Saddle Stitcher Shores Up Bindery

To increase efficiencies in its postpress department, Lancaster, Ohio-based commercial web printer Cyril-Scott Company recently invested in a 321-T saddle stitcher from Vijuk Equipment, Inc.

About 20 years ago, Cyril-Scott became the first printer in the U.S. to integrate web printing and finishing processes to achieve the profitable tandem of increased productive output at a lower cost, say company officials. Today, the 250-employee firm runs 18 heatset web presses, each of which features in-line finishing functionality. Supporting this web production capacity is a fully digital prepress capability, including advanced direct-to-plate technology.

Cyril-Scott's 250,000-square-foot facility provides a variety of high-volume print advertising and direct-mail promotional products, including envelopes, brochures, self-mailing order forms, outer wraps, and specialty items such as stickers and stamps.

"We typically haven't done a lot of saddle binding," says Cyril-Scott general manager Doug Craig. "But rather than contract the work out, we've always run one machine to meet the stitching applications of our customers who need it."

Craig explains that it was the need to provide saddle stitching that prompted the decision to replace the company's aging stitching unit. Though satisfying the saddle binding requirements of existing customers was the primary goal, he cites as important as well the prospect of attracting new clientele through the purchase of a new saddle stitcher.

Cost ranked as a major factor in selecting the Vijuk machine, and, says Craig, despite its lower purchase price versus that of comparable saddle stitchers, he maintains that the 321-T meets all of Cyril-Scott's operational criteria.

The company's off-line supervisor, Hank Bradley, points to a two-up job running the maximum signature size. "In this case, we ran the machine at 7,000 cycles per hour, or 14,000 booklets per hour," he explains. "We've also run a 32-page job where production was somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 books an hour."

Bradley relates that it's not so much machine speed as it is consistent operation that makes the 321-T more efficient than the stitcher it replaced. Beyond noting the machine's in-line stitching process, Bradley credits the horizontal feeding method as a major advantage. "Instead of standing the paper up on its side, this machine feeds the paper flat, so we don't get the jam-ups that used to interrupt production," he says.

Concurring with Bradley, Craig sees repeatability as one of the 321-T's most important benefits, noting that the machine offers "the sensory perception to catch incomplete books before they ever become a quality problem."

Craig credits the machine's feeders—which are monitored by an over/under caliper, and long-book, skewed book, and missed- or dropped-signature photocells—for detecting the defective books that invariably result in wasted material and unnecessary labor costs. The irregular sets with double, missing, or misaligned signatures are automatically diverted to a reject tray without being stitched and without interrupting production.

Craig says he also is impressed with the machine's ease of operation. "We expect most of our saddle stitching work to be catalogs and booklets in the 12- to 16-page range, and in quantities up to several hundred-thousand pieces," he states. "This machine seems especially well suited for that kind of work because it's easy to set up."