The fully automated 11,000bph device, which was bought from Intelligent Finishing Systems, cost the Chesterfield-based firm £120,000.
Managing director Paul Gamble, who headed a management buy-in (MBI) of the business in September 2013, said: “It’s allowed us to bring stitching work in-house and double our output of booklets and stitched items.
“We had an old Horizon SPF/FC-20a but were sending out production of 40pp booklets and that was costing as much as £3,000 per month.
“It was time to upgrade the system and it made sense to bring some processes in-house to make us more profitable and retain greater control on turnaround times. We bought the next level up and the old machine was part exchanged.”
Gamble expects to see a return on investment in around 15 months.
The firm saw the Horizon StitchLiner in operation at the Real Print and Finish event in Hemel Hempstead in March.
The business then successfully applied for a £12,000 Regional Growth Fund (RGF), which helped with the purchase, and the machine was installed at the company’s 1,500sqm premises shortly after.
“The fact it takes a flat sheet and stitches, folds and trims in one pass makes for much smoother and faster production. A lot of what we did before had to be collated on one tower and that was very time consuming,” said Gamble.
“The main thing is we don’t have to fold everything separately with the StitchLiner. Also whereas before we would have to trim the top and bottom we don’t have to now and that has resulted in a significant reduction in guillotining. That has reduced our man hours and turnaround times.”
The machine will finish litho print from the firm’s five-colour B2 Ryobi 755, five-colour B3 Ryobi 525, and a Formall Edelmann four-colour reel-to-sheet press as well as digital print from Xerox devices including a Versant, a Nuvera and a 770.
Whittington Moor has 54 staff and a turnover of £4.5m. It produces items including brochures, leaflets, business cards, NCR pads, continuous forms and direct mail for customers including councils, charities and public sector organisations.
