It will take just 18 months for a Horizon SPF/FC-200A stitch/fold/trim line to pay for itself at Manchester commercial printer DXG Media Ltd.

The Intelligent Finishing Systems Ltd supplied system will make such an impact on production and capacity that Managing Director Duarte Goncalves expects a rapid return on investment: “It will pay for itself in less than 18 months,” he states, “the impact has seen a 100% increase in efficiency for this type of work.”

He continues: “Our production Manager has asked how we ever coped before the Horizon came in, and that says it all for me. Previously when there were smaller jobs our team would be concerned about setting up or interrupting a long run on our larger machines. Now they can get it completed and out the door straightaway. In some instances the small jobs are in and out in a couple of hours and I love that. We will now happily quote for smaller run work.”

On the decision to invest he expands: “We have got a really good mix of clients, from advertising agencies to marketing companies and direct end users. Not one is more than 7% of turnover. For them we are having to meet tighter and tighter deadlines with shorter and shorter runs. Work was being produced and then put on the guillotine, then the large folding machine and then our stitching line. This was all very time consuming in particular on smaller jobs The SPF/FC handles the whole process in one pass. The quality is great.”

DXG Media uses the Horizon mainly for work produced on a Xerox 1000 digital press. However they are also producing litho booklets from a Heidelberg CD74 on runs up to 5,000 copies.

“The big surprise was the quality of the work this little Horizon achieves when compared to systems that cost much, much more. We also liked the fact it can handle both litho and digital print, without the usual marking problems you sometimes get.”

“Installation went very smoothly, IFS did a fantastic job. We had four guys trained up straight away and they can all produce high quality results. We did look at other solutions but the Horizon stood out for its build quality and operational features. It is so easy to set up which means our team is very happy running it.

He concludes: “It hasn’t stopped since it arrived.” Adding: “I am pleased to state we have had no breakdown issues of any kind”.

The 4,500bph JDF-ready Horizon SPF/FC-200A features a 200-programme job memory storage for instant recall, an icon-based touch-screen for job set-up and a 10-station VAC-Turbo 1000 PowerCollator.