IFS, Horizon's exclusive UK and Ireland distributor, has taken on the StitchLiner Mark III and Horizon BQ-480 perfect binder.
Pre-orders are already being taken for the Mark III in the UK, with delivery time set for the summer. So far there have been four UK pre-orders and 10 sales in Europe, along with a number in Japan and the US. The BQ-480 will become available just before or during Ipex.
The Mark III is priced around £150,000 and the BQ-480 is around £80,000, both dependent on configuration and optional modules.
“This is the next generation of finishing lines coming through from Horizon,” said IFS managing director Bryan Godwyn.
“They have been sold in Europe and we have taken orders for them but Ipex will be the first UK showing. Ipex is the perfect platform for that, running three or four different jobs, showing speed of makeready, quality of finishing and that is where we are looking to get it all going.
“When we launched the StitchLiner 5500 it took the market by storm and created a huge demand. We see the Mark III as being a natural progression from that.”
The Mark III can run at maximum speeds of 6,000bph and 12,000bph with two-up production. It can also produce A4 landscape booklets at up to 5,300bph.
It has a 310mm-wide colour touchscreen for enhanced operation and automated job setup, which means setup times are less than a minute. It also has optional additional towers and digital feeding add-ons.
Godwyn said: “The big feature over the 5500 is speed. A4 landscape is much quicker, much quicker makereadies in terms of job setup whether it be one book or a larger run and also it has a heavier duty three-knife trim and easier maintenance.”
The BQ-480 builds on its predecessor the BQ-470 but IFS said it operates at two-and-a-half times the speed with setup times halved. It has two different glue types with interchangeable glue tanks, running at maximum speeds of 1,350cph (EVA glue) and 1,000cph (PVA glue). It takes books at a maximum thickness of 65mm and a maximum format size of 320x320mm.
It also comes with an optional BBF-480 Book Block feeder option for fully-automated book block feeding.
“The BQ-480 is a bit more specialist as it is aimed at short runs but that market is growing so I see both these products as being significant to print finishers and any printers who have to bring print finishing in-house,” added Godwyn.
This year’s Ipex will take place between 31 October and 3 November, with exhibitors including Duplo, Watkiss Automation and Renz. It will also see the third UK Dscoop event take place.
