QUICK CHANGEOVER
Fast CCM installation on the cards for Richard Edward
When one of the guillotines at Thamesmead’s Richard Edward Ltd broke down, Operations Manager John Slayford and his team had to decide whether to repair or replace it. In addition to the cost factor, the company had a demanding production schedule to meet, and could ill afford the downtime.
“We used Terry Cooper Services (TCS) for servicing on our existing guillotines and they were keen to sell us a new CCM Premier machine. When we had a look around at the guillotines available on the market it became obvious that the CCM Premier was a substantial piece of kit with the right specifications and features for us, and the price was right,” says Mr Slayford. “Even so, the time factor was the biggest challenge, but TCS were confident of a quick installation. We took the plunge, and ordered the machine on a Thursday. It was installed the following Tuesday, and we were up and running on Wednesday morning. All very impressive!”
Richard Edward Ltd has a longstanding reputation for producing quality general commercial work from business cards to saddle stitched brochures and beyond. Additionally, a large proportion of its turnover comes from the production of game cards. It is the only fully integrated UK-owned company that produces playing cards. They also produce internationally successful brands such as Top Trump cards and Monopoly. One of the company’s major business activities is for collector cards. “We currently produce around 40,000,000 packs of collectible cards per year with the ability to wrap up to A4 and the capacity to take on far more ” says Mr Slayford. “Our clients require a premium product that clearly need to be cut down, which is why a reliable and accurate guillotining operation is so important for us.”
Finishing Manager Jim Agar has a more hands-on view of the CCM Premier. “I liked it from the start and so did the other operators,” he says. “It’s well thought-out, for instance all the controls are at eye level – this could not be said of our old machine which had a screen positioned higher up, over time this literally became a pain in the neck! We found it very easy to learn, and though you can find machines with a wider capability, the CCM Premier does the basics extremely well, and this is what we were after. The programmability is very good, if like us you do a lot of regular jobs day in, day out you can just recall the settings at the push of a button and set ups couldn’t be faster.”
Richard Edward Ltd was founded in 1976 and now offers a fully comprehensive service with all processes from prepress to dispatch undertaken at its 32,000sq ft factory. It has over 50 staff and an annual turnover of around £6m. As well as an enviable and growing client list, the company boasts a forward thinking approach, which includes environmental and community initiatives. Internal systems are constantly being updated to improve efficiency - improvements in the areas of MIS and integrated workflow being the most recent.
