Stackers/Palletizers — Safety Comes First

By Erik Cagle

Senior Editor

The recent, unfortunate death of a worker making repairs to a stacking machine brought to light the recurring theme of 'safety above all else.'

We are fortunate to live in an age where automation has made life a lot easier in the printing plant. Much of the grunt work has been eradicated and, in some cases, the need for human intervention has been erased. Manufacturers have made great strides to enhance performance and ensure optimal operator safety. The pressroom is a much safer place than it was 20, 10, even five years ago.

But safety doesn't end with the equipment manufacturer. Both printer and operator share in the responsibility of showing proper respect for safety guidelines—those set forth by the manufacturer, OSHA, CE, etc.—such as proper lockout/tagout procedures and other procedural steps associated in human intervention with heavy machinery.

"Education is the number one thing," notes Wayne Pagel, president of KEPES Inc. "Unfortunately, it's something that has to be forced on a lot of people. Most times, when you hear about accidents, it is because the machine hasn't been properly de-energized. It takes more than turning off the electrical power. When you de-energize the machine, you have to turn off all sources of power. It could be electrical, pneumatic, even something under spring pressure.

"There have been so many improvements in the safety-related engineering of the equipment, that people aren't always thinking when they turn the electrical power off on a 20-year-old machine. They can't assume that all sources of energy have been removed."

Pagel notes that he is seeing more requests for pallet-to-pallet operation. "People want to feed directly from a pallet rather than having to load the machine and, consequently, they want to deliver a stack directly to the pallet rather than going into some type of vise that requires operator intervention to remove the pallet or remove the stock and place it into another operation. There are more applications where they want to go pallet-to-pallet."

KEPES markets the Gremser line of stackers, which has a sheet performance of up to 10,000 sph, with high-speed applications up to 15,000 sph. Features include trailing edge downforce for high-speed applications, air cushion for long and soft sheets, sheet rejecter, twin sheet delivery and a second set of jogger paddles for long sheets.

Remain Flexible

With their customers bringing them a multitude of requirements, the printer's postpress equipment should be a reflection of this, according to Leslie Figler, marketing manager for Gämmerler. "At Gämmerler, we develop flexible systems that enable printers to run a wide range of formats with equal precision," Figler says. "Our new KL 6000 indexing compensating stacker is a good example. A patented, pre-collection system removes bundle-height restrictions imposed by multistage systems and allows the KL 6000 to stack the widest range of page count and basis weight products in the industry.

"In regards to palletizers, our patented, six-sided gripper used in conjunction with the PR 500 robot encases bundles on all six sides. The secure transport provided by the gripper greatly expands the range of products that can be palletized to include a broad range of copy formats, including those that are difficult to stack."

On the safety end, Figler notes that Gämmerler uses an open turntable system that prevents jams by allowing misaligned product to fall to the floor.

The quality of a bundle ultimately determines the success of a stacker, according to Werner Naegli, president of Muller Martini. He feels it should be a major consideration, given the waste that can develop in the separation process. "That's a critical phase of bundling, when you interrupt the stream and insert the end boards," he says.

Muller Martini's latest offerings are the Avanti bundler with AMRYS technology—JDF integrated—and the Vivo, designed with mid-sized printers in mind. Also, at press time, Muller Martini announced that a new pair of compensating stackers would be unveiled at Drupa next month.

Robert Stock, technical sales engineer for Kolbus America, echoes the education angle when it comes to operator safety. Common sense plays a role, and often times warning signs aren't sufficient. "Signs don't mean anything; they're a nice disclaimer, but they're not going to prevent anybody from acting irresponsibly, especially if they can't read the sign," he says. "If the picture doesn't make any sense to them or the language isn't native to them, signs are irrelevant. It's all about education, and you need to test them to make sure they understand."

On the manufacturing end, eliminating waste from the process stream is a key for the bundle stacker, according to Stock. A poor quality bundle or mishaped log in the bindery can hamper throughput, as well as increase waste and diminish productivity.

Waste Not, Want Not

"People looking at press finishing product are looking at ways to ensure that the stacker does not, in fact, create more waste. And that virtually every signature that's collected into a stack, a bundle or a print roll is usable downstream and feedable, which is a pretty tall order," Stock remarks.

Kolbus is now marketing the Civiemme CS 350 compensating stacker. The CS 350 is rated at 100,000 cph and features low maintenance and maximum accessibility to all parts of the machine. It has a divert gate for waste copies and synchronized vibrating joggers for perfect stream alignment.

The burden of safety has been placed on the manufacturer and the printer to protect operators or maintenance personnel who may ignore or attempt to defeat the safety provisions that, in most cases, were provided for their protection, according to Dennis Snyder, president of Advance Graphics Equipment (AGE). The toll it exacts is the loss of limb or life and, on another level, increased costs to both manufacturer and printer.

"Manufacturers will continue to improve the safety of their products from the design and technology end," Snyder says. "Printers can continue to replace and upgrade their machinery and improve their safety programs. But, unless the operators and maintenance personnel are stringently penalized for their own ignorance, there probably can't be anything that will ensure optimum operator safety."

Advance Graphics Equipment manufactures high-pile stackers that are designed to receive one, two, three or four shingled sheet streams delivered from a sheeter or rotary cutoff, and stack them in a neatly jogged vertical pile up to 40˝ in height. AGE has also developed a new combination sheeter with bleed cross-trim removal and high-pile stacking for finished cut sheet products.

In addition to a quick return on investment and machines that help reduce manpower from the manufacturing process, there is strong demand for units that have a low maintenance cost and require spare parts that are readily available, according to Gerald Pfeiler of RIMA SYSTEM.

On the stacker product end, RIMA is unveiling the RS 36, which merges some of the features from both the RS 50 and RS 32. The model 36 features a small footprint with short infeed section, improved squeeze rollers, convenient graphic operator interface, easy setup and a minimal amount of moving parts.

RIMA also has a line of palletizing solutions, led by the RS 700 gantry-type robot, which is able to serve anywhere from four lines to four pallets, six lines to six pallets, and eight lines to eight pallets. The RS 410 is similar to the 700, but is capable of much faster speeds.

One of the leading factors influencing the manufacture of stackers and palletizers is new capacity, according to John St. John, president of Systems Technology (STI).

The declining number of presses reaching the market has impacted the demand for auxiliary equipment at the end of the press, he notes. With severe pricing pressures hampering most printers, they're searching for automation and minimizing press crews and related overhead affiliated with staffing machine operators.

Speaking Japanese

Speaking to these requirements, STI is now marketing the Gunze SV automated horizontal stacker bundler. The Japanese import provides full control of bundle count, automatic setup of previously run jobs from the 100 job, on-board database, and fully integrated auto-reject functions tied to press operations such as blanket washes and splices. The SV can produce bundles from 24˝ to 48˝.

STI's 195A automatic, vertical stacker bundler features a bad copy gate, vibrating belt jogger, crusher roller, pattern jogger and gapper mechanism.

Lastly, the top-loading 119BC stacker from Roskam is designed to work as a manually operated unit where desired or upgraded to be used in Roskam's fully automated, robotic palletizing work cell systems. The stackers provide the versatility and flexibility to accommodate the product flow from the small offset to the largest multi-stream gravure press.

Even as manufacturers grapple with possible enhancements that greatly reduce the risk of injury for operators and maintenance personnel, printers and employees alike share in the responsibility of exercising sound judgment around machinery. Sadly, these accidents—including fatalities—will probably never completely go away.