The East Midlands business took delivery of the K640 in mid-April and all of its staff have been trained to use the machine, which lists at just under £22,000 and was supplied by Ashgate Automation.

“We pride ourselves in being creative and finding solutions for our customers’ requirements, but this was one area that we were unable to satisfy,” said director Karen Arnold.

“For many years we have produced short-run A3 folded to A4 booklets as well as A5 and A6 formats. However, we have had to turn down requests for short-run A4 landscape booklets. Unless it was a reasonable run of over a hundred copies, it was not viable for us to outsource the job.”

Following the installation of the K640, as well as the earlier installation of a Xerox Versant 280 digital printer, the business can now print and finish landscape booklets with covers from about five to 100-plus copies in-house.

“We had one of [the previous Kasfold] bookletmakers when my parents were running the company. I looked on [Ashgate’s] website and saw a video of the K640 being demonstrated, read the specification and knew that it was the right machine for our needs. I didn’t need to visit their showroom because I had confidence in the company.

“As for its features, physically it is quite compact which is important because space is at a premium. The K640, unlike some other models I researched, is affordably priced, ensuring that we can produce short runs profitably.”

The business had two brochure jobs from local estate agents ready to run on the machine as soon as it was installed.

“It is ideal for this type of work, not only because of the format it can handle but because it finishes a range of stock including coated, uncoated, or silk. We recommend 250gsm for the cover and 160gsm for the inside pages,” said Arnold.

“We look after the printing requirements for a wide range of businesses within a fifty-mile radius. The initial interest has convinced us that we have found a gap in the marketplace for A4 landscape booklets and look forward to this investment bringing in new business.”

Located in the heart of Lincoln, the company was established in 1979. It offers graphic design, copying, and scanning on top of a range of print and finishing services.