Binding system fulfils books demand

A Department of Immigration contract win prompted Manchester (UK) commercial printer Questbond to invest in a Horizon BQ270 perfect binder from Graphic Arts Equipment (GAE).

Questbond's managing director Robert Stratton, who established the operation 25 years ago, explained: "When we won the monthly order it meant a big increase in book work.

We needed to produce 2,000 books per month to a very high standard.

We picked the BQ270 because we knew it could handle that work and help us grow this side of the business." The JDF/i2i compatible single-clamp autoset perfect binder has a claimed cycle speed of 500 books per hour and fast set-ups controlled by a touch-screen interface.

Standard features include automated cover scoring and job memory storage for instant recall.

Stratton said demand for books has gradually increased since the installation of a four-colour B2 press two years ago.

Production was given another boost last month when a chemical-free CTP system was added.

He explained: "These investments have given our company a new lease of life and the addition of the perfect binder can only help things to further improve.

Over the past three or four years the book side of the business has been building up.

Now with the BQ270 we will be able to increasingly offer this service, especially thicker books, which the binder can easily handle." Stratton said he thoroughly researched the market before making the investment and added: "Our old Sulby binder could only cope with very light covers so we knew we needed something a bit more heavy-duty.

We looked at Duplo and a couple of other options and we also spoke to a trade finisher we used.

We knew and trusted the quality of their work and asked them what system they were using - it was a BQ270.

We liked the level of automation and the quality of bind and, as we were trusting it to complete our outsourced work, it made sense to buy it.".

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