Leeds Die Cutting has chosen to reinvest in the business and expand its capabilities with a Horizon SPF/FC-200A booklet production line and a Horizon BQ270V single-clamp perfect binder.
‘When we started the business six and half years ago we did everything from scratch and we had mainly second-hand machinery including a couple of purchases from eBay,’ explained director, Ian Bradley. ‘We started out die cutting but added other services to meet demand. Now we can laminate, die-cut and bind under the same roof. These have worked well and we have built the business up. We felt it was the right time to invest to improve reliability, quality and increase productivity.’
The first area Mr Bradley reviewed was booklet production. The SPF/FC-200A was chosen to replace an aging Horizon system. ‘We were used to the existing Horizon line and it was time to upgrade it,’ commented Mr Bradley. ‘We also wanted a second collating tower as we were starting to get more 44-page plus booklets and longer run work so we needed another tower to handle that much more efficiently.’
Leeds Die Cutting’s JDF-ready SPF/FC-200A runs at 4,500 bph and features 200-programme job memory storage for instant recall and icon-based touch-screen for job set-up. It is equipped with two 10-station VAC-Turbo 100 PowerCollators.
The Horizon advanced suction rotor drum feeding system operates effectively on a wide variety of paper stocks at high speeds. Accuracy and reliability are assured by mis-feed, double feed and jamming sensors on each bin and the feed error history can be monitored via the touchscreen.
Next was the addition of the Horizon BQ270V perfect binder as a first step into the service. Its variable software capability enables the single clamp to be pre-set for the next book block in the job queue. Mr Bradley, said, ‘IFS helped us with getting some support from the Regional Growth Fund and perfect binding was something we could see there was an increasing interest in. We felt it was a great service to add to the range of other capabilities we already offered.’
The single-clamp BQ270V runs at 500bhp and is easy to set up via the intuitive touch screen. Designed to meet the needs of the short-run, print-on-demand book market, it also features automatic air-suction cover feeding with in-line scoring job programming, and a compact configuration.
The result of the bindery investment was felt almost immediately stated Mr Bradley, ‘These robust systems have proven to be a great way of adding value. It also helps us build a stronger relationship with existing customers while attracting new ones. Now when we send emails out saying what we can do we are getting orders back straight away. It has certainly opened up doors for us.’
