“We should have done it years ago,” stated David Allsopp, owner and director of ASAP on his decision to invest in a Horizon BQ-160 single clamp perfect binder from Intelligent Finishing Systems.

“We were outsourcing a lot of book work and that meant we were not able to be a competitive as we wanted to be. We also had to build in time to send the work out. Now we have total control over production and pricing which makes us more flexible. In particular we can offer a more attractive service for short runs as we can now complete the work quickly in house.

“Its simplicity was its selling point. The BQ-160 is easy to set up and run which is just what we needed. It is great for finishing short run work efficiently and cost effectively. We compared several similar perfect binders on the market before making the decision and found many were over-complicated and didn’t suit our requirements.”

The PUR binder adds to ASAP’s range of in-house finishing capabilities, with laminating, foiling, die cutting, folding and saddle stitching among others, to complement their HP Indigo 5500 digital press.

Based in Sheffield, ASAP is a digital print and large format specialist with a reputation for innovation, quality, value and service. “The flexibility of the BQ-160 has also enabled us to produce short run case bound books, which is a new market for us and is proving popular with customers,” Mr Allsopp adds.

ASAP’s BQ160 features a colour touch screen with quick and easy set up and operation. It has multiple operation modes – with cover, without cover, tape bind, padding, notching, without notching – a motorized clamp and opening and closing. There is also increased nipper strength and variable settings as well as stand-by mode to prevent the glue breaking down.

The business invested in the CRB-160 creaser too. “This is quite an important addition because it takes out an extra process,” states Mr Allsopp. “There is no need to pre-crease jobs and that helps with speeding up production.”