It’s been a great year for Enfield based commercial printer Print4UK. The last few months has seen the company win award after award, and now they have purchased and installed a new Duplo DBM-600 Digital Booklet System to automate their entire booklet production.
Commissioned at the beginning of March, the new industrial level booklet system replaces an aging Kasfold hand-fed booklet maker. “It wasn’t a difficult decision” says Chris Brady, Managing Director of Print4UK. “Having exceeded our growth targets, and smashing all expectations, I knew it was the right time to introduce a booklet system that complemented my business model. Prior to installing the new machine, the production of A4 landscape booklets was not as efficient as it could be. Since purchasing the Duplo PFi Blade, our state-of-art digital die-cutting table, almost two years ago, I was conscious we also needed to re-evaluate our booklet production and Duplo had proved to be the perfect partner. With an increase in the number of jobs, we really needed the automation and faster turnaround that the DBM-600 gives us. What’s more, with the acquisition of an automatic booklet maker and the accompanying efficiency savings, we were able to retrain and redeploy our valued workforce into other areas of the business. The intuitive PC control software allows operators to quickly program jobs, while changeovers happen in a matter of seconds. The entire automated system renders manual intervention nigh-on redundant, allowing productivity and growth in other areas of the 4UKGroup business. This investment is in accordance with the strategic direction our company is taking. Having brought both die-cutting and binding in-house, it was time to boost our booklet production.”
The DBM-600 Digital Booklet System is a workhorse of a machine. The highlight of the system is that it offers extremely high efficiency and productivity to produce a wide variety of applications from pocket sized booklets, to large format calendar booklets and more, with a processing speed of up to 5,200 sets per hour. Print4UK has opted to include the DSF2200 long sheet feeding mechanism which means A4 landscape booklet production is now possible. Available paper formats between 90x75mm to 300x300mm, between 30 sheets and 120-page booklets. “The addition of the DSF2200 long sheet feeding mechanism was a no-brainer”, says Chris, “The 8-belt feeding system with active air management is dependable, reliable and accurate. Feeding a wide variety of paper types and weights, the first booklet is always as good as the last!”
“Once set up, the system runs extremely well. It’s easy to use, and our operators love it. The training delivered by Duplo was comprehensive and we were producing live jobs almost immediately. It’s only been a few weeks but the main operator has built up a lot of confidence using the Duplo booklet maker. It delivers exactly what we needed and more. We’re now putting folding jobs through the system because it’s so much fast than our current folder!”
Craig Harry, regional sales manager for Duplo UK, said the DBM-600 was a great fit for the company’s focus on booklet production. “The DBM-600 digital booklet system provides Chris and the team with the ability to streamline production with our features focused on automation and precision. The solution also enables A4 landscape capability, something I know Chris values”.
Chris added “At Print4UK we have a very good reputation with our customers. Client retention is huge as we become part of their team. Guidance, support and the sharing of expertise is important when developing our customers’ projects, but it also allows us to upsell between our businesses. Print4UK and Branded4UK work together with customers to build projects up whether it is for events or a promotional campaign. The end result is that the customer gets better traction and conversion by coming to us rather than from anywhere else. We go above and beyond for them and I’m not going to quibble over the expense of projects when we’re selling Bentleys!”
“We’ve set ourselves apart from many commercial printers because we’ve seen a lot of agency work has dried up. Many have stopped buying print altogether, whether they have been misled by greenwashing or simply believe digital media has better results. Our third company, Navy Blue London, builds on digital ideas and campaigns and intrinsically involves print to get the best results. People are getting smarter and their purchasing awareness becomes sharper. Many go directly to printers because they want greater engagement and personalisation – something that some agencies may have lost sight of.”
Brady concludes, “Our people have talent, and they have creative passion which is clearly evident when talking to the end users. We wholeheartedly believe in what we’re doing and so our projects and campaigns are more vibrant and alive than ever before. But in order to delivery this, with unrelenting consistency, our kit needs to have the flexibility, quality and reliability to match. This is what it is all about for us… efficiency and trust. We can offer higher levels of productivity across all number of applications, passing savings on to our clients and nurturing long-lasting relationships.”
Photo Credit: Left is Craig Harry, Regional Sales Manager Duplo UK and right is, Chris Brady, Managing Director of Print4UK.
