CPX PUMPING OUT BOOKS WITH NEW HORIZON LINE

CPX Logistics in Brisbane is now producing 50,000 books a month, thanks to its new Horizon PUR perfect binder and inline three knife trimmer.

And the company is investing even more, turning its production centre into a major Queensland book production unit, saving publishers the need to have their work done in the southern states and then be trucked back up to the Sunshine State.

Following a major re-equipping a year ago, the company has just installed a new Horizon HT-1000V 3-way trimmer, running it inline with the new Horizon BQ-500 Perfect Binder. It has also put in a new Horizon AFV-566FKT folder. All the equipment is supplied and serviced by Currie Group.

James Bennett, owner of the business, said, “We can now produce a lot of books. Having the Horizon perfect binder and the three-knife trimmer inline is giving us unbelievable throughput.

“We are producing bookshop quality jobs, there is no difference between what we are manufacturing and those that come off a $2m binder. There is effectively no job we cannot do, you’ve got to see it to believe it.”

The set-up at CPX has the book blocks dropped onto a conveyor belt, they are then PUR bound, then onto another conveyor belt, into the three-knife trimmer, and finally onto another conveyor belt for packing.

The binding set-up handles work that is printed on the half size and quarter size offset presses, and the HP Indigo and toner print systems at CPX.

The BQ-500 is the fourth Horizon perfect binder CPX has installed in the past 27 years. He said, “I am not one eyed about our investments, I do always have a good look around, part of the strategy of success is to buy well and buy at the right price, but I have never come across anything that offers the same capability or consistency. Japanese engineering is precision.”

Michael Mostyn, QLD sales account manager, Currie Group, said, “Horizon identified and forecast the industry skills shortage and demand for shorter run lengths a long time ago, as a result automation has been at the forefront of its products, what it calls the Smart Factory Concept.

“The inline combination of the Horizon BQ-500 and HT-1000V significantly increases productivity, but with automated variable book thickness and size will enable CPX to do so with as little as single digit book orders.”

CPX has also installed a new Horizon AFV-566FKT folder, Bennett says, “It looks like a spaceship, and is really advanced, the operators tell me it is on a different level. It is certainly producing superb quality work.”

Mostyn said, “With advanced automation the AFV-566FKT folder is designed from the start with ease of use in mind. It can be run by non-skilled operators, so reducing labour costs and reducing touchpoints.”