Finishing & Screen Printing

Increasing Net Output by 25 to 30%

Thursday 18. February 2010 - New Primera E140 Saddle Stitcher for Berger Printing House in Horn (Austria)

The Ferdinand Berger & Söhne Ges. m. b. H. printing house prints around 250 different newspapers, necessitating frequent changeovers. This is why the family business – based in Horn, Austria – decided to purchase a fully automated Primera E140 saddle stitcher from Muller Martini.

“We have been so happy with the saddle stitcher 300 we commissioned 15 years ago, which we have only had to service twice,” explains Managing Director Ferdinand Berger Jr., “that we were already considering purchasing the same Muller Martini model second-hand, as we couldn’t find a suitable replacement, but then we heard about the new Primera, which sounded ideal for us.” The Berger printing house, founded in 1868 by the current Managing Director’s great-great-grandfather, sets great store by the ability to perform efficient changeovers. The Horn-based family business, which now employs a team of 250, has doubled its capacity for printed paper products in the last seven years and now produces some 250 different magazines.

Although this range includes the monthly publication “Auto Touring” with a circulation of 1.4 million copies, the majority of publications have a circulation of between 20,000 and 50,000 copies. The saddle stitchers – in addition to the saddle stitcher 300, which will be in use until this December as a back-up solution, Berger has also had a Muller Martini PrimaPlus since 2003 – need to be reconfigured in line with the changing scope for each publication.

Quicker Start-Up, More Stable Production

According to Bernhard Surböck, head of the bookbindery department, this is where one of the Primera E140’s main strengths lies. “The presetting system significantly reduces the setup time, as we can enter the data for the next job during production.” As well as faster setup times, Ferdinand Berger also expects the new Primera E140 to deliver faster start-up times and a more stable production process. “Following successful tests at the Muller Martini Training Center using our original products, our key objective is to increase our net output by 25 to 30% using the new saddle stitcher, with the same number of man hours and the same product characteristics.”

Fast Production

According to Ferdinand Berger, the new Primera E140 commissioned at the end of August revealed a few positive surprises right from the first couple of weeks: “Despite our expectations that the speed would be somewhat lower, “Auto Touring” was soon being processed at the same speed as on the saddle stitcher 300, while many of our other products were being processed at a significantly faster rate than on the predecessor model. The machine also excelled at three-up and two-up production.” These results are not altogether surprising when you consider that the Berger printing house was able to stitch more sheets on the new Primera E140 right from the start-up phase than it could with the saddle stitcher 300 during the same period in its service life. The sheets are now fed automatically to the feeders via streamfeeders, thereby further increasing productivity.

Onyx and Quick Transfer Trolley

Along with a cover folder feeder for large-size publications, a card folder feeder, seven feeders with bundle loading, two merchandise tippers and two Perfetto stackers, the fully automated Primera E140 saddle stitching line also includes an Onyx inserting machine. “The number of inserts has increased over the last few years, as the publishing companies have pin-pointed new sources of revenue,” explains Ferdinand Berger in support of his decision to purchase the Onyx, which can also be used off-line for perfect-bound products.

Berger also opted for a quick transfer trolley for each type of feeder. The newly developed trolleys ensure efficient transportation of the different feeder units and are the first that Muller Martini has delivered in the world. The quick transfer trolleys allow the Primera saddle stitching lines to be reconfigured more easily and efficiently and enable standard feeders, cover folder feeders and merchandise tippers to be quickly inserted and removed. “This is a great invention,” says Surböck. “The trolleys considerably accelerate the setup of the saddle stitcher.”