The machine, which has twin towers and four stitching heads, was installed around two months ago, after the West Yorkshire-based firm saw it in action at two separate Duplo events.
LGP owner and managing director Philip Stead said: “Our production manager saw the 600i running at the London Calling event and came back with a very positive and strong opinion of it so we held off on our investment plans until we got a chance to look at it further.
“We went down to Duplo’s showroom to see it and then had another look at it when it came to the Northern Lights event in Leeds. At that point we made the decision that it would be the best move for us.”
He added: “It’s had a positive impact since it’s gone in. Makereadies are very quick, the running speed is probably twice as fast as our old system was, and it can go down to a much smaller booklet.”
The 600i is a fully automated stitching, folding and trimming device that uses ultrasonic technology combining the DSC-10/60i Collator Towers and the DBM-600 bookletmaker and trimmer.
With job changeover times of less than a minute, the machine can reach speeds of up to 5,200bph. It can handle a minimum booklet size of 90x75mm up to a maximum of 350x254mm and stock weights of 50-300gsm.
The machine is available in more than 25 configurations that can combine suction, collators, sheet feeders and slit-cut-crease, squarefold and three-knife trimming operations.
LGP is set to add a cross stacker to its 600i later this week and said it may look at adding gutter-cut capabilities in the future to enable it to produce A5 landscape booklets 2-up and further reduce production times.
The Duplo device replaced an older Horizon machine that was sold on. The company also considered alternatives, including Horizon, but felt the Duplo machine was the best fit for its requirements.
“The Horizon machine was very good and served us very well. That had originally replaced a Duplo device but we’ve now come back to Duplo after 10 years and they've been very good, the back-up service has been faultless,” said Stead
LGP has 26 staff and operates from 880sqm premises located on the outskirts of the city. It also runs six Ryobi litho presses, Xerox and Konica Minolta digital kit and finishing machinery from suppliers including Horizon, Morgana and Polar.
The company produces items ranging from NCR sets and raffle tickets through to certificates, security work, brochures and short-run publications, primarily for trade clients including other printers and print brokers.
