Guillotine And Folder Cut Print Finishing Cost 50%

With print finishing overhead costs cut by 50 per cent, Plan 4 Print is receiving pay back on its investment in a Perfecta 76TVC guillotine and a Horizon AFC5466F six-plate folder.

The new equipment at the Ilkeston, Derbyshire (UK) company has joined a three-year old Horizon bookletmaker, all of which were supplied by Graphic Arts Equipment (GAE).

Complete with a colour graphic touch-screen with CIP4 computer control, the Perfecta has automated cutting programs and a tilting front table with reverse suction airbed for hands-free operation.

A slotless bed backgauge drive allows snag-free operation and knife change takes less than five minutes, it is claimed.

The Horizon folder includes set-up automation through a colour touch-screen control panel.

It has six fold plates and a variety of fold patters.

It is JDF compatible through Horizon i2i.

Plan 4 Print managing director, Kelvin Wellard, explained: "We have drastically reduced the amount of work we send out for finishing and now it is only the very long jobs that go out.

Everything else stays in-house." Production director Mark Wakefield is very familiar with guillotines so was sure of his requirements.

He explained: "The small footprint of the machine was critical but we were also happy that it could readily cope with the work we do." Wellard added: "We don't know automatic folders as well as guillotines so this was a learning curve.

We trialled it extensively so we could be sure it would do what we needed it to do.

We liked the cross sections to the folds and its versatility.

Because of restricted floor space the footprint of the machine was important." As for opting for GAE, Wakefield said: "They were our first port of call.

We were in touch with them regularly.

We wanted to move more into finishing and had been looking to expand the area for a long time." Wellard expanded on the point further: "We couldn't afford to be other than quality finisher so we had to be happy with the standard of the equipment we were buying.

The overall package that GAE offered, combined with the footprint of the equipment we needed to fit in to the space, available made the decision for us.".

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