The Mansfield-headquartered group has already installed a new Horizon iCE Stitchliner Mark IV with iCE Link automated workflow technology from Intelligent Finishing Systems.
The system has a HOF-400 high-speed digital sheet and cover feeding system and an integrated 1D/2D barcode verification system, which provides 100% integrity for products with personalised content.
Linney director Charles Linney said the new 6,000bph line was an addition to the group’s existing stitching setup and was three times more productive than its older machine.
It was purchased due to increased customer demand for stitched books and booklets.
“It also ensures we are in complete control of our production area. Our clients are at the heart of our operations and this strategic investment helps us stay true to our Healthy Linney values to ‘never let a customer down’,” he explained.
“We focused, too, on aligning our production capabilities with our clients’ and the wider market’s evolving needs. Our clients are increasingly looking for personalised booklets rather than generic ones. The barcode camera reading capabilities offer greater accuracy.”
The group is also in the process of commissioning an 18,000sph eight-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 perfector with coater and Push to Stop technology, which was sourced via German used machinery specialist Allaoui Graphic Machinery.
It will replace an older ten-colour XL 105 and a five-colour CD model at the litho facility at Linney’s 35-acre supersite. The revamped litho setup now encompasses four-, five-, eight- and ten-colour presses.
At creative design and print wing Linney Quadrant in Hertford, the group is taking out a Speedmaster XL 75 and replacing it with a new HP Indigo 12000 B2 digital press with High Definition printing system.
Linney also said the new building being constructed at Mansfield to house the Fujifilm-Barberán HS6000 single-pass inkjet press – which will be the first in the world – was “nearing completion”.
“We expect to sign the press off at Barberán’s head office, in about a month,” he added.
Linney signed for the high-speed device at Drupa. The HS6000 has a 1.6-metre print width and can print at up to 6,000sqm/hr. It handles sheets up to 170x300cm, depending on configuration and feeder options.
Linney had sales of £128.2m in its most recent results, to 28 April 2024, and the family-owned business employed more than 1,200 people. The group offers a range of connected marketing services including warehousing and logistics.
