CHICAGO, IL - Three years ago, Warren Jefvert invested in the future and purchased an A.B.Dick DPM2340 digital platemaker to help grow the business at Lancer Ltd., a print shop he started in Spokane, Washington in 1975. His latest maneuver to increase business was to buy an A.B.Dick distributed Watkiss Vario System 3 modular collator, which is making the shop more profitable because he can keep the work in-house. “We were spending $30,000 a year farming out our work and having someone else collating it. We did research on bookmaking binding equipment and determined with Tom Machtolf of A.B.Dick that from a cost and features standpoint, the Watkiss Vario was the best option,” said Jefvert. “We’ve increased our print shop business. Customizing the 12-bin unit gives us everything we need now and the ability to go after more when we want to.” Jefvert has a history of making the right decisions. Lancer Ltd. began business as a microfilm billing company, but some of his clients needed additional service so he created a niche market by selling business forms and color-coded filing systems. The business grew and in 1995, he redefined the company again by opening a one and two-color print shop. About 80 percent of their printing is just that, but the A.B.Dick DPM2340 with Scan- Master let them expand into three and four-color jobs, in addition to providing supplies. A private company with 38 employees, Lancer has revenues of over $5 million and does work mostly for image clients, such as physician clinics and travel agencies. Sales representatives cover six western states and a separate travel forms division accepts orders by telephone. The Watkiss Vario System 3 is designed for consistent quality and high-speed produc- tion with large runs of both straight collated and bookletmaking jobs. The patented SlimVAC rotary feed bins, the automatic stitch, fold and trim options, and a hand merge unit to make thicker books up to 24 sheets, intrigued print shop manager Mike McDonell. “The cost and the compact size made immediate impressions on us,” said McDonell. “All of the other systems we looked at were much longer in length, and the size and area we had available made this an important issue. We had been doing the books on a Duplo machine, but you can only have or add 10 bins at a time. With our Watkiss configuration, we can expand to 16 or add one at a time.” The flexibility of the Watkiss Vario is a huge plus for the type of work they do. “We run the standard 11” by 17” book size for customers who do four-signature work. We’ve eliminated hand collating and this equipment should open up new avenues for us,” said McDonell. “We printed a 17-page book with self-covers on 60 lb. offset stock for an HMO client. This system gives us the option to go after more work like this.” How they do the work on the Watkiss Vario was an important consideration. “I like that everything is computerized on a touch screen and all the controls are in one location,” said McDonell. “The ease of operation really intrigued me. It’s impressive how you can link bins together, three or four sets with four pages each, and run it non-stop automatically.”