Woking, Surrey-based Optichrome has brought perfect binding in-house with the installation of a Horizon BQ-270V single-clamp perfect binder bought from IFS, cutting costs and shortening turnaround times.
The 60-plus year-old business specialises in high quality litho, personalised digital print and mailing. It runs two five-colour Heidelberg presses, and two Ricoh Pro C9210 digital colour presses.
Production manager Tony Clark explained, ‘We reviewed how much we were spending on perfect binding and believed, with the right machinery, we could keep a large percentage of it in house, drastically reducing the turnaround times and save on transportation costs. There was also the potential to win more business as we would be more competitive and quicker.
‘We already had a Horizon SPF-200L bookletmaker which has proven to be a great investment, speeding up production and completing a larger variety of finished book sizes. It is well built and reliable. We tested the BQ-270 at the IFS showroom and then visited the Horizon factory in Germany. I was able to network and meet other printers who had experience of using the BQ-270 and the feedback was largely positive. We also researched what else was on the market. We believed for our budget and requirements the BQ-270 was the best system available.’
Mr Clark said that he and his colleagues have been ‘extremely impressed’ with how easy the machine is to operate and the quality of product it can produce, and also praised the relationship with IFS.
