Printexpress chooses Mamo Lega perfect binder from Watkiss

Print Solutions

Printexpress Print and Copy Centre (Buxton) has installed a Mamo Lega 420 perfect binder, supplied by Watkiss Automation. The Italian built machine is a hotmelt system capable of binding up to 420 mm spine length with a maximum 50 mm book thickness.

The investment was made in order to help produce manuals for a local industrial machinery company, work which the company previously had to farm out. Managing director Mike Grange said, ‘We were spending over £4000 per month, so we decided it was time to bring the work in-house.’

As a small company with modest means, Mike found that many perfect binding solutions were out of reach. ‘High specification perfect binders on a budget are hard to come by, but the Mamo Lega 420 ticked all the boxes,’ he said. ‘After a few conversations Watkiss brought the machine to us for a demonstration, and it didn’t leave!’

‘Cost wasn’t the only factor, even when fed manually this is a high productivity solution,’ he continued. ‘It uses the latest EVA glue which is both effective and easy, it comes close to PUR glue performance without the disadvantages, there are no fumes and you can heat it up and cool it down as many times as you like. The quality of the bind is great, set up is fast, and the overall operation is simple.’

Printexpress has also invested in new mono and colour digital printing equipment to further reduce its outwork costs, and now has a flexible in-house book production operation. Mike said, ‘Even with the investment cost, extra paper cost and click charges, we are saving a lot of money, and we have full quality control of our output. The Mamo Lega binder is a great addition which fulfills a need but also has potential to open up new markets for us – for instance, having the capability to bind hard covers.’