The 98-staff business purchased the Smart Binder a few weeks before Hunkeler Innovation Days (20 to 23 February) and purchased the Böwe at Hunkeler. The Ibis will be installed at the end of March, in time for a specific contract, and the Böwe is slated for installation in May.
Real Digital director of communications strategy Robert Burbidge said that the purchases had been made to keep Real Digital ahead of changes in the industry.
“Everything that we’re trying to do at Real Digital is to supply a full communications experience for everybody, but whilst new technology is coming on with email, SMS and app delivery, you still have the need to supply a first-class and first-rate service with the legacy ways of communication,” said Burbidge.
“The investment is tantamount to our commitment to the paper-through-the-post method of communication.”
The Böwe enclosing line joins Real Digital’s eight current Buhrs enclosing lines, but Burbidge said it can run at more than four times the speed of the Buhrs, at a maximum of 22,000 envelopes per hour. It takes envelopes from between 190mm and 356mm wide, at weights ranging between 60gsm and 160gsm.
“The machine is super efficient and should bring us savings in terms of efficiency as well as giving us additional benefits in terms of knowing where each bit of paper is at one particular time; management information is key to absolutely everything,” added Burbidge.
The Böwe's Orbiter and Cockpit management software will be integrated into Real Digital’s Optimus MIS, to aid with job costings and internal management.
The Ibis Smart Binder can saddle-stitch and spine-glue to create modularised documents for long-run jobs of the likes of pension statements and insurance policies. Burbidge said it was part of Real Digital’s ongoing strategy to “help clients communicate better”. It can produce finished booklets at speeds of up to 7,000bph.
£18m-turnover Real Digital operates from a 6,500sqm factory in Croydon. It also runs two Screen Truepress Jet520 inkjet machines, five Xerox iGen 4s and a 2015-installed Lake Image Systems Discovery MultiScan System.
It handles transactional, direct mail and plastic card applications for businesses in the financial, health and telecom sectors.
