SF Taylor improves efficiencies and reduces waste

Print Solutions

SF Taylor’s ‘believe in more’ ethos is supporting the drive for efficiency and securing the future of the business with its latest investment – a highly automated B2 Rapida 75.

The Stockport based company has doubled its press output with the installation of the Rapida 75 with perfecting after unit 2.

Managing Director Simon Young said, ‘The press has provided us with a 50% saving in waste and we are producing 33% more per shift. The performance of the press has paved the way for investment in additional finishing capabilities supporting the extra output. We took advice from one of our partner businesses on how best to drive the press with regard to staffing levels and the results have been impressive.’

Simon Young.

The build quality and reliability of the press has provided great reassurance for the management team. Operations manager Chris Murray stated, ‘Any of the non-press stopping issues that have occurred have been quickly dealt with via KBA’s remote service support and the one time we needed a part and an engineer together the response was impressive.’

The specification of the press is ideal for the type of work produced, which includes a broad mix of four colour and spot colours, with both straight and perfecting utilised for the latter. The press is equipped with a closed loop system to control colour – ErgoTronic ColorDrive with LAB function which measures and controls both density and spectrophotometric values automatically. Plate changing is semi-automatic, and takes under four minutes for a full set of plates. The press has a maximum speed in straight printing of 15,000 sheets per hour and 13,000 sheets per hour in perfecting, and can run on thicker stocks. Levels of automation on the press are high, with auto set up for sheet size and substrate thicknesses, plus fully automatic perfecting change over.

Chris Murray and Ray Seery.

In order to significantly increase availability, the press is fitted with CleanTronic Synchro for simultaneous auto washing of blanket, impression cylinders and rollers. This feature also contributes to the rapid change overs between spot colours and four colour process work.

Simon concluded, ‘The investment in The Rapida 75 continues to contribute to our on-going success at SF Taylor.

‘During the purchasing process we had a number of suppliers to test and evaluate and it was a close run thing. However, in the end the KBA was selected for its build quality, its value and its advanced levels of automation. We also took advice from other businesses who spoke highly of KBA products and their partnership approach with their customers. This gave us the confidence to proceed with KBA and the results speak for themselves.’