Tech-ni-fold collaborates with Adco on Creasestream Plus development

Promotional printer Adco Products has "pushed the boundaries" of Tech-ni-fold's Creasestream Plus, undergoing a number of adaptations and add-ons over the past year.

Adco, based in Glossop, Derbyshire, was looking for a new creasing system to handle the higher volumes of work that the company had taken on.

Adco Products managing director Peter Vernazza said: "Our business had grown quite considerably and our existing creasing machine was too slow and antiquated to cope with our demands.

"Our initial thoughts were to look for an impact creasing machine because we had previously experienced that rotary creasing had a tendency to crack the spine of folded items on varying substrates and printing methods."

But when he saw the Creasestream Plus in action and put it through rigorous trials,he was "delighted" with the easy set-up of the machine and quick change between different stock sizes and media.

The creaser had to be adaptable as Adco Products prints onto art paper from 200gsm to 350gsm that has gone through digital, litho and screen print processes. The company also handles varying substrates from paper to plastic to create promotional merchandise such as its signature products, the Adcalendar, plastic Adplas and paper Adpad.

Vernazza said: "The rubber creasing bands are easily changeable and cost effective, not like the old steel systems that virtually destroyed the surface of the stock and were expensive to replace."

Since then, Adco and Tech-ni-fold, the parent company of Creasestream, launched in February 2011, have developed a mutually beneficial relationship centred on the Creasestream Plus.

Most recently, Tech-ni-fold developed a feeder modification for the Creasestream Plus to enable Adco to crease narrower sheets. This followed a cutting system added to the creaser to enable Adco to produce two-up work, doubling output to 40,000 sheets per hour.

Techn-ni-fold has also designed a hard creasing blade to crease Adco’s laminated sheets. Other creasing applications struggle with this, as sheets can slip, resulting in a shallow crease.

Tech-ni-fold managing director Graham Harris said: "We keep connected with Adco and develop some extra accessories for them. They help us move forward, and ongoing support with relatively new products is important.

"It is natural to source technologies that have been extremely reliable and available. However, the tide of innovation in this industry can turn, and we have contributed by bringing faster and more versatile solutions to the areas of offset and digital.

"Adco Products help us push the boundaries of our Creasestream Plus."