Founded in 1933, Valley Library Bindery is a family owned and operated textbook bindery located in Fresno, California. They provide book bindings for school districts around the state of California as well as libraries and various other businesses. Janet Lambetecchio has been a proud owner and operator at VLB for several years, and uses Xante’s HWC Heavyweight Champion Digital Print System on a daily basis. Lambetecchio explains how the HWC’s versatility has enabled her shop to finally fulfill long awaited requests from customers for more specialized products. “We have been in business for 83 years. Many years ago, a rebound book had a plain cover, not an illustrated one. This allows us to give our customers the illustrations they’ve been wanting for years. Before the HWC, we were not able to do what we do now. We’ve heard from customers for probably 10 or 15 years that they would rather have the picture than the plain [book cover], but there had never been a machine up until this point that can do what the HWC does.”

This system utilizes high definition LED printheads, which gives VLB the ability to satisfy their clientele’s growing demand for superior images and vivid colors on a large format. “It’s something that we had been looking for for many, many years that was going to have bright, vibrant colors, was going to make our covers look good, and something we could have large format printing on. We have been extremely happy with the machine ever since.”

The HWC has exceeded all of Lambetecchio’s expectations and she has been pleasantly surprised with the system’s overall ease of use. “It probably does even more than I am aware that it will do. It does everything that we want it to do. We have had zero problems with it, and have probably put out at least 75,00 copies in a very short amount of time. It’s very easy to use. I am not exactly a rocket scientist when it comes to computers and machines but this was very easily set up. The iQueue software was very easy to learn. There are tutorials and videos if there is something that you are not sure about. We’ve been very happy with it. It’s actually done as much or more than we hoped it would do.” VLB frequently uses Xante’s iQueue Workflow software in combination with the HWC, and Lambetecchio is impressed with the Job Cost Estimation feature in particular. “It tells you exactly how much money you are spending to print, per piece. I can go back and adjust the color and the densities and play with cost per piece. It’s been a great experience,” she says. After several years of searching, Lambetecchio is relieved to have finally found a heavy stock digital print system that allows VLB to be a one-stop-shop for all their customers’ needs.

Customer Review HWC testimonial