KGS, based in Mestrino, Italy, has been manufacturing and supplying a range of PUR binders to Morgana Systems for the past five years.
Morgana managing director and Plockmatic Group vice-president of development Quen Baum said: “For the last two years we’ve had a contract to buy all of the KGS production. We were in effect their only customer. Towards the end of last year, we started negotiating with them to buy the company, which we concluded last week.”
KGS was formed in 2010 by former Heidelberg employees to design and manufacture closed-tank PUR binders. According to KGS, its binders have technology that enables users to manufacture runs of books “on demand” while keeping start-up times and glue waste to a minimum.
Baum said finding a quality binder supplier was not easy. “We dealt with another company before KGS, which went quite badly.
“When you’ve been bitten like that you have to keep one eye open. We were so happy with how KGS performed and felt the acquisition was the right thing to do as it gives us total control in the market," he added.
The binders are capable of producing between 150 and 450 books per hour and have an automatic operating and automatic cleaning system.
As well as PUR binders, Milton Keynes-based Morgana Systems also sells bookletmakers, trimmers and folders, including the Morgana AutoCreaser Pro and DigiFold Pro. Its premises are 15,000sqm and contain a showroom and training facility. 80% of its products are exported and sold to the EU.
In 2013, Stockholm-based Plockmatic Group purchased Morgana, extending the range of bookletmakers that it sold. The group develops inline finishing solutions for major print engine manufacturers. Its turnover is approximately £50m and it employs more than 200 staff.
Baum said the Plockmatic Group will not stop here in terms of finding other companies to purchase. “With my second vice-president hat on, we are constantly looking for others around the world in our sector who may fit our portfolio. Bearing in mind where we sit, we’re not sitting right up the top but equally we’re not right at the bottom. We’re in that very large space in the middle,” he added.
Morgana will be exhibiting samples of a large number of its products on the Plockmatic Group stand at Drupa in Düsseldorf, from 31 May.
