Finishing & Screen Printing

Matthews the Printers switches to Stitchmaster technology

Wednesday 10. April 2013 - Matthews the Printers has elected to buy a Stitchmaster ST350 from Heidelberg after extensive testing of saddle-stitchers from the main suppliers.

The go-ahead family run company is replacing a Muller Martini Minuteman with the ST 350 which is due be installed in April.
Dennis Ott, CEO of the Chingford printer, says: “There was the potential to buy the machine with an extended warranty period and we felt it was the best of the range of machines we had seen and offered good value for money.”
The company handles a wide range of marketing and promotional material and puts a strong emphasis on quality and sustainability. Stitching is a service its customers expect but Matthews does not have the volume to warrant a fully automatic line. The six-station ST350 with cover feeder is beefy enough to cope with the volume and range of stitched booklets required.
Matthews the Printers already uses Heidelberg prepress equipment and software and retains two Cylinders for die-cutting and creasing.
There has been a trend for printers to take more finishing functions in-house the last decade or so and Heidelberg has responded by offering a broader range of products to suit a range of volumes and budgets. Automation and operator assists have increased in response to an industry-wide skills shortage.
The ST 350 is a good mid range saddle-stitcher which can handle upright or flat signatures and speedy synchronisation of the feeder and saddle chain. It’s a 12,000 cycles and hour machine which handles untrimmed sections of 85 x 28mm up to 320 x 480mm and 12mm thickness.