Charing Cross Print Picks up Pace
28/11/1916
The Central London commercial print firm is a long-time Duplo user, already counting a Duplo System 2000 Bookletmaker and a DC-615 slitter/cutter/creaser in its finishing armoury. However, its old folding equipment was causing delays and slowing down turnaround, as operators frequently needed to fix jams and mis-feeds and refill the very limited capacity stacker on the system. The company also had to undertake two processes on two separate machines to crease and fold jobs.
Charing Cross Print Director Mark Dobson said: “The Touchline is unreal in terms of productivity. Our old folding unit was constantly jamming and it could only hold 50-60mm of sheets in the stacker. Also, our creaser could only go to 300gsm stocks and we do a lot of 350gsm with matt laminate double-sided. I went out to look for two devices – a creaser and a folder – to alleviate these issues, but Duplo said they had a unit that could do both. It was a no-brainer to go for that device.”
The Touchline CF375 was installed in September 2016. It has a feeder capacity of 200mm and can handle 400gsm sheets of paper and card. Crucially it is also a one-pass crease and fold system, so reduces two processes to one.
“Our forte is very quick turnaround, small to medium volume work and we have a mix of clients – theatre and entertainment companies, large technology companies and large retailers among them,” Mr Dobson continued. “Being in Central London, we need to be able to turn jobs around immediately and deliver the same day, otherwise we won’t get the order. With the Touchline, we can now get jobs done twice as quickly by creasing and folding in one pass.”
Charing Cross Print is a fast-growing enterprise – business is 30% up from last year, Mr Dobson reports – and has been investing substantially in new equipment. In November, it installed an Ideal 6600 guillotine from Duplo, to cope with the 650mm-wide sheets produced by its Xerox Versant digital presses, also purchased this year. Website and ecommerce capabilities have also been improved.
“Duplo is a very good company to deal with, and everything on the finishing side is from Duplo now,” said Mr Dobson. “Our growth is down to making sensible investments in good technology and good staff. We’re doing things right and it’s working. We’re looking forward to hitting the new year running.”
Peter Jolly, Duplo UK Managing Director, said: “Charing Cross Print is a print supplier that has to react fast and get it right, so our Touchline CF375 is a perfect component within its finishing set up. Since then, we’ve been able to help out with the guillotine too, and we look forward to working with Mark and his team to help continue growing their vibrant business in years to come.”
