Describe your business
Our Kwik Kopy store has been going for 19 years and has grown from three people to 14 over the years. We have a range of equipment including five digital presses of varying levels, four- and two-colour offset presses, three wide-format printers.
What do they do?
The Documaster takes pre-collated sets off digital presses and produces trimmed booklets without cracking on the spine or centre page spread, including books with heavier covers. It does this by scoring selected pages as they move through the feeding system. It also has a square back binding unit attached to give finished books a look and feel similar to a perfect bound book. The Digifold Pro can score and fold digitally printed paper and card up to 400gsm. It has the ability to score as it folds, preventing cracking of toner or ink. It can also be used for scoring or perforating without actually folding. It will fold up to 5,000 sheets per hour.
Why did you choose them?
We invested in the Digifold Pro because we were wasting a lot time of hand-folding digital prints produced on our HP Indigo 5000. On jobs with large solid areas of ink, we were having problems with cracking so we had to score them and then hand-fold certain jobs. We have another trimming-scoring device, which could have been retrofitted with a folding unit but felt that we needed a standalone unit. We currently have Morgana products and have been pleased with the overall operational aspects and what they deliver. We researched other products but the Digifold Pro was the best option for the work we wanted to do and the Documaster was also well suited so it made sense to buy both at the same time.
Did you consider other products?
We also looked at Plockmatic, Horizon and Duplo equipment, but we were happier with what Morgana offered.
What features do you like most?
On the Documaster Pro, the squareback binding is a real plus and the digital interface on both make setting up easy. They are not the most exciting machines by any stretch of the imagination, but they do a great job and fill important roles.
How fast are they?
The Digifold Pro can run at 6,000 A4 sheets per hour and the Documaster can produce up to 1,560 books per hour or 5,000 sheets per hour, crease only. The machines fit in perfectly here; we do longer-run work on our offset equipment, but the majority is smaller, faster-turnaround work. These machines allow us to meet our quality expectations, without having to go outside or spend hours doing lots of work manually.
How reliable are they?
The Digifold Pro has been running really well since installation. We had some initial teething issues with the Documaster, which we are still working through.
How easy are they to use?
Once trained it is easy to use the computer interface to operate each machine, and the mechanics of how they work are very simple. Our production team operate offset and digital presses and are used to operating finishing equipment so they had the machines up and running in about an hour, but it has taken a little time for them to feel really comfortable with them. Like a lot of equipment in the printing industry, it helps to understand air and how it affects feed trays on different devices.
Have they saved time and money?
It is hard to quantify at this point how much the machines have saved us in money, but they have definitely saved time. We were doing a lot of bookletmaking on an old Plockmatic handfed machine and having to outsource larger jobs before, and this has reduced this significantly.
Have they won you new business?
It has made it easier to meet our clients’ expectations so while they haven’t won us any new business, it has prevented any of our clients from questioning our quality and reliability.
Were there any difficulties surrounding the installations?
No – they just rocked up and wheeled them in and they were installed and in operation within the day!
How has the support been?
It has been really good. Our rep drops in quite often to make sure the machines are working well. We don’t see the technician all that much, but when we do have problems, we get them resolved quickly. If it is above the technician’s knowledge, they call in people from interstate.
Who are these products right for?
The machines are not ideal for an offset printer as with the Documaster the work needs to be put through in pre-collated sets. However, the Documaster would suit anybody who has got a digital device where the covers are already collated in sets. Any digital printer could do with the Digifold Pro as we all have the same issues with cracking.
Would you buy more of the same?
We have three pieces of Morgana kit so far and we have been very happy. I think they have realised that their niche is in digital printing and they have started tailoring their machines to suit this growth area.
Supplier’s response
We acquired the agency for Morgana less than 12 months ago. Already we’re more than delighted with the success of having the premium product for the digital print market, where specialist finishing equipment is a must. I’m also pleased that the local specialist, Trevor Maddiford, helped Kwik Kopy to solve the problem of cracking media normally associated with the folding and creasing of thicker stock on a digital printer.
Marcus Haefeli, CEO, Ferrostaal Australia
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter