Company owner Philip Booroff (center) with the two bookbindery managers Don Collins (left) and Ian Simkins in front of the Corona Compact CC12.

When Philip Booroff founded his own print finishing company 20 years ago, Andrews Finishing had just one trimming and one folding machine. Today, the successful family company in Iver is the only bookbinder in Great Britain to utilize three Corona lines at a single production location.

Both the two Corona Compact CC12 machines as well as the Corona C13 are equipped with PUR adhesive technology and operate around the clock. This is hardly a surprise, as Andrews Finishing specializes in large orders. “That allows us to use our greatest strength to the greatest possible degree,” says Philip Booroff, “with our efficient production machinery.”

“Prevention is Better than Fixing”
In order to meet deadlines involving products with high circulations, Andrews Finishing depends on reliable systems. Furthering that reliability is the fact that Philip Booroff recently entered into a service contract with Muller Martini, which provides regular inspection and optimization of the machines.

“Prevention is better than fixing” is the Andrews Finishing motto. For that reason, the bookbindery always has enough spare parts on hand to prevent production delays. “It is always infuriating when a machine fails and you have to wait for a spare part that only costs a few pounds,” says Don Collins, one of the two Production Managers at Andrews Finishing. “That’s why we looked for a happy medium between costs and advantages, and found it in a warehouse with the most important spare parts.”

Inserts and Product Samples
In addition to the three perfect binders, Andrews Finishing has numerous other modern print finishing systems – including an Onyx/Rubin inserting and film-wrapping line from Muller Martini. “We always align our investments with the needs of our customers,” says Philip Booroff. “Increasingly, they are lending added value to their printed products with inserts or product samples. We then ensure that the finished products reach their recipients well protected.”

The automatic loading of signatures via streamfeeders is indispensable in achieving high production speeds on the three Corona perfect binders.

PUR Nozzle System Provides for Precise Glue Application
Another example of rising demands is PUR binding. According to the company owner: “Our customers value its great advantages, like better layflat behavior and higher pull values.” The costs for PUR adhesive are higher than those for hotmelt, but thanks to the VPN type PUR book spine nozzle, developed by Muller Martini, glue application is more precise and more controlled. This results in lower glue consumption as well as sharper book spines.

With the VPN nozzle, glue is applied uniformly across the entire backbone enabling consistent binding quality. Cleaning and maintenance tasks (inexpensive re-coating of the glue pot) are also considerably reduced, plus, products can be run at significantly higher speeds.

Better Quality thanks to the Corona
In all of his years with Andrews Finishing, Don Collins has experienced many technological advances. “Unlike the perfect binders from other suppliers that we have used in the past, the quality of the books produced today on the three Muller Martini lines is substantially better, in addition to the higher production speed. The Corona’s high degree of automation also allows for faster make-ready times. And the first books of a new job are already bound flawlessly, even with complex books.”

The Corona perfect binder’s great flexibility enables Andrews Finishing to produce two-up books in A5 and A6 format. And the PUR adhesive helps to achieve high binding quality, even in the case of signatures with incorrect fiber direction.

Responding Quickly to Trends
The second bookbindery manager, Ian Simkins, who has also worked at Andrews Finishing for many years, values the modular capabilities of Muller Martini machines as well: “Because they are all built modularly, they can be expanded later on. So we are able to respond quickly to new market trends.”

Philip Booroff, whose son Paul and daughter Louise also work at Andrews Finishing, is confident when it comes to what the future holds for his company. “Precisely because the market is continually changing, we have to stay flexible.” His success would seem to prove Mr. Booroff correct – especially when you consider that the family business, with a customer base that includes the foremost printers in all of Great Britain, has become one of the leading bookbinderies on the island just two decades after its founding.