Sandy, 21st September 2007 -- Watkiss Automation has officially announced Chris Fowler International (CFI) as the world's first PowerSquare 200 customer.  The London based financial printing company went into production with the machine in July and is so impressed with its capabilities that it has already taken delivery of a second system.
The PowerSquare 200 is a complete book making system for both digital and offset applications and cost-effectively produces a SquareBack finish on books up to 200 pages thick.   The installed machines at CFI run inline to Kodak Digimaster digital printers and have saved the company time and resources by stitching, folding, forming the spine and trimming the pages to size in one pass.
Kevin Eyers, managing director at CFI says:  "Any printer looking to streamline their operation would benefit from installing a Watkiss PowerSquare 200.  The fact that the PowerSquare 200 can take sheets straight off the printer and automatically produce the innovative SquareBack finished booklet has had the affect of simplifying our production no end.  It is allowing us to increase our productivity while at the same time reduce our costs. 
"The PowerSquare 200 provides us with a faster alternative to perfect binding.  Currently this involves taking flat sheets from the printer, collating them offline, manually feeding them into the binding unit and trimming the stocks down to size. 
"As an all in one system, the PowerSquare 200 also reduces the amount of components in the digital print-finish process, so risk of downtime due to breakdown and the amount of maintenance required to keep the systems running are dramatically reduced.  In addition, the level of automation achieved with the PowerSquare 200 means we can achieve a professionally bound finish with just one operator, as opposed to the three we need when perfect binding."
The PowerSquare 200 systems are also helping CFI cut back on using the glues and chemicals that are required to carry out the traditional perfect binding method, which has environmental as well as financial benefits for the company and its customers.  The system secures the pages in place by stitching, rather than gluing, the pages together before applying the SquareBack edge in order to achieve the book-like finish.
Mr Eyers continues:  "Whereas the practical and business benefits of the Watkiss' PowerSquare 200 technology have been well documented since its launch last year, the fact that the system provides a far more environmentally-friendly alternative to perfect binding is not as well known.  Every company is looking for ways to create a more environmentally sound business these days and our customers are thrilled that we have installed a new production method that cuts back on the amount of chemicals used."
In addition to its two PowerSquare systems, CFI also owns eight Watkiss SpineMasters globally.  The SpineMaster is the first machine to have incorporated Watkiss' SquareBack technology and was introduced to the industry in 2000.  As with the PowerSquare 200 systems, the SpineMaster units installed at CFI also operate inline to Digimaster printers and are used to finish booklets with a pagination of between 30 and 70 pages. 
As a £9million company, CFI is one of the UK's top 150 printing businesses in terms of turnover.  60 percent of the company's business comes from printing financial documents for large multinational and global investment banking companies, while the remaining 40 percent of its business is dedicated to providing commercial printing services.  Its headquarters are based in London and the company has subsidiary outlets in New York and Hong Kong, as well as worldwide affiliates.