"It's the only short-run binder on the market that has end papering facility, and it's also a completely integrated line," said Biddles managing director Rod Willett.

The 1,200 cycle per hour case and limp line is made up of binding, trimming and stacking units, all of which were installed to support the firm's innovative fixed price publishing concept, Publishers' Choice.

The 400,000 line, has been operational since September. Although technically not a beta-site, the installation has been supported by SRS's UK agent Friedheim International in much the same way.

"Rod is a great guy to work with, because he has a vision, one that I'm sure he'll succeed with," said Friedheim managing director Peter Morris.

It uses a central panel to control and set all of the units, giving makereadies of between one and three minutes. It accepts manually entered job parameters, but also incorporates a barcode reader and full JDF compatibility.

The final part of the jigsaw, a spiral cooling tower, is set to be installed by the end of this month. The firm opted to install the tower, which adds around five minutes to the conveyor prior to trimming, to allow slot perforated hot-melt book blocks the maximum drying time.

Biddles is also to install the first four-colour offset press in the firm's 121-year history, a Heidelberg SM 102 perfector, later this year.

See Profile p27

Short Run Bind Specs
- Max speed 1,200cph

- Min/Max block thickness 3-60mm

- Block size range 110x125mm to 300x390mm

- Max cover weight 320gsm