Stitchers Speed Up

Printers, in an effort to keep up with the faster running speeds of their presses, are searching for ways to automate their bindery equipment, including saddle stitchers.

"Automation is still the main goal for printers in the bindery," says Felix Stirnimann, division manager of print finishing for Muller Martini. "Printers are looking to automate either on the feeding side or the delivery. I call it uptime improvement, in which a printer turns to automation to shorten makeready in the bindery."

"We're starting to see sales pick up," reports Steven Calov, Heidelberg USA's product manager in charge of stitching and perfect binding. "But before printers start to invest in capital equipment, they want to see a backlog in their work."

Calov continues, "Still, there's a carryover mentality: we have a stitcher and it works. But anytime I visit a printer's bindery, I always see skids of paper waiting to be cut, folded, and stitched. That's because today's sheetfed presses run so fast that they produce a real bottleneck in the bindery."

Next month, Arandell Corporation, one of the nation's largest catalog printers, will install its fifth new Heidelberg Pacesetter 1000 stitcher this year in its plant in Menomenee Falls, Wis. The facility will then be operating 21 Pacesetter systems.

Says Arandell vice president David Treis, "We have taken another leap forward in productivity with these five new Pacesetters [the model is rated at up to 20,000 books per hour]. They have dramatically lowered our overall cost-to-bind figures."

Meanwhile, Muller Martini recently completed nine months of field-testing of its Optima saddle stitcher at the Pewaukee, Wis. facility of Quad/Graphics in one of the world's busiest, most productive binderies.

"We put the Optima into a long-run environment, with jobs of four million to five million pieces the norm," says Bill Graushar, finishing manager for Quad. "Our objective was to test the mechanics and reliability of Optima. The stitcher passed with high marks."

The field-test Optima, configured as a 16-pocket system with flat pile feeders, a split mail table with two stackers, and a QTI finishing control system for ink-jet personalization, recognizes the CIP3 protocol, enabling it to utilize the Print Production Format to streamline makeready.

As planned, the Optima did not replace an existing stitcher in the Quad bindery and was not placed on the regular production schedule. That gave Graushar and his colleague, Theo Rohr, the freedom to choose from a wide range of jobs so that they could see what the new system handled best.

"Sometimes we picked the gravy work and at other times the most difficult work," says Graushar. "We ran everything from 8 x 10 7/8" standard upright work to double-digest jobs. Optima easily handled about 80% of the jobs we selected for it."

Dome Printing, a Sacramento, Calif.-based sheetfed and web printer, utilizes three stitchers, the most recent one a Prima system from Muller Martini, installed in January 2001. The eight-pocket stitcher with cover feeder runs at 14,000 cycles per hour (cph) and is equipped with the Opticontrol signature recognition system.

Prima/Amrys (automatic makeready system), says the manufacturer, is the first stitcher to offer such advanced makeready. Its servo motors located on just about every component, from the feeders to the trimmer, adjust the system from digital commands. The operator uses a PC-driven console to carry out makeready, rather than moving between components to manually change settings.

"We installed the Prima for both capacity and value," says Andy Poole, vice president of manufacturing for Dome Printing. "Running two sheetfeds and three webs, we needed another stitcher to handle all of the output, from annual reports to publications."

The system's Opticontrol feature provides a high level of quality control on Dome's stitched jobs. "Our high-end customers mandate a zero-defect policy," says Poole. "That means that a stitched job has to have the correct signatures. By utilizing Opticontrol, we can be assured that our stitched jobs are produced correctly and efficiently."

Following is a sampling of production-level saddle stitching systems, designed for mid-range and high-volume applications and rated at more than 10,000 cph, that are available today. (Not included in this category are lower-volume collators, bookletmaking systems, and tower-type document binders—which might include corner-, side-, or top-stapling or stitching capabilities—designed for copy shop, duplicator, or on-demand applications.)

Heidelberg introduced its versatile, modular ST 400 saddle binder at the Drupa 2000 show in Germany; since then, 40 machines have been sold and 25 installed worldwide. In April, the company sold another 10 machines at the Ipex 2002 exposition in the United Kingdom.

Heidelberg plans to unveil the ST 400 at the Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2002 show in Chicago in October. The company also offers these models (and rated speeds): ST 100 (9,000 cph), ST 270 (11,500 cph), and ST 300 (13,000 cph), plus the Pacesetter 870 (15,500 cph) and Pacesetter 1000 (20,000 cph).

At the Print 01 show last September, the division introduced Omniflex, a PC-based Windows 2000 ink-jet control system for selective-type applications for both new Pacesetter 870 and 1000 machines.

The Model S2000 from McCain Bindery Systems, a mid-range machine intended for use by trade binderies and medium to large-size printers, is designed to saddle-bind catalogs, publications, periodicals, brochures, and similar printed materials at up to 13,000 cph.

The unit incorporates McCain's new CB-1 in-line cover folder feeder, which features a belt folder, reduced makeready, and an improved scoring system. External on-the-run adjustments provide quality folds, says McCain, and the CB-1 handles lighter paper stocks than previous models.

The new McCain stitcher also features a new centrally located control system, which provides production information, fault detection, downstream shutoff (a misfeed bypasses remaining feeders), and sequential start-up. Options include card folder feeders, center knife trimmers, calendar punches, and counter stackers.

At Ipex, Muller Martini introduced a CIP 3/prepress connection for its Prima/Amrys stitcher, utilizing ScenicSoft's UpFront software, which eliminates the need for data entry and hands-on adjustments in the bindery. Once the operator accepts the job, the system sets itself. Similarly, the stitcher, says the manufacturer, now can accept Print Production Format data from MIS systems, all but eliminating the need for key punching to set job parameters.

Also displayed at Ipex for Prima/Amrys was a new Onyx/Rubin inserting and film-wrapping system that inserts the stitched product and collateral material into polybags that it creates.

Muller Martini introduced its 16,000-cph Optima stitcher in the U.S. at the Print 01 show. Optima models feature a central touch-screen control console; an optimizer graphically shows the operator where to make adjustments to improve the production of the current job, and decentralized control modules located throughout the machine facilitate direct operator intervention.

Osako stitchers, marketed in the U.S. by Best Graphics Inc., include the 378 Series, a highly automated 13,000-cph system with standard features such as touch-panel control for tucker timing, wire monitor, signature scanner, and caliper adjustment.

Options include downstream inhibiting for selective binding applications and computer-controlled single- and double-side calipers. A signature scanner checks books for correct orientation.

The 612 UB Series, rated at 12,000 cph and with a size range of 3´5² up to 11´161/2², is capable of reverse stitching at up to 9,000 cph (in this process, a book is stitched from the inside, and a protective cover is glued over the stitches to protect against cuts to children). Also, the folder feeder folds a round or square corner, and scores up to four lines at any set position.

The 368 Series is a mid-range stitcher with three automation choices and three quick-makeready, tilt-back feeder styles. As for automation, one choice is a central control console that provides monitoring for all stitcher functions; a second choice, AutoSet, lets the operator set chain timing and switch head positioning in 15 seconds; and a third choice, 368XAS, provides a complete set-up in 90 seconds.

Vijuk Equipment's value-priced 321-T stitcher, rated at up to 10,000 cps and available with up to eight feeder pockets plus a cover feeder (10 pockets without cover feeder), features a horizontal feeder, 1:1 or 1:2 feeding, an operator-friendly control panel, and low-noise operation.

An over/under caliper and photocells detect long- or skewed-book and missed- or dropped-signature faults, plus any irregular sets, to maximize productivity. The folder feeder automatically scores and folds in line.

Accessories include a three-knife trimmer, up to four stitching heads, compensating counter stacker, and timed air blast for trim removal in the trimmer.