Rufford Printing Company has celebrated its 50th anniversary with the installation of a Horizon CRF-362 creaser/folder from IFS. Recognising increased demand for high quality, short run and faster turnaround jobs, owner Brian Smith took the decision to invest in a system that would support a more responsive way of working.
Mr Smith established the Ormskirk-based business in 1970 after a childhood tree climbing accident left him in a wheelchair. As part of his rehabilitation he was introduced to letterpress printing, which his company still offers, and he subsequently branched out into digital print, using a Xerox Versant 180 and a Xerox D95. Wide-format print is delivered by a Canon IPF8400S and a Roland 540.
‘We wanted to move away from high volume work towards high value and investing in the Horizon CRF-362 allows us to work on more bespoke jobs,’ Mr Smith explained. ‘It folds both sides of the sheet and with a quality of crease we couldn’t do before. We can also now crease 350gsm card and that opens up many opportunities for us. The quality of the finish looks good – it makes us look more professional.’
The Horizon CRF-362 creases and folds in one pass a wide range of light and heavy weight stocks, coated or uncoated. Capable of up to 10 crease lines on a sheet, it uses an impact scoring technology that eliminates or minimises cracking of the stock or printed image. Set-up and changeovers – including fold pattern, creasing number, and up/down crease selection – are completed on the high resolution intuitive colour touch screen.
The CRF-362 was chosen to replace an older system and Mr Smith considered Horizon as he already had an SPF/FC-200 bookletmaker with a VAC-1000 collator that was running well. He concluded, ‘The bookletmaker is simple and easy to use and the creaser folder has the same set up. We knew it would be quick to get up and running.’
