News

Thomas Mueller, general manager of CeWe Color, can produce high-quality soft and hard back covers in a range of sizes with this affordable table-top finisher

What does it do?
The Casematic is a table-top machine that produces personalised short-run hardback covers of a quality only a trade binder could have achieved previously.

How does it work?
The cover is printed onto a self-adhesive outer sheet and laminated for durability. The Casematic is used to mount the cover onto the grey boards and spine. The finished cover can then be bound onto the printed pages.

Why did you choose it?
It is a manually operated machine, designed for short- to medium-run lengths, which is ideal for our business. We wanted to entice consumers to print the digital pictures they have stored on their cameras, so we have introduced a number of added-value personal digital photo products.

The key to the success of this project is to make it as easy as possible for consumers to create a photobook on their PC and then be able to have the best digital printers and finishing equipment to produce it.

Did you consider high-production kit instead?
In the UK, where we have only been present for two years, we are still a small player. Consequently, our volume did not warrant the capital investment in the high-production, automated finishing equipment that we have in our
other locations.

Did you look at any similar products?
No, because we were already using the Fastbind Casematic and Elite combination successfully at one of our smaller production units in Eastern Europe.

What features do you particularly like?
It’s reliable, easy to use and the results are very professional. It finishes a range of hard, linen and soft cover books and photobooks in different sizes, which can have a photo on the cover and text on the spine.

How fast is it?
We are now finishing 1,500 photobooks a week using the Fastbind equipment, which is very efficient for a manual system of this type.

Has it won you any new work?
Yes. With this machine, we have capitalised on the photobook market, which is growing at 300% per annum. The CeWe Group produced 1.5m photobooks in the first 10 months of 2007.

Would you say it offers value for money?
Without a doubt. It’s very affordable. The automated systems are much more expensive.

How easy is it to use?
It is very straightforward to use. As it is a manual process, we have found that the more our operators use the equipment, the faster they become.

Is it reliable?
We have had no problems with it and we are using the Casematic to its maximum capacity.

What about the pre- and after-sale service?
Ashgate has been very supportive in looking after the equipment and supplying the consumables. Now it has realised we are producing a lot of books and has stocked up on consumables for us to utilise.

Who do you think the system is right for?
Any company that needs to finish hard and soft cover books and albums in a range of sizes and from one to several hundred copies.

Under what circumstances would you buy another?
We are now almost at full capacity and if this area of the market continues to grow, which we expect, then we would seriously consider buying more equipment from Ashgate.

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CONCLUSION
User’s verdict
Speed: 5/5
Quality: 5/5
Reliability: 5/5
Value for money: 5/5

Supplier’s Response
John Price, managing director of Ashgate Automation, says: “CeWe is an excellent example of a company using the Fastbind Casematic with the Elite binder to full production. However, this equipment is highly affordable for companies that want to add value to their finishing with smaller volumes, from one book to several hundreds. As well as photo books, customers are producing personalised school year books, financial reports and dissertations. Other customers with only the Casematic are producing hardcases for CD/DVDs and a growing number are making personalised A4 ring binders.”

Price
On application

Contact
Ashgate Automation
01865 891904