But, luckily for finishing machine operators across the nation, technology is moving on apace. And fortunately for the workers at Pureprint, those in charge were pleased to take advantage by investing in the latest, most efficient technology, by installing two MBO K800 pallet-fed automatic folders with Palamides stackers in April and May of last year. It is these stackers, reports production director Ian Godden, that have saved the staff this strenuous work.
The installations came as part of an overall drive to invest in production-boosting equipment over the past two years, which has seen Pureprint also purchase two six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105s, one five-colour XL 105, and three HP Indigo 7500s. With these investments, Godden says Pureprint’s ‘mature’ Heidelberg folders just wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the speed of production, and the dreaded finishing department bottlenecks would have crept in.
Having folders with Palamides stackers has, says Godden, revolutionised the way this part of the company operates. They have been vital, not only in ensuring workers stay fit and healthy and happy to be working, but also in speeding up production of the wide range of commercial work the company runs on these machines, including fine-art books, magazines, and reports and accounts.
It was the fact that these folders came with Palamides stackers included in the deal, that gave them the edge over the latest-generation Heidelberg stackers that Pureprint also considered.
"The workers aren’t as tired due to not having to do all of that heavy lifting," he adds, "so it no longer happens, as it did before, that by the end of the shift you’re not getting the performance out of them. Because they’re doing less lifting, the workers can also concentrate more on checking the quality of the finished product."
The K800s are a step up in speed compared with the two Heidelberg models they replaced, reports Godden.
"The machine is fully automated so our set-up times are a lot faster," he says. "We can store jobs in the memory and come back to them, whereas before we might spend an extra hour or hour-and-a-half doing the set-up manually."
As a result, the finishing department can now fold up to 400,000 16-page sections in 24 hours, depending on stock. This, estimates Godden, is 50%-60% more efficient than the old machines.
Extended benefits
This high-speed performance is having positive knock-on effects for other areas of the company, but the machines’ capabilities are also bringing productivity gains. Because of the K800’s specific folding capabilities, there is less need for the finishing department to use their guillotines for some jobs.
"Traditionally, for some products on our old folders, we would have cut the sheet in half on the guillotine and folded 1-up," reports Godden, "whereas now with the K800s we can fold the sheet 2-up and slit it down the middle – so we’re getting two processes in one pass."
Godden also reports that, due to the greater efficiency of the folders, there are now far fewer instances when binders are lying idle, waiting for work to come off the folding machines.
So has the company any gripes about technical glitches or periods of downtime?
Godden reports that, in the main, the machines have performed very well. "They’ve not been without their teething problems," he says, "but that’s true of every new piece of equipment. It’s just been things like the odd bearing going, but then we do run the machines very hard."
The machines have needed, reports Godden, more service support call-outs than the old machines. But this, he says, is due to the complicated nature of the equipment, which means that even small issues often have to be resolved by a mechanic, whereas before the Pureprint staff might have been able to resolve them.
Service support is very prompt from MBO distributor Friedheim, says Godden. "We have a very good relationship with Friedheim," he says. "We can always ring them up if we’re not quite sure of something, and if we need someone to come out they’re usually here on the same day."
Pureprint was particularly impressed, reports Godden, by Friedheim’s response to a potentially disastrous incident three weeks before the machines were due to
be installed.
"We got a call saying both of the folders had been destroyed by a flood at the factory in Germany," says Godden. "We were obviously very worried, especially as we’d deliberately planned their installation for our busy reports and accounts season."
"But Friedheim really came up trumps in the end," reports Godden. "They gave us a machine to tide us over for the period it took them to rebuild two folders to our specifications."
Pureprint has also been impressed by the level of training provided by Friedheim. "The training was brilliant," says Godden, "as was the training of the guys to do the maintenance on the machines."
The company were allocated a week’s worth of training per machine, says Godden, so they were able to train both the day and night shift workers using Friedheim’s experts. Friedheim has also been more than happy to send people back to Pureprint where further training was needed, he reports.
Leap forward
This training was crucial, says Godden, because the folders are so different to anything the staff had used before. "My guys have been folding for maybe 20 or 25 years," he says, "but this is a completely different piece of kit; this is 21st-century kit."
For this reason, he reveals the finishing staff were slightly nervous about working on the folders at first. But after a couple of days, he says, they were happy to be working on machines that, thanks to their touchscreens, are very easy to use.
Although the installation of the two K800s has been a resounding success, Godden says that the company has no plans to add another to the line-up, explaining that while he would fully recommend the folder and stacker to any B1 printer doing high-volume, long-run work on heavy materials, the kit constitutes a significant investment, even for a printer of Pureprint’s size.
If the company did invest in another, however, Godden says that he would have it built to slightly different specifications so that they could use it for different work.
"We’d probably go for an automated buckle-folder for more of our leaflet type of work," he says, "and we would probably have a continuous roll feeder to deal with the smaller sheet sizes."
But for now, Godden is more than happy with the increased productivity and boosted staff morale that the two MBO K800 folders have brought. "With the installation of our new presses, we couldn’t have coped with the old finishing machines," he says. "We were always struggling, but now we’re in a completely different place from where we were eight months ago."
SPECIFICATIONS
Max speed 12,000 16pp B1 sections per hour
Gully cut device for 2-up 35mm, parallel fold
Punch perforation device 35mm, parallel fold
Edge trim device 35mm, three fold
Buckle plates four
Other features Sheet stop device to reject waste sheets (for non-stop production), automatic adjustment of buckle plates and deflectors, automatic adjustment of fold rollers, including micrometer for measurement of the paper thickness, MBO remote access software
Price From £90,000 to £120,000 depending on specification
Contact Friedheim 01442 206100 www.friedheim.co.uk
COMPANY PROFILE
The company
Established in 1926 by Edward and Ellen Handford as East Sussex Press, Pureprint has come a long way over the past 90 years. It now employs 170 staff and has extensive litho, digital and finishing departments, producing work ranging from fine-art books to reports and accounts, and a reputation for leading the way in environmentally friendly printing. The company continues to grow, having invested over the past two years in two six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105s and one five-colour version as well as three HP Indigo 7500s, that have enabled it to double its digital production over the past year.
Why it was bought…
Two MBO K800 pallet-fed automatic folders were installed at Pureprint in April and May 2011 as part of an overall investment plan. The folders were needed, explains production director Ian Godden, in order to keep up with the pace of Pureprint’s array of Speedmaster and Indigo presses.
How it has performed…
Aside from usual teething problems typical of such installations, the machines have performed very well, says Godden. "We’re in a completely different place from where we were eight months ago," he says of the impact the investment has had on the finishing side of the business.
