“We found our previous unit, from another supplier, a bit of a challenge at times. The Morgana unit, in comparison, was so user friendly. The job set-up is very straightforward – you just select the size, number of pages, the desired format, the run length, and then you are all set to go. The finer detail can also be tweaked, such as the position of the folds, and the staples.

“With typical production runs of about 2,000 copies, the BM4050 just whizzes through the work, meaning that our turnaround times for jobs have been reduced. Our finishing department is just delighted with the binder.”

Work produced at WhiteOak Printing on the new booklet maker can now include the square-back finish – when a wire-stitched booklet can take on the appearance of a perfect bound product.

Typical throughput at WhiteOak includes graduation commencement programs, school sporting event programs, concert programs, manuals for construction equipment, church bulletins, and many other general commercial publications.

Morgana Systems BM4000

The Morgana Systems BM4000 series of booklet makers produce consistently high-quality booklets in a wide range of sizes and media types. The basic configuration, with hand feed capability, enables users to make booklets in an offline mode, meaning that one binder can service multiple print engines.

BM4050 can produce corner stapled documents in portrait Letter format, as well as edge stapled documents in portrait, plus the popular landscape Letter, with up to 200-page booklet capacity. The unit can also support long sheets of up to 26-inches (660mm), without the Creasing and Side slitting module (CST) or 24.5-inches (620mm) with CST.

The unit’s heavy duty staple mechanism has been designed for durability, and is maintenance free thanks to a patented solution that eliminates periodic service intervals. Users are able to adjust both the staple and fold positions through the easy initial set-up. The BM4000 series machines have a patented “set positioning mechanism” that allows the operator to adjust the staple position and direction of travel via the intuitive user interface.

Operators can now also compensate for the skew caused when feeding long sheets with a simple adjustment in the user interface, on the fly. WhiteOak can now produce SquareFold booklets in sizes from 4.1 x 5.8-inches to Letter-sized Landscape, or the Letter-square and even the largest 11.96″ x 11.96″ format.

About WhiteOak Printing

Established in 1984 this locally owned business began life in Marietta, Pennsylvania. In 1987 the business moved to downtown Lancaster, and then in the next decade, 1995 to be exact, the company moved into its present day 18,000 square-foot building in Dillerville Road, Lancaster. In 2001 the company installed its first digital colour press – an Indigo UltraStream. In 2004 the business created its own online ordering system. By 2012 the business was ready for growth, and it acquired the promotional products company, GPI Marketing, and the growth continued the following year when it acquired another promotional company, Creative Promotions Plus. Print growth continued, and in 2021the latest and greatest piece of equipment, an HP Indigo 12000 was installed.

Commenting on this sector of the market, John Brailsford, company owner, said:

“We had looked at a variety of potential solutions, but nothing was quite suited to our needs. Either they were too expensive, were overly complex, or they still needed dies to be produced. The previous Intec machine, the SC5000 was close, but not quite large enough to handle the range of stock that we needed to process. We thought we were just going to have to stick to outsourcing any work that required die-cutting.”

“We could see that digital die-cutting was definitely the way to go – then we had a call from Ray Hillhouse of Morgana, who said to me, “I’ve got just the machine for you!” We have a long history of working both with Ray and with Morgana. He knows us well, and he knew exactly what we needed – and the SC6000 was introduced to us.”

Morgana says that particular attention has been paid to the feeding system to ensure class-leading performance for card, vinyl labels, or even tricky laminated sheets. The SC6000’s auto feeder accepts up to 900 sheets, raising or lowering as required. To prevent sheets curl, a constant air flow to the sides of the stack is used. The SC6000 uses an automatic air blade that fires a blast of air momentarily into the front of the stack, just as the advanced vacuum feed belt lowers to collect the top sheet using pneumatic suction. To further provide a reliable feed, the vacuum feed belt lifts the media, carrying any sheets not pre-separated by the air blade past a pair of dexterous separation fingers to dislodge them. Finally, before advancing the sheet into the cutting engine, the vacuum feed belt jogs briefly against the rear paper stop, creating a natural curve that helps ensure even difficult media can be fed faultlessly.

SC6000 will cut and crease virtually any shape on up to 350-micron media, including kiss-cut sheet labels. A QR code, via the job library, retrieves the associated cut files, even for a mixed batch of jobs in the same run. The Morgana ColorCut SC6000 is perfect for digitally die-cutting packaging and point-of-sale items, as well as lightweight card projects, and labels. The expanded size of the unit will be of great appeal to those producing larger format work, such as display signage.

About John Brailsford Printers

It was 37 years ago that John Brailsford, 16 years old at the time, produced his first print job. The local commercial printers could not compete with the super quick turnaround, the great choice, and value for money that John Brailsford Printers provided and even today the company is proud to say that it still leads the way in offering customers, sharp, crisp quick printing, and digital imaging, with a professional unbeatable, super friendly customer service that has to be the best value in Yorkshire.

More than just a regular quick printer, the company has 12 experienced and qualified employees, coupled with the very best mix of the latest litho and digital equipment. The business runs two Presstek offset litho machines as well as Xerox digital printing equipment, from its print centre in Rotherham.

For more information visit the BrailsfordPrinters.com web site.

A4/letter landscape booklet maker solution, both inline and offline

Plockmatic International, Sweden, announces the release of its BLM5000 series production booklet maker for inline integration with Canon’s imagePRESS V1000 and V1350 digital toner presses.

Designed for customers with mid- to high-production volumes, the device offers the scope to produce A4 and “letter” landscape format booklets, in addition to regular sized, portrait format booklets. It allows for square-back folding and full-bleed three-side-trimming to remove feathering on the outside edge from folding multiple nested sheets. Available with staple or stitcher heads in 50- or 35-sheet versions, the BLM5000 will extend the application capabilities of print businesses, especially those producing long-sheet “banner” prints with the imagePRESS. The stitcher unit can include two to four ISP stitch heads. The new range of applications include landscape format, with jobs two-up and more.

Whilst the BLM5000 can be installed inline with a Canon printer, it can also be supplied with an optional Plockmatic VFX feeder to create an offline or nearline configuration. The VFX is a high-capacity Vacuum Feeder capable of efficiently feeding a wide range of paper types and weights, with speeds of up to 15,000 sheets per hour.

The BLM5000 series is available via Canon sales offices throughout EMEA, for inline configuration with an imagePRESS V1000 or V1350. Four stitch-head configuration, 50-sheet option for stitcher version, and offline configuration are not available in EMEA region.

The BLM5000 series is available via Canon sales offices throughout US, for inline or offline configuration with an imagePRESS V1000. V1350 support will be confirmed in the future.

Plockmatic Group, one of the world’s leading developers and manufacturers of document finishing technology, has acquired Intec Printing Solutions Ltd, headquartered in Poole, Dorset, a major global supplier of unique equipment solutions for the print and graphic arts markets.

“Intec are well known in the industry for providing quality products at competitive prices.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Jan Marstorp said: “Intec are well known in the industry for providing quality products at competitive prices. The ColorCut range of cutting systems have been well received by the market, with sales in the UK, across North America, and many other international territories.

“These systems are ideal for small to medium sized print-based operations that need to provide professionally cut and finished promotional display boards, boxes, labels and more. This is a sector of the market that has grown rapidly in recent years, and one that Plockmatic is keen to further explore and expand.

“We also see a good match for these products with our large OEM customers who provide printers. These products will enable more applications and allow them to grow further into the light packaging and labelling market segment.”

With regard as to how these products fit within the current range, Ray Hillhouse, VP Sales & Marketing for Plockmatic’s Offline Business Unit adds: “Our UK Morgana sales team have enjoyed considerable success with the Valiani range of large format finishing systems in recent years. We see the ColorCut suite of products complementing these in the UK and providing a terrific opportunity in this expanding market segment for our international dealerships worldwide.”

The Plockmatic company will seek to expand sales of these devices through the existing Intec & Morgana international dealer networks, Plockmatic’s OEM partners as well as through its subsidiary operations in the UK and USA. Intec Printing Solutions will continue to design and configure products at its Poole headquarters, and all current staff will be retained. The acquisition includes the company’s US operation, Intec Printing Solutions Inc., based in Tampa, Florida.

The Intec business was founded by Ian Melville back in 1989. Commenting on the sale to Plockmatic International, Ian said: “Having started the business focussing on Apple Macs and pre-press products back in 1989, we’ve travelled right through the printing process to our current range of post-press equipment. I can safely say that it has been a long, eventful, highly enjoyable, and, ultimately, very successful journey. It has been a great delight to meet with printers and print equipment suppliers from all around the world – they are all great people. It has been a pleasure to be a part of this fantastic and highly adaptable industry.

“As the owner of a successful business there comes a time when the question of where the business goes after I’m gone has to be posed. The sale of the business to Plockmatic has come at a good time for me, for Intec Printing Solutions, and for my fantastic team. This transaction will give me the opportunity to spend more time on several charitable projects that I have been involved with, as well as enjoying some well-earned holiday time. For the business and the staff, it will provide the solid backing from a successful international manufacturer.”

The Plockmatic Group of companies is part of Grimaldi Industri Group, a diversified Stockholm-based holding company. “The acquisition of Intec Printing Solutions further demonstrates our commitment to our customers, and to the document finishing business,” says Salvatore Grimaldi, owner and CEO of Grimaldi Industri.

Phoenix, Arizona-based ARC Impressions has recently added a Morgana DigiFold Pro to its range of post-press equipment.

Business owner Tony Cordova (shown right) explained the need for his busy print shop: “The purchase of our DigiFold Pro was driven by the need to score digitally printed materials in-house and improve our folding capability.”

The DigiFold Pro is Morgana’s easy to use, stand-alone, folding and creasing machine. The product has been one of the company’s best sellers since first introduced back in 2001. Morgana DigiFold Pro employs a unique creasing rule and matrix, the DynaCrease, which creases without stopping the sheet giving the highest possible production speeds.

“This purchase has allowed us to reduce our dependence on outsourcing for scoring services, and allowed us to turn jobs around quicker for our customers,” added Tony.

Tony Cordova is also delighted with the performance of his latest purchase: “The DigiFold Pro has operated for us with consistency and minimal maintenance.  The quality of this device along with performance has generated a confidence for us in Morgana products.  We would not hesitate to purchase Morgana products in the future because their quality, performance, and dependability are already proven.”

Despite the efforts of competitors, the DigiFold Pro is still the market leader in its sector and the product of choice for a great many digital printing professionals. The patented creasing technology sets this machine apart from the rest, still giving it an edge in the world of finishing for digital print.

The product can be used as an integrated creaser/folder, performing both functions in one pass; as a stand-alone creaser when folding is not required; or as a perforator when this finish is required.

A maximum sheet size of 27.5″ x 15″ (35.4″ x 15″ with optional extension table) allows for a wide range of jobs to be produced. Morgana has managed to increase throughput speed to over 6,000 A4 sheets/hour, yet maintaining an accuracy of +/- 0.1mm.

About ARC Impressions

The impending arrival of a child led to Tony and Ruby Cordova to take the extensive knowledge that they had gained in the packaging industry and make that huge leap of faith in opening their own business. In 2001 they opened their own printing company, ARC Impressions in north Phoenix – the name simply reflects their own initials.

From its inception, Tony and Ruby wanted customers to receive the best value. They wanted their clients to know they could rely on ARC for advice and guidance on how each project could best be created to meet budgets, visual appeal, worry-free production, and on-time delivery.

To truly meet clients’ needs meant ordering one-stop processes, and ARC has built a business that focuses on problem-solving and seamless production. Along the way, Tony developed ARC’s packaging production capabilities, working with his manufacturing contacts around the country. With their daughter, Alexis, now grown, Tony is often traveling to packaging vendors to ensure every step goes smoothly.

For more detail visit www.arcimpressions.com