we can take on a lot more work in longer runs and shorter lead times

Ipswich high-flying magazine printer, Colourplan Print and Design, has recorded a 50% increase in business – also breaking into the European market for the first time – as a direct result of its recent installation of the latest automated finishing systems from Graphic Arts Equipment.

The bindery investment is the second phase of a programme that began with the introduction of a 5-colour Mitsubishi Diamond 1000 in 2003 and was designed to help realise the full potential of the new pressroom capacity.

Colourplan owner Steve Stone explains: “These new systems mean we can take on a lot more work in longer runs and shorter lead times with the same staff, confident we can maintain quality and meet deadlines. Because my clients are aware of this, they are coming to me with projects we would otherwise have missed out on.”

The G.A.E package includes a three tower Horizon VAC-Turbo PowerCollator with 11,000bph StitchLiner, an AFC-544A 4-plate combination buckle-and-knife automated B2 folding system with Tri-Creaser option and a Perfecta 115TVC flowline guillotine with side tables, Toppy rechargeable powered pallet lifting truck and optional AutoTrim facility (the table opens up and ‘swallows’ the waste).

The programmed bindery upgrade was amended when Mr Stone began to look into the new systems on the market: “Originally, we just intended to update with a StitchLiner – but then we saw the AutoTrim and  began to see what a difference it could make to productivity at trimming… and, though we needed a folder we had been intimidated by the complexity of setting up and running the larger machines; the Horizon resolved that issue, so we ended up with them all.”
 
The addition of the folder made an impact from day one. Mr Stone says: “Almost the first job that went on it was a 200,000 run 12-page DL leaflet. It made the decision a lot easier for me.”

One of the key selling points was the ability the systems to be networked  via Horizon’s i2i Net>Work>Flow System. This creates an i2i job ticket that travels with the work with automated systems setting up remotely and production information updating the JDF/MIS master files. As a result the user is offered a bindery management facility that can be independent or integrated  into the customer's overall JDF/MIS network.

For Steve Stone this ‘third phase’  may also come sooner than expected. “We want to use the latest automated systems and if they can be networked we want to be able to do that. Now we are at the stage of looking to see how it is all going to work. But, whether that is right away or in the future, it has to be of some value to me.”

The service G.A.E offered was important too, something Colourplan became aware of after installing a Horizon SPF-20A bookletmaker five years ago. Mr Stone says: “G.A.E was our first port of call but there were a lot of others to look at. What clinched the deal was the space we had available. The new equipment is smaller than its competitors and we had a lot to shoehorn in.”