Cardiff Bay commercial printer Spectrum Printing has enjoyed a 100% increase in folding capacity following the installation of a B2 Horizon AFC-566FG folder.
Purchased from Intelligent Finishing Systems, the fully-automatic folder replaces a system that was more than a decade old and the difference to the operation’s throughput was noted immediately. ‘
Lawrence Corria owner said, ‘We wanted a wider choice of folds which could be set up very quickly as opposed to the long make ready times we were experiencing on our other folder. Some folds would take as long as one hour before we reached production. Now, it’s just a simple press of a button.’
The Horizon AFC-566FG offers 17 fold patterns which are set up via an icon-based touchscreen. All roller gap settings are then performed automatically by inserting a single sheet at the calliper.
Mr Corria, added, ‘The new folder is so easy to use that we don’t require staff to have such a high skill set and they can more readily move from one bindery solution to another. As a result we can be much more responsive to the work we have.
‘We wanted a folder that was capable of easy operation with simple programmability. The new folder gives us the confidence to pitch for more complex work. Previously there were jobs we would have avoided because of the small run length or the time taken to set up the job. That is not the case now. We are much more flexible so we are encouraging more work through the door, including trade folding.’
‘Folding was a bottleneck for our production however we can now easily interrupt long runs to fit in other rush jobs if needed as there is such a quick set up to go back into the previous job. We can switch from a complex map fold to a simple four page leaflet in seconds,’ Mr Corria concluded.
