Finishing & Screen Printing

Consolidated Press in Seattle, Washington: Primera C130 and Bravo S: An Ideal Duo for Both Short Runs and Long Runs

Friday 21. September 2012 - Given that new printed products remain just as important while requirements for print finishing continue to evolve, Consolidated Press in Seattle, Washington has put into operation a Primera C130 saddle stitcher to go along with its Bravo S, both from Muller Martini.

Investing in print finishing systems often requires purchasing a completely new printing press. For Consolidated Press in Seattle, this was a 6-color Komori put into operation last year. “Thanks to our new signature machine, we are now able to print superior products including covers, all with the best quality,” says the company’s CEO Gary R. Stone who has owned and operated the company that was founded in 1934 jointly with CFO Robert T. Brown since 1995.
Working with new printed products also means new requirements for print finishing. 80 percent of the stitched periodicals, brochures, calendars, magazines and transportation timetables, most of which Consolidated Press produces for customers who are located within 100 miles of its plant, have print run sizes between 1,000 and 25,000 copies. The saddle stitcher must be able to handle the various sizes and numbers of pages that these products have. “For the shorter print runs, in particular, we need a new solution that have significantly lower changeover times,” says Bob Brown.
Simple Production Planning
That is why Consolidated Press decided in favor of a new Primera C130, which replaced two older Muller Martini saddle stitchers and complements a Bravo S that was put into operation in 2003. The new machine features six flat pile feeders, a cover feeder, a merchandise tipper, inline die cutting for calendars as well as an Apollo compensating stacker. The machine operators have to change over the new saddle stitcher five to six times per day. According to Bob Brown, they can now do this twice as fast as on the Bravo S. That is why Consolidated Press uses its new Primera 130, which has been in operation since January 2011, mostly for short runs, while products with larger print run sizes are still stitched on the Bravo S.
Gary Stone comments that distributing the jobs among the two machines has made production planning significantly easier. “We now know with more certainty that jobs can be completed within a pre-determined time frame, enabling us to meet delivery deadlines. “What’s more, thanks to the Primera quality controls, we haven’t had one single customer complaint” adds Gary Stone, tapping his finger on the table.
Machine Operators as All-Rounders
The fast changeover times and high quality of the printed products is certainly a result of how well trained the machine operators are. The employees operate all the machines at Consolidated Press, including the Acoro A7 perfect binder from Muller Martini, which was put into operation four years ago and features an 18-station gathering machine, manual feed and Merit S three-knife trimmer. “At that time we had also bought a new printing press as we needed a replacement for our Muller Martini Rotorbinder that was from the 1960s,” remembers Bob Brown.
Both company executives commented that this investment has completely paid for itself. “The ability to prepare a new job while the previous one is still being produced dramatically improved our productivity. There is also nothing to complain about the quality of the products. Not one single book has been returned in the past four years.”
Better Market Position
The Acoro A7, designed for both hotmelt and PUR, has significantly improved the company’s position on the market. Consolidated Press also has a second plant outside of Seattle without a print finishing system and employs a total of 70 staff members at both production facilities. The company is the only graphic design business in the Greater Seattle Area that offers printing and perfect binding from a single source. Printing and saddle stitching are indeed provided by other companies as well.
“However, we are still the only company in the Northwest that has a Primera in operation,” says Gary Stone with a grin. “That is why we are well-equipped with our machinery and able to guarantee our customers fast delivery times thanks to a high level of automation and productivity.”