers.
Previously, jobs would require two staff, one working on a Polar guillotine to downstack cut items, which would then have to be picked up by another and put through the Renz puncher.
“Now we have developed it so the person trimming on the Polar would put it straight into the back of the Renz puncher and then work comes straight off the stacker, so another saver,” said Hewines.
“It’s very easy to use, particularly the puncher. This is new but we’ve had these punchers in-house for a number of years and found them very useful for quick makereadies, so if you take into account not only the makeready but also that running time has been reduced, that speaks very highly of Penstripe and the values we pride ourselves in; being solution-minded and overcoming any challenges.”
Intended for book and calendar punching, the AP-360 system can punch a maximum 100,000sph, taking media at a maximum width of 360mm and maximum thickness of 2.4mm. The Palamides stacker can take all types of book, along with mailers and signatures from folding machines.
Penstripe lays claim to have first developed the idea for the school student planner, which was introduced during the 1990s when legislation required greater record-keeping in schools. It prints, finishes and publishes a range of products, from planners to notebooks.
It runs a number of binders, finishers and variable punching machines, along with two Konica Minolta Bizhub Presses, a C1052 and a C8000.
The 18-staff outfit has sales of just more than £3m.
