Southern Colour buys high-end Stahlfolder at Ipex 2010

Managing director Rod Dawson signed for a Stahfolder TH 82 buckle-folder, which is due to be installed in two to three weeks.

The 6/4/4 publication folder will replace two older machines – a reflection of the company’s strategy of boosting efficiency without increasing capacity.

Dawson told ProPrint: “There’s obviously overcapacity in the market and the only way for us to remain where we are is to increase efficiencies internally.

“We can’t get any more margin from the marketplace so every move is about being more efficient and consolidating numbers,” he added.

He said he hoped the strategy would put Southern Colour ahead as competitors couldn’t make similar high-end investments “while times are so tough”.

Southern Colour is a loyal Heidelberg house, and the new folder will finish work from its range of Speedmasters, which include a 10-colour XL 105, six-colour XL 105 with aqueous, and a five-colour SM 74.

Alastair Hadley, Heidelberg ANZ’s general manager of sales, marketing and product management, told ProPrint that the Stahfolder was extremely highly spec’d.

“[Southern Colour] has already got some automated finishing kit, but as you print faster, the problem moves somewhere else. By reducing presses and installing more automated machines, the bindery feels the pinch. So it’s a case of strengthening up that area,” added Hadley.

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