Komori Spica Press Proves Versatility

Following a change of management three years ago, the new directors of Scarbutts have been committed to the business's growth and positioning the company in the top league of commercial printers.

Following a change of management three years ago, the new directors of Scarbutts have been committed to the business's growth and positioning the company in the top league of commercial printers.

Their investment in the UK's first four-colour Komori Spica 26 Perfector press is the latest step in achieving those goals.

The four colour Spica has replaced a single colour Heidelberg KORD press and in the short time since the installation it has been demonstrating its versatility by running as a two over two Perfector and a straight four-colour machine, taking on single-colour and two-colour work, as well as handling the increased demand for four-colour work, said Komori.

Scarbutts holds the contract for Arriva and Stagecoach bus companies and operates a five-colour Lithrone 26 press and a two-colour Sprint machine to handle the range of general commercial timetable and leaflet work with average run lengths of between 5,000 - 10,000 sheets.

Komori added that a benefit of the Spica is its compatibility with Scarbutt's existing 26" Lithrone 526.

Scarbutts managing director, Graham Baker, said: "We used to be a Heidelberg house and did consider other manufacturers but Komori offered the best value for money and we can't fault the service we have received.

We know from experience that you can't stand still and we have ambitious plans for the company." He explained: "We have achieved a 30 per cent - 40 per cent increase in production by replacing the single colour press with the Spica and we plan to use this opportunity to enter new markets, such as journal work.

The Spica is the ideal press for us with its ease of use and the quality it produces is superb.

We are printing at twice the speed we previously achieved.

The timesaving features on the press really make a difference on short runs and we can run the automatic blanket wash ups at the same time as loading paper." Phil Holland, sales manager south for Komori UK, commented: "Scarbutts has installed the first Spica 426 Perfector in the UK.

We are pleased that this affirms and strengthens Komori's position in this popular and buoyant 26" market." Scarbutts made the investment after witnessing a demonstration on the Spica at Ipex 2006.

The company has also upgraded its pre-press department and bought a CTP system.

It also runs a Xerox digital press.

Scarbutts is based in West Malling, Kent (UK) and was originally founded in 1961.

The company was bought out in 2003 by four employees, with Graham Baker assuming the position of managing director.

The company now employs 22 and since the buyout has achieved year on year growth, with an estimated turnover of GBP1.6 million.

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