The 24-year-old company opted for a Fastbind Pureva XT and a CaseMatic H46Pro, both supplied by Ashgate Automation. The new machines mean that KMS Litho is now able to meet the growing demand for short-run perfect-bound hardback and soft-cover books in-house, as well as offering finishing provision to other print houses.
The company’s founding director Mark Willis said he wanted to bring as much short-run production in-house as possible because “outsourcing short runs can be prohibitively expensive”.
He wanted to be able to finish in-house runs of up to 500 copies of books and brochures printed on the company’s five-colour B2 Speedmaster, two-colour B3 Speedmaster and Versafire digital press.
However, he said that finding the right system to meet the £1m-turnover company’s needs was no easy task.
“I looked for two years to find the right equipment,” Willis said. “I looked at several systems but I couldn’t see a return on spending twenty to thirty thousand pounds on bigger, more automated equipment with the amount of jobs we have – especially as I was still planning to outsource longer runs.”
He had bought kit from Ashgate previously and was aware that it had some new Fastbind technology available. He went to see it in action at Ashgate’s Chalgrove showroom and decided that the combined £13,000 price tag was worth the spend.
“From all aspects it was the right equipment for us at the right time to make the investment,” Willis said. “It’s compact, easy to operate and does exactly what we want to build up this side of the business at a reasonable price point. It should pay for itself fairly quickly.”
Four of the 14 staff received training from Ashgate to operate the machines, and after advising customers of the investment, KMS had two orders waiting when the machines were installed at its 420sqm facility last month.
The company has even completed a run of 2,000 books, with “complex pagination and enfolding” on the Pureva. Willis said: “It was well over the number of books that we planned to make in-house but we couldn’t find anybody who wanted to take it on and, without the Pureva, we couldn’t have done it either. It wasn’t the fastest process but the results are excellent.
“The table-top Pureva with its interchangeable EVA and PUR glue cartridges is simplicity itself to operate. It is useful to have the facility to do PUR binding but we will probably continue to do a lot of the work using EVA glue. EVA binding has come a long way from the time when the pages fell out. It’s clean and low cost.”
The next step is to start using the table-top Casematic casemaker in conjunction with the Pureva to make hard-back books.
“We are certain this will be a useful tool for us,” Willis added. “The combination gives us far more options on the finishing side and the opportunity to be competitive in this marketplace. We don’t know any other printers in our area who have this kit.”
Willis added that he had noted other Fastbind devices suitable for short runs which he may revisit in the future.
