Double Rapida 145 investment for Bell & Bain

Print Solutions

Following the purchase of J Thomson Colour printers to form an impressive £30 million turnover group, Bell & Bain has invested again in two new Rapida 145 presses.

The highly specified new presses, both perfectors, an eight colour and a four colour, will be installed in Bell & Bain’s Thornliebank site in Glasgow and will increase capacity to match the desired growth aspirations of the newly formed group.

Having been founded in 1831, Bell & Bain is one of the oldest independent book and journal printers with bindery facilities in the UK.

Bell & Bain Holdings group chairman Stephen Docherty stated, ‘We already know what these machines can do so it was an easy decision for us. However, the investment is also to make life easier on my team here by removing some bottlenecks created from an upswing in orders. Our customers are used to the highest of quality standards and now we will be able give our customers more of what they need and deliver for them when they need it.’

He continued, ‘We are investing continually and every penny we make I reinvest. These investments will be in machines, people and training. There will be further investments over the next year.’

The new presses feature high speed packages giving them a top speed of 15,000 sheets per hour and simultaneous plate changing (SPC) which allows them to change plates in 51 seconds, a 49% reduction from the last Rapida 145 press. The washing system, CleanTronic Synchro allows simultaneous washing of the blankets and impression cylinders and as these are SPC machines this can take place during plate changing process saving 43% against a traditional plate changing and washing systems.

For total paper control both presses are equipped with a Sensoric Infeed System (SIS) which allows trouble and mark free production at the highest speeds. Colour control on both presses is via QualiTronic ColorControl which reads a full colour bar on every sheet and provides updates to colour values after every tenth sheet. This system provides waste savings of up to 60% when compared to off line systems and it makes 46% more measurements than other comparable in line systems on the market. The ultra-flexible QualiTronic and ErgoTronic control systems can control to both density and CIE Lab values providing Bell & Bain customers total reassurance that their work is produced to the highest quality on every sheet.