Stitch and Grow

In keeping with its quick-turn niche, Rochelle Printing, Rochelle, IL, installed an automated Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST 350 10 months ago. The move has opened up new capacity, new markets and new opportunities to the $8-million general commercial printer, which is marking its 60th year in business this year. The new saddlestitcher replaced a 35-year-old machine that ran too slowly and could handle only a limited range of format sizes. Thanks to the ST 350's speed (up to 12,000 cycles per hour) and format flexibility (12 5/8 × 18 7/8´´ to 33/8 × 5´´), Rochelle's volume has tripled, says bindery manager Rob Pough.

The configuration features seven pockets plus a cover-feeder with attached scoring for clean folds. An inline counter-stacker ensures accurate counts. It's also fully automated for speedy change-overs. “The new stitcher runs so much faster than our old machine that we've actually created additional bindery capacity,” Pough says. This added capacity fits neatly with the company's accelerating campaign to build its commercial printing business as more and more publication printing—Rochelle Printing's traditional core market—migrates to web offset.

“It used to take all day to do 30,000 pieces. Now, we can do 30,000 before lunch,” notes Pough. With its two old McCain stitchers, the company had planned to add another shift. But that's not necessary now. Adds GM Greg Brown, “The productivity of the ST 350 stitcher took some getting used to. It just blew our socks off.” The new stitcher is keeping Rochelle's six folders constantly full with work, according to Brown.

It's also playing an important role in the company's evolving business model, which Brown says currently is split nearly evenly between traditional publication work and general commercial printing. “We're expanding to smaller formats and two-up books we weren't able to quote before,” he says.

The ST 350 produces multi-up pocket books in from 3½×5´´ to 6×9´´ formats, up to 3/16´´ thickness. He reports that the company's sales force now proudly shows existing and prospective customers a variety of sample booklets produced on the new stitcher, which is equipped with fourth and fifth knife trimmer attachments for even more format flexibility. Automatic synchronization of the feeders and stitcher with the saddle chain speeds the makeready process, while sequential monitoring ensures that incomplete or incorrectly gathered products are speedily rejected.

According to Pough, the stitcher's reliability and ease of use, especially its graphical touch-screen controls, give Rochelle the opportunity to rotate and cross-train its bindery employees, three of whom currently are checked out on the new machine. They won't be the last. According to Brown, the company has nearly doubled its work load over the past several years.

“We've gained a lot of commercial work over the past five years,” Brown continues, citing a variety of books, catalogs, inserts, brochures, annual reports and media kits the company prints, binds and mails for a growing national clientele from its 75,000-sq.ft. facility. To keep up with demand, Rochelle purchased a new 5-color, 17,000-sph Shinohara Model 79 VC at the Print 05 show last fall.

“We went to Japan in July for testing and made some final modifications,” says Jim Mear, Rochelle's president. Equipped with PRI Cold ultra-violet curing equipment, the 23½×31¼´´ sheetfed press went on line late last month. The printer can run hybrid UV inks on styrene, foil, clear and opaque vinyl up to .024´´ maximum sheet thickness.

The Shinohara also features closed-loop color management and CIP4 prepress interface—for faster, more accurate makereadies—as well as the ability to print with flexo ink in the coating unit, made possible by a specialty coating system from Harris and Bruno.

Rochelle also uses its 6-color, 40´´ Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 with coater to print on heavyweight board (up to 40-pt.) and plastic substrates to satisfy a growing demand for specialty items such as signs, magnets, posters, pads, POP displays, cartons, labels and stickers. For the Miami Zoo, the company delivered 15,000 of its patented “CyberCenes,” which are printed on clear vinyl and attached to a die-cut folded, 18-pt. frame.

In prepress, the printer runs certified Oris proofs from CGS. Specifically finger-printed for Rochelle's presses, every proof is scanned and measured against SWOP standards and ICC quality profiles. The system allows for separate management of spot and CMYK colors. The printer also offers soft proofing over the Internet with Rampage Remote.

Also synchronized to the pressroom is Screen USA's PlateRite 8600 thermal CTP technology, which records on IBF positive-working, Million 2 plates from Brazil (ISO 9001:2000). With multi-cassette loader and auto calibration, the platesetter features the industry's highest resolution, at 4000 dpi, enabling dot reproduction from 0.5% to 99.5%.

Rochelle also is part owner of Yoffi Digital Press, a variable data/imaging specialist with Kodak digital presses, including a NexPress 2100 installed in 2004. (See GAM 4/06, p.40.)

Word of the well-rounded printing company's diverse capabilities—including its state-of-the-art stitching equipment—is spreading. “It definitely has brought in new work,” Brown says. “We get calls all the time.”

www.us.heidelberg.com, shinohara.com, superblue.net, harris-bruno.com, screenusa.com, ibf.com.br/eng, cgsusa.com, rampageinc.com and graphics.kodak.com