Installed in September, the Horizon has already bound more than 6,000 books, and has been heavily relied upon, according to Blackwell Print managing director Tom Davison.
“It’s being worked rather hard at the moment,” Davison told Printweek.
At under £40,000, the machine has already made a decent start in returning that investment, Davison said.
With Christmas orders hotting up, the machine has been able to take on work that historically would have been outsourced to trade binders.
“We took the plunge to bring it in house. Training was very, very good, and [supplier] IFS [Intelligent Finishing Systems] were very thorough and patient,” he added.
“It’s a good machine, very intuitive, and we now have three operators that can use it.”
Davison and the Blackwell team looked around at the market before committing to the Horizon.
“We looked at others, but my experience in the industry is that there’s a reason why a lot of people have a Horizon,” he said.
“And there’s a reason why not many go up for sale on the second-hand route: people don’t seem to get rid of them very often.”
The Horizon has replaced a desktop Duplo binder, designed for copyshop work, which had struggled with the increasing amount of perfect-bound work, before eventually breaking.
By keeping work in-house, the new binder will effectively help Blackwell shore up its profits.
“It feels like there are plenty of challenges along the way at the moment, but I feel we’re making some progress [on growth], and we’re hoping for a strong finish to the year,” Davison said.
“Next year, we’d like to continue that growth, and hit £2m as a line in the sand, before reassessing what’s needed.”
Profit will be an important part of making that growth sustainable, he added.
“We’ve got to be profitable: we can’t be busy fools. I find it’s easy to get work in, but you have to make sure it’s the right work for you.”
Next year, the firm is looking forward to the end of its Covid loan repayments, and the possibility of replacing its now 15-year-old Heidelberg press.
“It’s absolutely fine at the moment, and under the Heidelberg service contract, but it’s closer to the end of its life than to the start – so we’ll have to start thinking about that. The future could be quite bright, but we try and remain cautious.”
