Efficient technology - saving you money

ePS Technique

In 2013 and with sales turnover of just £16 million Acorn needed to replace its aging MIS system and it needed a software partner that shared its vision for operational excellence. At the same time, we aimed to streamline our processes, improve communication, and respond promptly to customer needs without significantly increasing headcount. We invested in ePS Technique software because it was a comprehensive solution that fully optimized our operations. The key benefit is its ability to provide real-time visibility into production processes, enabling us to monitor tasks at any point in the workflow. This enhanced visibility has not only improved our operational efficiency, but it also enhanced customer satisfaction by ensuring the timely and accurate delivery of our products. Moreover, with regular software upgrades and improvements, Technique in more recent years has empowered us to make data-driven decisions, leveraging insights from the software to inform strategic planning and resource allocation. When we invested in our latest press the Lithoman 32pp, without harnessing the power of Technique, we would have been unable to monitor and measure the 650 tonne reductions in paper waste that we’ve driven from the print process. Now operating at £26 million turnover, the benefits of Technique are very clear to us, we simply couldn’t operate without it.

Pre-press plate stream & automatic plate bender

Our Pre-Press department was revamped in 2019 and this was part of a large investment spend that captured the latest pre-press technology, a new web offset press and additional warehousing. The interface between Acorn and its customers is the state-of-the-art workflow Apogee Portal which is delivered from our partner ECO3. This cloud-based system allows for the seamless and secure upload and approval of print ready PDF files. Once approved the imposed sections are output to plates and these can be ready for press in less than 30 minutes. Our two mirrored Avalon plate setters can both service the three plate sizes we use on our printing presses, offering excellent reliability and with built in disaster recovery.

Acorn has worked collaboratively with ECO3 on several occasions. Initially this was in using their innovative SPIR@L print screening technology. This was to replace the traditional ink dot with other more efficient shapes such as spirals. This has a positive impact on print quality, resulting in a crystal-clear image every time without effort. The SPIR@L screen lets you hold a 1-99% dot, guaranteeing vibrant colours, reducing image slur and helping to reduce ink usage. In more recent time ECO3 have helped us with our sustainability goals and the switch to more efficient processors with their eco plate, this has saved us 1 million litres of water and 18,000 litres of chemistry.

Lithoman Web 32pp

Installed in 2019 this press was the focal point of a £6 million investment. It was bought to respond to the changing dynamic in the marketplace, where lower more frequent magazine and catalogue runs with multiple versions were now prevalent.

Having tracked the changes in the marketplace, and having listened to our customers it was evident that the rapid set up and make ready of jobs is what mattered to them most. It was clear that we needed to invest in productivity and efficiency to ensure that the medium of print still offered a strong ROI. It was also vital that we didn’t spoil the simplicity of the A4 & A5 specialism that we had become known for. This is why we ensured our new 32pp press utilised the same 870mm paper reels as our 16pp press. We wanted perfect interchangeability and easy access to paper stock at all times.

The Lithoman press has 4 printing units and an automatically adjustable folder. It is equipped with a high automation package that features inline control systems for cut-off, colour and ink density. This guarantees the shortest make-ready and changeover times with the lowest possible waste. The QuickStart & QuickStop features are particularly important for frequent job changes, and this is very relevant to Acorn as we are trusted to print over 300 regular titles each month that have different papers, pagination and print run.

Rotoman Web 16pp

This press runs fast at 60,000 impression per hour and it is particularly strong at producing A5 which is an important format offering for many of our publishing and retails customers. As part of the company’s most recent Lithoman Web 32pp investment we also took the opportunity to perform a series of upgrades on the 16pp. We added improvements to its quality controls system installing new inline control systems for cut-off, colour and ink density from Qi systems. This helps maintain the high quality our customers demand whilst keeping paper waste to a minimum. The folder was also refurbished by the manufacturer MAN to help maintain excellent fold accuracy. The final upgrade was a new log stacker from GammerlerTech to ensure perfect presentation to the finishing machines. All these changes enable Acorn to mirror the quality and presentation from that of our newer Lithoman 32pp press giving perfect interchangeability from press to press and helping to balance our overall capacity.

KBA sheetfed B1 UV

Our sheetfed press runs magazine, brochure and catalogue covers day and night! This current asset was one of the first investments the M.B.O team made back in 2014, and it was also an investment that delivered several strong benefits for customers. Replacing an old but reliable 4 colour Heidelberg, this press is 75% more productive, so it helped reduce our lead-times and it gave us greater flexibility within our production plan. This machine also limited outwork giving us the ability to produce 5 colours including PMS colours and metallics. The coating unit can provide customers with Gloss UV, Matt UV, Luxury Soft Touch and a variety of water based varnishes. Bringing this decorative finishing inline allowed us to retain significant value and minimise logistics.

Muller Bravo & Prima Plus

The company’s capabilities were improved in late 2022 and early 2023, with the introduction of two high speed saddle stitchers, bringing the total number of machines to four. These new assets not only increased productivity by over 30%, but they also benefit from increased automation and quality control systems to reduce defects and cost of production. Across the four machines we have minimised labour with the stream feeding of sections and we can offer a variety of packing solutions from paper banding, strapping, shrink-wrapping and boxing. The ability to include loose inserts remains of high importance to our publishing customers as this is an additional opportunity for revenue. We can mechanically insert four items whilst running.