Solopress has praised its new Hunkeler Offline Gen 8 Cutsheet Unit, the second such unit it has installed, for helping it to ‘significantly speed up production and expand capacity.’
The machine, which arrived at Solopress’ Southend premises in July of this year, was supplied by Friedheim International. The first unit had been installed in May 2020 to support two new HP T250 PageWide digital inkjet presses.
The two HP machines had been installed whilst Solopress was looking to expand its online business and the first Hunkeler Offline Gen 8 Cutsheet Unit was needed to cut to size and stack products including flyers, folded leaflets, brochures and letterheads printed on the T250s. The second machine was needed to add more capacity and allow Solopress to take on more work as it continues to grow.
‘The productivity, flexibility and functionality of the two Hunkeler machines made them the perfect fit for our requirements,’ explained Solopress’ head of operations, Jack Clifford. ‘Bringing the Hunkeler machines on board has sped up finishing, converting from reels to cut sheet finished jobs at speeds upwards of 180m/min.
‘The Hunkelers have done a tremendous job increasing our speed and capacity with our existing core products, but one area where we see new opportunities is in publishing. Our processes have also become more efficient, with fewer touchpoints thanks to the reduced need for manual handling of individual jobs. Since coming online, the digital inkjet printing process that we now have in place through combining the HP T250s with the Hunkelers has reduced spoilage by over 1.5%.’
Mr Clifford added that the introduction of the two new Hunkelers forms part of a wider programme of investment and operational enhancements at Solopress, saying ‘We estimate the business as a whole is 25% more efficient than it was two years ago thanks to these measures.’
He was also full of precise for the work Friedheim put in throughout the process, adding that ‘The machines were delivered on time and as expected, and we received effective support throughout the installation. In particular Friedheim’s aftersales service has exceeded our expectations, and their same-day callouts have helped us get back up and running in some urgent situations.’
