BINDERY matters

Finishing System Streamlines Workflow

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL— When Paul Mongoven noticed a bottleneck in his bindery at TPM Graphics, he consulted with his Fuller Grafix equipment dealer, who recommended that he buy a Standard Horizon Stitchliner. Driven by an increase in direct mail products, TPM’s bindery needed more capacity to handle expanding production volumes.

The recently installed Stitchliner 5500, which is running in-line with a MKU-54 unit, is already having a substantial impact on TPM’s productivity and bottom line, the company president reports. “The advantage of the Stitchliner system is that it can collate, score, fold, saddlestitch and three-knife trim in a single pass. Makeready is also extremely fast, and it is ideal for short-, medium- and long-production runs,” Mongoven says.

Inserting Lines Translate to Profits

VANCOUVER, WA—Producing a daily newspaper with a circulation of 44,000+ and a Sunday edition that reaches more than 50,000, The Columbian Publishing Co. recently installed two Muller Martini SLS3000 inserting lines.

“We chose the SLS3000 inserters due to their capability to insert large packages and improve throughput times for our large Sunday and weekday products,” says Jeff Stalcup, production director at The Columbian. “We produce complete packages to circulation, and the ability to insert and deliver large packages to the stacker were major factors in our decision-making. The technology has enabled us to condense our production window and improve our customer service.”

One of the inserters is configured with Muller’s AddressLinc software for ink-jet labeling with a Kodak (Scitex) labeler. AddressLinc coordinates zone-based package insertion with address labeling of each individual package and also coordinates stacker separations according to postal delivery groups.

Dual Installation Doubles Capacity at Wrap-ups Inc.

ST. LOUIS—Plastic spiral binding and collating capacity at Wrap-ups Inc. have doubled since the installation of two new postpress machines.

The capital investment included a new Plastikoil plastic spiral binding unit, which has increased the bindery’s booklet-making capacity to more than 20 million per day.

In addition, a 32-pocket Col-Tec collator was also installed to complement the company’s plastic spiral and wire binding operations. Binding speeds have significantly increased because of the increase in the collator’s cycle speeds, as well as the additional number of collator pockets, which more closely matches the throughput of other binding processes.

Folded Sheets Jump 250,000 Per Shift

ST. LOUIS—An MBO B26 continuous-feed folder was installed at Kopytek Inc.’s new $2.4 million facility in December, and the company’s CEO, John Peterson, expects to fold an additional 250,000 sheets per shift when the folder is operating at full capacity. Peterson also anticipates saving his clients between 20 and 40 percent in postage costs because the B26 can automatically fold pieces up to 48 pages thick to a finished size of 5.5x8.5?.

“Not only will our clients realize eventual cost savings from our increased operational efficiency, they will see immediate savings in postage because this machine can fold multiple page, stitched or stapled newsletters and other direct mail pieces down to the size of a letter,” he says.

The folder’s standard features include an integrated batch counter; automatic setting of sheet gap and sheet in-feed through suction wheel; modular frequency speed controllers for AC drives; anti-static plates; and an A-76 mobile delivery (that can then feed a finished sheet into an MBO Z-2 knife-fold attachment for a finished letter-size mailing).

A Morgana DigiFold 5000P creaser/folder, which minimizes marking and cracking of digitally printed material, is slated for installation this month.

Kopytek’s new facility is located in the Olivette area of St. Louis.

Quick Cuts

After expanding into its second location, Central Islip, NY-based Monarch Graphics purchased a new Heidelberg Polar 78 X cutter.

Bobst Group has begun selling PG Wood Imports’ complete line of dieboards through its online InTouch inventory system. The dieboards are 100 percent Birch veneer throughout (with no softwood cores) and are available in a wide range of sizes and thicknesses.

Martin Printing, in Hato Rey, PR, recently installed a new Polar 92 X cutter.

Saddle Brook, NJ-based 21st Century Finishing has installed a Majestic Series M 106-E diecutting press from Diversified Graphic Machinery.

Louisville, KY-based Gateway Press reports much faster setup times with its new Polar 115 X cutter.

Burton Packaging, Flushing, NY, has purchased a Saroglia 740 FX from Diversified Graphic Machinery to keep up with the demand for half-size diecutting and embossing work.

San Antonio, TX-based Accu-Print recently added a new Polar 78 cutter.

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