Floor-Model Folders — Getting into the Fold

by chris bauer

Managing Editor

Once overlooked in a printing world that focused heavily on digital technology, bindery equipment, including floor-model folding machines, can now be part of the conversation. Modern machines offer all of the automation that today's users desire.

According to Josef Niehueser, product manager for Stahlfolder (distributed by Heidelberg), automation and integration are the features that folding machine users want to incorporate. The bindery is the only production department left that still involves a degree of manual labor, he points out, and printers want to take as much labor out of the finishing process as possible.

"Integration is the next step and reaches from prepress right into postpress," Niehueser asserts. "Software applications such as Prinance and Signa Station, in conjunction with Compucut, Compufold and Compustitch, utilize a set of data that only needs to be created once and then utilized numerous times to set up folders, stitchers or cutters.

Heidelberg showed the next generation of postpress technology in the new line of Stahlfolders at Graph Expo & Converting Expo this month. The Stahlfolder TH 66 is a buckle plate folder suited to small- and mid-size print shops and finishing specialists. This folder offers shorter makeready times and high levels of automation.

"To be competitive in today's market, a folder must be able to perform specialty services that add value to the end product and increase profits for the customer," advises Mark Pellman, marketing manager, Baumfolder Corp.

Pellman notes that special applications include many creative gluing applications both on the infeed of the folder and on the fold plates. Added benefits can also be achieved using faster gatefold attachments and microperf accessories, he says. The addition of ink-jet units to the folder add value and personalization to the folded product process.

To further simplify the setup process through automation, Baumfolder has introduced the BAUM Flexifold and the new Flexifeed modules that cover several market segments. The addition of the Flexifeed to the Flexifold provides automation with a deep pile feeder at an affordable price, Pellman says. The manufacturer has also released the new BAUM 26 and BAUM 30 floor-model folders to meet the needs of the larger sheet size market segment.

Got to Pay to Play

Although the trend is towards automation, technology advances come at a price. Jeff Brewer, vice president of GBR Systems, has experienced that some customers still do not want to pay for automation in the folding area.

"That said, most of our current sales are coming from customers who are insourcing previously outsourced work—I see an insourcing trend," Brewer notes. "I am hearing that customers are unhappy with the cost of their outsourcers."

In general, Brewer believes that many printers are investing in new printing equipment, but have yet to take a long look at the folding portion of their finishing capabilities.

Mathias Bäuerle, GBR Systems' parent company, introduced its new range of prestigeFOLD NET 52 folding systems to the U.S. market for the first time at Graph Expo. The features of these folders include fully automatic machine setup, sturdy construction, networking capabilities and a high degree of adaptability.

prestigeFOLD NET 52 is a folder for medium-size formats, which incorporates complete automation from the feeder to the delivery section. The positions of the setting elements are calculated and set automatically under computer control. These include the position of the rear edge separator and the side stops in the feeder, the position of the alignment rails, fold plate stops, deflectors and fold rollers in the fold unit, as well as the settings of the hold-down rollers in the delivery section.

The CIP3/CIP4-compatibility provides access to a fold type catalog. It is possible to save the setting data of more than 200 jobs in program memory.

Hans Max, president of MBO America, sees increases in digital printing and in-line finishing systems, including greater automation to reduce setup and manpower and to increase production. Interest in in-line mailing systems is huge, he contends.

"We anticipate and are gearing up for closer integration of in-line folding in the digital printing environment," Max reveals. "We are also witnessing a consistent move toward smaller businesses bringing finishing and mailing system work in-house."

MBO America is introducing several new features to its Perfection B26-S and B30-S that will allow binderies to fully automate the Perfection folder from the feeder to the delivery with intelligent electronics. The Perfection B26-S and B30-S can now be installed with the automatic electronic setup/support system, Rapidset, on the entire Perfection folder.

Automatic settings are carried from the feeder, register table, fold rollers and buckle plates over the side-guides of the subsequent folding units. Air blast smoother bars over the entire register table and on the subsequent units eliminate all setup of mechanical smoothers.

CIP4 and JDF, always a hot topic in printing circles, are making waves on the finishing side of the business, observes Mark Hunt, director of marketing at Standard Finishing Systems.

"More customers are asking about CIP4/JDF capability, even if they aren't ready to implement it on a large scale. They want to invest in equipment that offers automation benefits today and will be ready to be integrated into a larger workflow when they are ready," Hunt says.

All Standard Horizon floor-model folders are equipped with LCD control consoles for full automation, and they can be optionally networked into the CIP4-compliant Horizon i2i system for JDF control.

"Printers are investing with care in all equipment areas as the market recovers, but they also realize that modernizing their bindery in general and folders in particular can reap significant savings," Hunt assesses. "Every other area of the print production workflow has gone digital, and the bindery represents the last frontier for digital automation and the resulting savings."

New Features Available

At Graph Expo, Standard Finishing Systems launched the new Standard Horizon AFC-744AKT floor-model folder. Designed for commercial printers, in-plant printers and binderies, the AFC-744AKT includes advanced setup automation through a user-friendly color touchscreen control panel that displays fold formats and sheet sizes for easy selection.

Kevin Boivin, a bindery consultant for Vijuk Equipment, feels that the current economic climate has forced bindery equipment users to come up with ways to have a steady flow of work without having to lowball their estimates and take a smaller profit.

"One of the best ways of accomplishing this is by purchasing equipment that will give the capability to offer a specialized service that is not offered by the competition," he advises. This could include features on a folder such as bar code scanning, hot and cold gluing, specialty trimming, in-line tabbing and accumulation folding.

Boivin suggests that the Vijuk V-14 allows users to continue with all standard types of folding opportunities, while also opening many other doors for miniature coupon folding and pharmaceutical folding. The G&K V-14, which has the ability to accommodate large press sheets up to 25.5˝ long and do standard commercial folding, can also perform miniature folding applications, folding down to 5⁄8˝.

Vijuk's folder line also includes G&K SVA folders designed specifically for pharmaceutical or miniature folding that can be coupled with the Vijuk MV outsert attachments, and H+H miniature folding machines that can be equipped with a trimmer to make miniature glue-spine booklets with up to 40 pages or a timed gluing, scoring, perforating and cutting unit for making self-mailers with drop- or tear-out business reply cards.

Another option being introduced at Graph Expo by Advance Graphics Equipment of York is the new four-, eight- and 16-page pinless signature folder for in-line press and off-line applications. It includes cross-trim capability available on the folder for gap or bleed trim requirements. Bill Stiles, sales and marketing manager, says he "has seen a significant interest for this product, which provided the impetus to further the product improvement and development of their previous folder product."

This was surely be a theme at Graph Expo, as vendors tweaked their products to include the most up-to-date automated features to allow the bindery to become a seamless—and less labor-intensive—part of the printing process.