ImageData clears bottleneck with Multigraf folder

(L-R) ImageData finishing manager Jason McRae with operations director Jason Vivian
(L-R) ImageData finishing manager Jason McRae with operations director Jason Vivian

ImageData has installed a new Multigraf Eurofold 435-SM folder at its Brighton digital small-format site, allowing it to ramp up production.

The installation of a Eurofold 435-SM, a four-plate A3 modular folder, has meant ImageData can now clear work in one pass that it previously had to run through its old Duplo Foldmaster two-plate folder multiple times, or even fold by hand.

ImageData operations director Jason Vivian said the company’s Brighton site, which prints largely manuals and leaflets for manufacturers, had increasingly found this to be a bottleneck to production.

He told Printweek: “Over the course of time, we’ve taken on more applications that require more than two folds.

“We [now] do many, many applications for manufacturing companies, folding A3 down to A6, sometimes down to A7. That’s quite a few folds that were having to be done by hand even, or multiple passes on the two-plate folder.”

While ImageData considered other brands for the purchase, it went ultimately with Multigraf thanks to its longstanding relationship with Multigraf’s distributor, Duplo.

Vivian himself has known Duplo’s regional sales manager Adam Drummond for many years, and ImageData’s staff on the shop floor have also developed a strong relationship with Duplo’s engineering team, he said.

This familiarity between teams helped the installation go smoothly.

“We were able to hit the ground running. The installation and the training was on point, and enabled us to start production virtually straight away.”

ImageData employs 16 people at its Brighton site, and around 150 across the ImageData Group. It turns over around £15m annually.