The Cornwall-based book manufacturer has completely refurbished its bindery set-up by replacing its soft- and hard-cover production lines, casemaker and foil blocker.

It opted for the Kolbus kit following extensive research. “We looked at the Muller Martini and Kolbus kit and decided on this occasion that Kolbus was more technically advanced,” said chief executive Angus Clark.

The new machinery, which was installed at the firm’s Padstow factory in June, marks a return to Kolbus for TJ International. The firm has used Muller Martini equipment for the past 10 years, all of which it has sold on.

The soft-cover equipment includes a 20-station ZU 822 gatherer, a VA423 end-sheetfeeder and gluer, a 7,000cph KM600 perfect binder with hotmelt and PUR adhesive, a FA650 front-cutting unit and a HD143P three-knife trimmer plus stacking and shrinkwrapping machinery.

The casemaking kit includes a BF530 hard-cover casing-in line, the first to be installed in the UK, a DA 270 Casemaker, a PE312 blocker and a SU652 jacketing machine.

The investment will enable the company to reduce its makeready and turnaround times and maintain its reputation for high quality and innovation.

“We’ve been under pressure for some time from customers who are trying to raise the bar in terms of quality, so we’ve been doing more casebooks and other things that are slightly different,” said Clark.

“We’ve looked to include options in the new lines that will give us the ability to produce some of these more out of the ordinary products.”

The company, which has 120 staff and a turnover of around £11m, has also invested in a Polar N 137 Plus guillotine, which will be installed on 8 August, to handle the cutting of cloth, paper and plate sections.