DCS boosts finishing operation with triple Duplo investment

Digital print and typesetting company Digital Creative Services (DCS) has bought a range of new Duplo finishing equipment to boost its productivity and bring previously outsourced services in-house.

In the past few months the London-based firm, which recently relocated from Shoreditch to Custom House, Newham, has taken delivery of a Duplo Matrix 370 laminator, a Duplo DPB-500 perfect binder and a Duplo 3500 bookletmaker with a square-back finishing unit.

According to the business, this round of investment is part of a controlled expansion process, which has seen its turnover increase by 15% annually since 2008.

“We’ve never had a laminator before as we were so cramped for space but since we’ve moved we’ve got a lot more room. Part of the reason we looked into getting the Matrix 370 is because we’ve had more demand for laminating since we’ve been here,” said sales director Bob Eyre.

“We’re situated right next to the London Excel so we’ve been doing quite a bit of work for the exhibitors and other people that go there. We’ve managed to bring lamination completely in-house now, which means that we no longer outsource anything at all.

“We did already have a small fold-stitch-trim machine but we needed a more automated one. And we’ve been using a small perfect binder for many years but it was more of a desktop one. These investments have sped up all of our processes.”

The firm considered a range of other options but found that the Duplo machinery best suited its requirements.

“We’ve already got some Duplo equipment and we’ve always been very pleased with its service,” said Eyre.

“Now the only thing we don’t have two of is laminators and guillotines. Everything else we have a back-up for which means that we can carry on running if something goes down in the middle of the night, as we run 24 hours.”

The business also operates two Canon VPDP 120 mono printers, a Canon Ultra+ Varioprint 6320 mono printer, two Canon ImagePress C6010 colour printers and a range of other finishing machinery.

DCS, which has 16 staff, is hoping to achieve a turnover of around £2m for the current financial year.

The firm produces a range of mono and full-colour work including training manuals, merger and acquisition papers, corporate accounts, government documents and reports for a range of blue-chip clients, banks and academic establishments. It also produces perfect-bound books and ring binders.