Finishing & Screen Printing

FERAG WINS MAJOR PRINOVIS ORDER

The Ferag Unidrum will increase binding capacity by 25 per cent at Prinovis, Liverpool, where a range of Ferag post press equipment is being installed during January.

Tuesday 12. January 2010 - Ferag AG (Switzerland) is to supply gravure printer Prinovis with one of the most sophisticated post press lines in the country. The new equipment, due for installation in January, will join the UK’s first Ferag PolyStream polybagging line, which went into full production at the 65,000 sq metre site in October.

This latest investment in Ferag technology is the result of several months of research to find the most cost effective and productive method of conveying, gathering, stitching, inserting, stacking and palletising the huge range of catalogue, magazine, retail and other printed material produced by the Liverpool plant.

The Ferag order includes a Ferag six-section Unidrum rotary gatherer/stitcher, SNT420 rotary trimmer, RollSert inserting drum with RollStream precollector and six JetFeeder hoppers, two Segbert compensating stackers, Affeldt wrapping and shrink tunnel equipment plus a SmartStrap unit and Segbert palletiser. WRH Marketing UK, a subsidiary of the WRH Marketing Group in Hinwil, Switzerland, is handling the installation of all of the equipment, which it represents in the UK.

“I’ve dealt with WRH Marketing UK and Ferag for around twenty years and the service and support they provide is excellent,” says managing director Richard Gray, who was managing director of Trinity Mirror’s plant in Oldham prior to joining Prinovis. “When we were looking to expand our post press facilities Ferag was an obvious manufacture to approach.

“We believe the new Ferag line will give us a level of quality, productivity and reliability that will result in a return on investment unrivalled in the industry. The Ferag line will provide very high throughput speeds, low manning requirements and fast makereadies, making it extremely cost effective, with wastage reduced to the minimum.

“It is in the area of post press that printers have the biggest opportunities to add value and differentiate themselves from their competition. Matching press speeds, reducing material wastage, manning levels and transport costs are the basis of a sound business structure.

“The Ferag Unidrum will provide us with 25 per cent more binding capacity in-house and this will allow us to meet later deadlines, a demand that is being fuelled by electronic methods of communication. The move towards higher value printed products has seen an increasing volume of stitched work in the UK, a trend we expect to continue and we believe this new Ferag line will give us an important edge,” says Richard Gray.

“When you examine the level of output, versatility, manning levels and quality, this combination of Ferag equipment offers the best return on investment available anywhere on the market. In tough times, the best ROI is always the wisest choice.”