Timsons Ltd is a family-owned company which

manufactures Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

bespoke

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

and

flexible packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coo ...

printing presses A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

. Timsons was founded in 1896 by Arthur Richardson Timson and employs over 200 people at its

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

, UK headquarters. A sales subsidiary in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

covers southern Europe, and a sales and service operation for the Americas is based in

Schaumburg, Illinois Schaumburg ( ) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 78,723, making Schaumburg the most populou ...

. Timsons Limited has specialised for over 50 years in the

niche market A niche market is the subset of the market on which a product is appealed to a small group of consumers. The market niche defines the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the ...

of presses to print books. The variability of book sizes, and hence machine specifications, creates a need for flexibility in design and manufacture. Each press is custom built enabling the printer to select the print circumference, web width and folder to meet their own individual requirements and minimise excess trim waste. The book printing presses typically use a

lithographic Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

web

offset printing Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithography, lithographic process, which ...

process, with

Servo drive A servo drive is an electronic amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a Signal (information theory), signal (a time-varying voltage or Electric current, cu ...

s, and tailored to print and fold substrates for

bibles The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

and

dictionaries A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

on very lightweight

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

s, through to

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s, reference books and computer manuals. In recent years,

Bungay Bungay () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . It lies in the Waveney Valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at th ...

-based Book printer Clays used its Timson presses to produce the complete series of

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

adventures including

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth and penultimate novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series, and takes place during Harry Potter's sixth year at the wizard scho ...

, which sold more than 2 million in the first 24 hours. With a stable of 15 presses covering A and B format paperbacks as well as Demy and Royal sizes, Clays have Britain's largest installation of Timson presses. The new Timson T-Flex series use a flexographic process designed to print flexible packaging with

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

based or UV (

cationic An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

free radical A daughter category of ''Ageing'', this category deals only with the biological aspects of ageing. Ageing Biogerontology Biological processes Causes of death Cellular processes Gerontology Life extension Metabolic disorders Metabolism ...

) inks. The Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating at

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

purchased the first T-Flex 508 flexo press which was built originally as a ‘testbed’ for the development of the new T-Flex 600. This

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

use their press as a

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

tool. On 1 July 2006 Timsons celebrated its 110th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

. The event was a triple celebration marking the opening of a new high bay press assembly shop, and receiving the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for outstanding achievement in

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

. The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the UK's most prestigious awards for business performance and this honour recognises the development and commercial success of the Timson ZMR book press. The Timsons premises in Kettering comprises a

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

and

pattern A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...

makers,

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tool (machining), cutting tools to make parts, usua ...

, assembly shop, research bays and offices for departments from sales and design, through to service and administrative duties. Timsons also has its own Training School and prides itself in providing

Mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

and

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

s for approximately 6 people each year. Training has always been a high priority of the company and the first official apprenticeship training scheme was introduced in 1950 by Ernest Arthur Timson who succeeded his father Arthur Timson as

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

in 1940. The current managing director, Jeff Ward, joined the company as an apprentice in 1979 and was appointed to MD after the

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

of Peter Brown ( son-in-law of Ernest Timson) in 2007.Timsons - A Centenary History 1896-1996. Nigel Watson. 1996.

References

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External links

www.timsons.com

www.easydotsrl.com (European representatives)

timsonsinc.com (Timsons Incorporated)
Manufacturing companies established in 1896 Printing companies of the United Kingdom 1896 establishments in England British brands