Clays Orders Two Timsons Zero Make-Ready Presses for Bungay

Clays has ordered two Timsons ZMR (Zero Make-Ready) presses for its Bungay plant, the largest single-site book printing operation in Britain. The order does not stop there: a Royal-size press is expected in early 2027, with a further B-format machine following late in the same year.

In Clays’ words

“These investments will be truly transformative, significantly increasing our production capacity and efficiency while reinforcing Clays’ position as a leading manufacturing partner for publishers,” said Ian Smith, deputy managing director at Clays.

“Our continued investment in partnership with Timsons reflects our long-term commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and supporting the evolving needs of the publishing industry.”

Why the order matters beyond Bungay

For the Magnum–Timsons group, this is the strategy doing what it was meant to do. Kettering — foundry, machine shop and around 60 engineers — is turning out presses again, and the apprenticeship programme has reopened to bring the next generation through.

There is no stronger argument for zero make-ready than the printer with the most books to produce deciding it can no longer afford to stop.