£3 million Route One investment includes two Screen roll-fed inkjets

Route One’s first Screen TruePress Jet520HD was installed in May 

Rotherham-based trade printer Route One Print has continued its spending spree with the addition of two Screen TruePress Jet520HD high-speed inkjet presses plus significant finishing investments.

The company began its 2018 investments in May with the installation of a Screen TruePress Jet520HD to improve lead times within its booklet department. The company says the reel-to-reel inkjet printer gives it ‘huge efficiency benefits’ over litho.

‘We’re really excited to continue our investments into inkjet technology with the TruePress,’ said managing director Adam Carnell ‘By moving booklet production to digital methods, we can really make a dent in our current lead times while simultaneously freeing up our litho stream for bigger jobs. Not only that, but the reel-to-reel set up allows us to completely bypass the guillotine process. With all these added efficiencies, we’re able to look at introducing same-day turnarounds on stapled booklets.’

Route One says it was so impressed by the TruePress’ capabilities that within a month of installation a second unit was ordered. The company plans to dedicate one press to printing perfect bound booklets and the other to stapled booklets.

To complement the advances in booklet printing capabilities, Route One is installing additional finishing equipment. This includes two more Horizon Stitchliner Mark IIIs from IFS, the fifth and sixth for the company, plus a Horizon BQ480 for perfect-bound booklets. The company is also purchasing a Renz AP360 to pre-punch pages for wiro-bound booklets. 

Away from the booklet department, Route One Print has also invested in a Pitstop MB High Speed Creaser Folder. This new machine is capable of folding heavier stocks – 350gsm or more – which will support greeting cards production.

The rest of the investment has gone into upgrading existing kit, from upgrading cutting equipment in business card production, to reinstating its second large format HP Scitex 11000.

Mr Carnell added, ‘All our investments are geared towards improving our service to customers. We’re increasing our capacity, shortening lead times, improving reliability and eliminating single points of failure. We’re also providing a fantastic opportunity to the people of South Yorkshire as we’ll be looking to recruit 30-40 new members of our team over the coming months.’

The new equipment should all be installed and tested in time for the busy season in September.