KMS Litho bring short run perfect bound books in-house

Print Solutions

Following the installation of a Fastbind Pureva XT perfect binder and a CaseMatic H46Pro casemaker from Ashgate Automation, KMS Litho, in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire is now able to finish short run perfect bound hard and soft back books in-house. It is also planning to offer a fast turnaround service to local printers.

The company, which has standardised on Heidelberg litho and digital presses with a five colour B2 Speedmaster, a two colour B3 Speedmaster and a Versafire digital printing system, had a growing demand for short run books. ‘I had been looking for over two years to find the right equipment because I think it is important to bring as much work in-house as possible to control the quality and turnaround times. Outsourcing very short runs can be prohibitively expensive. I looked at several systems but I couldn’t see a return on spending £20,000 to £30,000 on bigger, more automated equipment with the amount of jobs we have, particularly as I was still planning to outsource longer runs. Our market is primarily to bring litho and digitally printed books and brochures up to 500 copies in-house,’ said Mark Willis who set up the company 24 years ago.

Mark saw the Fastbind equipment being demonstrated at an exhibition. ‘I knew Ashgate because I had bought equipment previously and had been monitoring its latest Fastbind perfect binding and casemaking equipment,’ he said. Mark followed this up with a demonstration at the nearby showroom in Chalgrove. ‘From all aspects it was the right equipment for us at the right time to make the investment.

‘It s compact, easy to operate and does exactly what we want to build up this side of our business at a sensible price point. We are not paying a fortune and it should pay for itself reasonably quickly. Besides the Pureva and the Casematic, I saw other pieces of Fastbind equipment suitable for short runs which interested me, possibly for the future.’

Mark continued, ‘The table top Pureva with its interchangeable EVA and PUR glue cartridges is simplicity itself to operate. It is useful to have the facility to do PUR binding but we will probably continue to do a lot of the work using EVA glue. EVA binding has come a long way from the time when the pages fell out. It is clean and low cost.’ However one of the company’s first jobs has been 2000 books with complex pagination and enfolding where PUR binding has come into its own. ‘It was well over the number of books that we planned to make in-house but we could not find anybody who wanted to take it on and, without the Pureva, we could not have done it either. It wasn’t the fastest process but the results are excellent,’ said Mark.

‘We have only had the equipment for four weeks but our next step is to use the table top Casematic casemaker, which works in conjunction with Pureva to produce hard back books. We are certain that it is going to be a useful tool for us. The combination gives us far more options on the finishing side and the opportunity to be competitive in this marketplace. We don’t know any printers in our area of Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds who have this kit but they do have a requirement for short run books from time to time, so we are there to help them,’ Mark concluded.