Our team had a very busy few days down in Hammersmith at the SWPP show, promoting our partnership with the rebranded Spicer Hallfield. RDW Digital will produce the digital art book range (in-house with our PhotoLab equipment and hand bindery) and sales can be taken now through the Photogether website.

The team ready for a busy few days

Our Digital Art Books on display

Jeremy (Mills, Director) awaits potential customers

From left: Caroline (Specialist Binder), Jeremy (Blinded by our dazzling pink stand), Brian Murray (Spicer Hallfield Sales), David Finch (Spicer Hallfield) {click to enlarge}

To launch the Spicer Hallfield digital art books range, RDW Digital will be present at the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) Convention.

Come and see us on stand 190 at any time between Friday 15th January and Sunday 17th January at the Hammersmith Novotel. We’ll be showing our full range of photograph albums and samples of the huge variety of finishing options we can offer. Just for the convention, we’ll have some special offers available, and our friendly staff will be on hand to help with any queries you might have. We’d love to meet you, but if time is of the essence, simply pop in and grab one of our brochures!

Managing Director Charles Dunn said:

“We have always aspired to provide a service to compliment our digital book printing operations by producing bespoke digital photo albums and related products bound with high quality covers.

“The demise of the reknowned professional photographic supplier, Spicer Hallfield, has accelerated these plans by providing us with the unique opportunity to incorporate the Spicer Digital Photographic Printing range of products, equipment and some former key staff into our bindery in Huddersfield. We are delighted to continue to provide professional photographers across the country with a first rate service.”

We were delighted to be short listed in the PrintWeek Quality Awards. Judged by a panel of leading print buyers, the Awards are widely recognised as the mark of quality and the highest accolade within the print and print finishing industry.

A body of our work was judged not only on the quality of the finished product, but also on the range of processes used to add value.

Managing Director, Charles Dunn said:

“Printweek’s Printing Industry Awards are the most prestigious and high profile in the industry and to be short listed is a graphic determination on our part of our commitment to and achievement of excellence. We are justifably proud to have been short listed this year and receiving this sort of acclaim.”

Whilst we did not take away the ultimate prize we are extremely pleased to have been shortlisted, an achievement we hope to build on next year.

Major spend will lead to full automation

An investment of more than £65000 will lead to a fully automated lettering service at Riley Dunn & Wilson allowing binding requirements to go directly from customers to RDW production systems.

The new system will allow titles and binding requirements to be entered online; speeding up the ordering process, reducing incidents of human error and allowing customers to better keep track of their budgets.

No more binding slips!

RDWOnline.co.uk is the portal that allows you to input your binding requirements. Titles and instructions are stored meaning regularly bound titles can be selected at the click of a button for future binding. Information is fed straight to computer systems that drive our lettering machines, ensuring that your exact specifications are carried out.

The introduction of system three lettering machines in both binderies means the quality of lettering will increase as well as the consistency and speed of output.

General Manager of the Huddersfield bindery, Philip Stephenson, said:

“We are all thrilled at the leap forward in production the new system will give us. It brings benefits for customers and because we will be able to process more work, without losing quality, it has obvious benefits for us too.”

The new system is still being tested but we are able to set up accounts for new customers in anticipation of the new system going live. For more details please contact your area representative or e-mail: customerservices@rdw.co.uk

As the oldest and longest serving employee of Riley Dunn & Wilson Ltd, I am probably the best qualified to comment on the history of the company.

RDW has always been known as a family firm and one that has served the people of Falkirk for the last 100 years by providing employment opportunities in the district. I joined the Company as a 15 years old apprentice bookbinder on the 28th August 1961 and to say it is a family company, well I had 2 sisters, a brother-in -law and an aunt all working in the Falkirk factory. I later met and married my wife Janet in the bindery and we were not unique, the numbers of couples who met and married whilst in the firms employment must number at least 30 couples.

I have witnessed many changes in my time, the first major occurrence happened at the time I started, when the company was threatened with legal action by the publishers Penguin because we were buying in their books, giving them reinforced bindings and then selling them on to the libraries. We got round that particular problem by getting the libraries to buy the books then send them into us for binding. The next major change was in the early 70s when the Company was approached by the British Library to see if we were interested in entering the field of paper conservation. The decision to go ahead was perhaps the most influential decision the Dunn family made, as the skills and treatments learned since have primarily been responsible for the company still being here to this day. By undertaking this type of work the company was able to penetrate new more lucrative markets which has given us more stability and allowed us to cope better with the changes and declines in our core markets.

Later in the 1970s, the American Binding Institute was blossoming and there were huge investments made in automated machinery for the bookbinding industry. RDW again recognised the need to adapt and upgrade our equipment with investments being made in Rounder & Backing machines, Hydropresses and Versamatic casing-in machines. The biggest investment we made was in computerised lettering machines, firstly with RB/7 then with System 3. These machines allowed the company to streamline the production throughput whilst maintaining the quality standards the Company is renowned for. Our industry is going through another major change with e-journals having a bigger impact each year so it’s vital that we as a company diversify into new products and markets.

100 years trading is a tremendous achievement, especially within the current climate, I have enjoyed the changes, some better than others but what drives myself and others within the Company on are the challenges. We have to prepare the Company and our staff to cope with new concepts whilst laying strong foundations for the next generation to carry on.

I have been fortunate in my working life, I have bound and gold tooled leather bindings for presentation to Royalty, I have been privileged to work in some of the most beautiful and famous libraries within the UK and abroad, I have been allowed to manage many major projects the company has undertaken through the years and I have been employed in consultancy work in Portugal. The diverse nature of the problems we face means things are never dull, each day can bring a new challenge, the Company is strong and will start the next 100 years in good shape.

John Penman

We are incredibly proud that 2009 is the centenary year of Riley Dunn & Wilson’s operations in Scotland.

The last 100 years have brought numerous changes, many of which have required taking risks or branching out into wider markets to overcome them. With e-journals and electronic archives replacing traditional formats, the company has embraced new technologies in order to continue to meet the needs of librarians and custodians.

John Penman, General Manager is optimistic about the company’s future, he said: “The diverse problems we face mean that things are never dull, each day brings a new challenge, but the company is strong and we will start the next 100 years in good shape.

“100 years of trading is a tremendous achievement, especially within the current climate. I have enjoyed the changes, some better than others, but what drives myself and others within the company on are the challenges. We have to prepare the company and our staff to cope with new concepts.”

The company has its roots in Baxters Wynd, Falkirk after the partnership of Hugh Dunn and William Wilson, both apprenticed bookbinders, decided to go into business together in 1909 to cater for the burgeoning free public library service, before acquiring Huddersfield based bindery B. Riley & Co. in 1956.

Now housed in a state of the art facility, our bindery undertakes periodical and reference binding work as well as prestigious conservation projects at our Conservation Studio.

The bindery employs more than 40 people, many of whom have joined the company as school leavers or apprentices and have stayed with us, perfecting their trade as skilled binders and restorers and striving to meet current and future challenges.