Brentwood, Essex, 29 October 2007 – Henry Ling, a long-established family-owned manufacturer of academic journals and books, has today announced it has started 24-hour print operations for the first time to cope with an influx of digital work at its Dorset headquarters.

 

Digital output has doubled this year for Henry Ling, which has been working with international media company Pearson on customised publishing for university students. Instead of having to buy separate titles, relevant chapters have been merged into one book saving time and money for students.

 

Henry Ling employs more than 80 people at its Dorchester facility and has a £7million turnover, of which 10% is digital and is increasing year by year. The book printer has completed a £1million production environment that involves Océ Prisma, an Océ VarioStream 9230 two-colour web press, a Hunkeler unwind and cutter stacker and MBO folder that can produce cut sheet stacks or folded sigs.

 

Helen Kennett, managing director of Henry Ling, said: “It’s been a long journey getting to the point where the quality of printing was acceptable for a digital web. But now journals, which have mostly been printed litho in the past, can be printed on the Océ system. This is especially important now that run lengths are reducing and publishers are driving the move to digital.”

 

The 24-hour production requirement came from winning new work that Henry Ling could not previously do to the required volume. Prior to the Océ VarioStream line, its production was on either the sheetfed Heidelberg Speedmaster or the Digimaster.
 
“The quality and enhanced capabilities of the Océ VarioStream 9230 has vastly improved capacity and has enabled us to win new contracts,” said Ms Kennett. “And the influx of work has been so great that we have had to move to 24-hour digital production to meet our customers’ stringent deadlines.”

 

Simon Wheeler, director of Océ UK Ltd’s graphic arts division, said: “Developments in dot modulation have meant that we can further prove that digital is becoming more and more cost-effective for book publishing. We are rising to the challenge set by publishers for our customers for shorter, digital runs. The VarioStream 9230 has brought improvements in capacity and helped Henry Ling to continue to deliver the high standard of printed materials its growing numbers of customers have come to expect.”

 

Further information from Colin Harding, of Grayling public relations,
tel. 020 7255 6298 / 07730 435400.

 

About Henry Ling

 

Henry Ling Limited has a rich history, starting life 140 years ago as a commercial printer in Dorchester.
Today this historic building with many original features houses the offices for administration and the data manipulation production facility. A modern factory on the edge of town houses the rest of the production facility.

 

We are a private company, family owned and well known for high quality products and excellent personal service. We currently employ 107 people and have a policy of continual investment. We pride ourselves at being at the forefront of technology.

 

Our products fall into two main categories, journals and books. We work for the leading commercial publishers such as Pearson Education, Elsevier Limited, Informa Taylor and Francis and John Wiley and for learned societies such as the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In addition we value just as highly the work for smaller publishers and institutions. 

 

Holding both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications our customers can be assured of excellent quality management coupled with low environmental impact.  For more information: www.henryling.co.uk