May 05, 2019
Expansion Plans for 2019
2018 was a heavy capital year for Friesens, and 2019 will be no different. Some equipment is already installed, and other equipment has been ordered and is scheduled for installation later this year. Let’s begin with the big news.
In 2018, Friesens replaced a twenty-year-old Kolbus hardcover line with a new Müller Martini line. The line performed as expected, so we ordered a second line that would replace the current line we have running at Book Division. The bullishness of the market and continued demand for hardcover books, combined with our growing confidence in the Müller Martini lines has led us to purchase a third binding line. This will be the first time in the company’s history that we will have three hardcover lines. This line is a little different from the first two, as it is designed to only run perfect bound hardcover books.
It is scheduled to assemble in April, and we expect to be in production by the second week of May.
In addition, we are looking to upgrade our folding department with new folders in 2019/2020, and add a new foil stamping unit for our cover decorating area.
In the sheeting department, the growth in our sheetfed area has put continued pressure on our existing sheeters, so we have ordered a new sheeter from a company called BW Paper Systems. It is scheduled to arrive during summer, and we expect to be in production for the fall season.
We have also ordered a smaller folder that will allow us to more efficiently and accurately prepare softcover flap jobs for the perfect binder. The new machine from Petratto will score, fold, and glue the flaps in one pass. This will increase our speed in cover preparation and improve accuracy.