The machine, which was supplied by Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS) and installed in the last few months, has replaced a 10-year-old Horizon SPF/FC200A at the Isle of Man business.
Managing director Mark Green said: “It was time to upgrade our bookletmaker and we wanted the ability to offer landscape book production in house. Before, when we were asked for the service, it made sense to get it printed and finished off the island, but we wanted to be able to manage that ourselves.”
While the business also looked at an alternative machine from another manufacturer, Green said "we are pretty loyal to Horizon” – the business also runs a BQ270 perfect binder, a CRF-362 creaser/folder and an AFC-566F folder.
“We also liked the Horizon SPF-200L’s landscape capabilities. It is something we can now proactively promote as a service that can be completed fully inhouse and meet increasingly short turnaround times,” said Green.
“We also chose a third tower collator, a Horizon VAC-1000 and a Horizon ST-40 stacker to help produce book blocks to feed the perfect binder. We can also now more easily handle grey boards for NCR jobs.”
The 4,500bph SPF-200L combines stitching and folding with the ability to handle sheets up to 640mm in length.
JDF-ready, it offers instant set-ups via a large icon-based colour touchscreen for user-friendly operation. The screen can be used for on-the-run fine tune adjustments as well as the storage and recall of up to 200 jobs.
“We are looking forward to being able to proactively sell landscape booklet production as well as enjoy the streamlining and capacity improvements enabled by the collator and the stacker. The overall investment will expand our service offering and make us more efficient,” said Green.
10-staff Words & Spaces runs two B2 RMGT (Ryobi) litho presses, one of which was installed earlier this year, and two digital presses; a Konica Minolta and an OKI.
Established thirty years ago the business serves customers including Santander, Friends Provident, Isle of Man Post and Isle of Man Government.
