Micropress has switched from a nine-year-old ST450 saddle stitcher to a new Muller Martini Primera MC with stream feeders, increasing its ability to cope with longer runs.
The new machine includes the ability to single-hole punch in line and for loop stitching which will allow the Suffolk business to keep this work in house. But its greatest distinction is that there are only four stations plus cover feeder, rather than the standard six feed hoppers and cover feed.
Before placing the order, the company examined its work portfolio, finding that for 90% of the time the machine would only be using four feeders. The remaining 10% can be accommodated on a Primera that was installed in 2016.
“We thought long and hard about the specification we wanted,” says director Rob Cross, “and it became apparent that we don’t often use all the stations, so four comfortably do the job. Plus we have our second stitching line so we are covered when the need is there.
“This is the first time we have put stream feeders in but we are now doing a lot more longer run work so we think they will come in to their own then. We also think that they will be very good for short run work as we can preload an entire job while the operator is making ready. The hole punch and loop stitching will be a great addition to our in-house capabilities.”
“We are getting more opportunities for longer run work, some diverted from web presses. The stream feeders will allow us to run the machine faster,” says director Paul Coby.
“We have found because of lengthy turnaround times at some web printers, we can produce this type of work faster they can. We have done lots of Covid leaflets, with 1 million copies that were needed quickly.”
The company will also handle runs as low as 500, with an operator able to load the new Primera with all sections for the job and not have to refill hoppers with 100 folded sections at a time. “Over 20 years we have always had six hoppers on the stitching lines, but when we looked at the work only 10% needed the fifth and six hoppers,” says Coby.
There is also a migration away from stitched to perfect bound work on these sorts of paginations as the ease and cost of gluing has come down.
