Duplo is launching its most powerful saddle stitcher to date, aiming to move into commercial printers with ageing conventional saddle stitchers that are becoming ineffective with the trend to shorter print runs.
The iSaddle Senshi introduces multiple tower collators and a chain driven saddle while also using stitching and trimming technology from the existing iSaddle 5.0. A typical configuration would have six collating towers, equivalent to six hoppers on a standard stitching line, feeding flat sheets into a folder to drop on a saddle or a previous section. Because the sheets are folded ahead of an accumulator and the stitching section, the result is a flat product with up to 120pp says Duplo.
The engineering is a step up in terms of robustness and weight over other Duplo equipment while retaining the ease of set up and automation that has typified the Japanese company’s products in recent years.
This machine was developed and designed in Europe for a European customer base, though refined and built in Japan. Customers are likely to be either increasingly sophisticated digital printers or litho printers looking to cope with shorter runs and faster turnarounds with more agile equipment. A first beta machine is in place and running in Germany. The company will have the Senshi as a highlight of its presence at Drupa where orders will either be confirmed as well as signed up.
Duplo has had a machine behind closed doors in its Addlestone premises since November and has been giving visitors a small demonstration to seed interest in the development and reap reactions to the development ahead of Drupa.
The high degree of automation will enable almost constant running. A job can run from the first set of towers while the second tower collator is being loaded with the next job. Alternately the operator can load different jobs into the three sets of towers for a six-tower configuration.
Product manager Peter Dyson says: “Having extra towers to enable loading on the run is nothing new, and we have been making automatic setting booklet makers for almost 30 years now, but the layout of this system means there is so much more flexibility to how the operators utilise the system and run it. When changing between jobs, you don’t need to unload towers and reload and setup with a new job (which takes time), but utilise the automatic changeover ~45 seconds to massively reduce the makeready time.
“Even fitting a gutter knife for two-up work is only five minutes which is far far less than a conventional saddle stitcher.”
It is possible to mix different sized sheets, though requiring a pause while the folder is centred for each size. These delays are eased where the different sized sheets are allocated to different feed units. It is possible to feed a six page section, though with care to ensure that the open edge is not trimmed off.
The Senshi is specified to run at 4,000 A4 products an hour (twice this for a two-up product) and at 3,900 mph for A4 landscape. Paper weights start at 64gsm for uncoated papers and 85gsm for coated grades, with an upper limit of 157gsm and 300gsm for the cover feed.
There is no JDF interface at this point, JDF not being a priority for Duplo’s existing customer base. Dyson explains: “To a large extent, having the automated job recall and setup from a Windows based PC has allowed customers to engage with a automation at an affordable level as the majority of jobs are imposed from existing templates in the customer’s workflow system.
The range of jobs and adjustments are not as many as required for a non booklet job on our cutter-creasers, where JDF does provide a higher level of benefit. Having said that, we recognise that the Senshi will appeal to larger commercial printers and online printers where JDF is more common, and we have begun a programme of testing in conjunction with industry partners.”
There will be a flow of upgrades and enhancements to the first machines as Duplo is focusing on being able to show a market ready product at Drupa. It is already considering adding multiple touch panel control screens around the machine to enable operation from multiple points following beta testing. Some form of automated handling at the delivery will also be useful for a a high productivity machine.
