Drupa 2008
At the end of May we attended this huge printing technology exhibition in Dusseldorf. As ever we made really good use of our time there – in fact we held 28 meetings in three days and reviewed 68 specific pieces of technology, software or equipment in that time.
Since returning from the exhibition we have invested in a number of areas:
PUR binding and automatic trimming
The installation of our new Horizon BQ 470 4-clamp adhesive binder brought a really effective PUR capability in house for the first time. This machine will be used exclusively with PUR adhesive to produce exceptionally strong and flexible perfect bound books. The fully automated make ready on this machine makes it ideal to cope with the short run books and journals that we print on our range of digital presses. PUR brings the greatest benefit to those books printed on coated stock – an area in which we are seeing really strong growth.
Alongside the BQ 470 we have also installed a new Horizon HT-30 fully automatic trimmer. This machine will allow cost effective trimming of books very shortly after binding. It is ideally suited to the short run digital market where quick make ready and finishing are critical.
Hohner wire stitching
In our bindery we have also installed a new Hohner exact twin-head wire stitching system. This machine is used to help in the production of short run flat stitch and saddle stitched products and will work alongside the existing Watkiss machines.
XMPie
July saw our first installation of the market leading personalisation software XMPie. This solution will allow rapid processing of relevant and highly personalised text and images providing powerful marketing and communication opportunities for our clients. This will work alongside the existing installations of Yours Truly and DirectSmile and demonstrates the serious commitment we have to this important and fast moving technology.
Envelope insertion
The new Pitney Bowes DI1521 folding and insertion system is being installed to meet the growing demand for transactional printing and mailing at Hobbs. This system allows high speed folding and insertion of single or multiple page documents into envelopes. These are typically personalised letters and mailings as well as invoices, renewal notices and reminders, etc. We now have three machines working in this area and can insert over 8000 documents per hour into envelopes. This application has grown alongside the film and carton wrapping used for the mailing of most other publications.
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