Bell & Bain Invests in European first

Print Solutions

Leading UK book printer, Bell & Bain, has continued its investment in digital book production with Europe’s first Horizon Smart Binding System supplied by Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS).

The move follows the recent successful addition of a Fujifilm JetPress 540W colour inkjet web press which has helped the company secure substantial growth in both digital and traditional offset printed books.

After very careful evaluation of all the leading manufacturers, Bell & Bain replaced an existing Muller Martini Sigma binding line with the Horizon Smart Binding System.

Managing director Stephen Docherty explained, ‘After first seeing the Horizon Smart Binding System at an exhibition earlier this year, I was completely blown away by the very high quality book binding being produced. It was simply the best binding quality that I have ever seen and the performance of the inline variable three-knife trimmer producing different format size books was truly phenomenal.’

The Horizon Smart Binding System is modular in design and has been configured with a Tecnau 530 buffer, c20 cutter, s20 stacker and 568 feeder for configuration in line to their Fujifilm JetPress 540W.

Technical sales director for IFS Jason Seaber said, ‘This white paper solution will enable Bell & Bain to go from paper rolls to finished perfect bound books of very high quality with variable format size and variable book thickness. This high speed system sets a new standard in short to medium run digital mono and colour book production. Optional Horizon Signature Gatherers can also be added to this system to also process offset printed signatures at binding speeds up to 4000 books per hour.’