The new, retrofittable 0507 folder feeder from Muller Martini makes saddle stitching even more efficient and cost-effective thanks to its large range of formats, quick replacement, feeding using stream feeders and the fact that a folding process is no longer necessary.
"In terms of return on investment, it's one of the most attractive investments that we've ever made." When Martin Vogel, Head of Production and Member of the Executive Board of Zofinger Tagblatt AG, which is based in the Swiss canton of Aargau, was asked about his experiences of the 0507 folder feeder with which the BravoPlus saddle stitcher (year of production: 1996) has been fitted, he soon gets talking about the figures, for example for the production of the weekly magazine Tierwelt, which has a circulation of around 80,000 copies. Since the new folder feeder can now also be fed using stream feeders, and all stream feeders for the cover and content signatures can be operated by one and the same person, only one operator is needed for all the feeders instead of two. "With eight hours of production time multiplied by 52 issues a year, it pays off," says Vogel.
Numerous benefits
In addition to cover feeding using stream feeders, the 0507 folder feeder with servo drive, which comes as standard with the new Primera generation and can be retrofitted on the Prima, Prima S, PrimaPlus, BravoPlus, Primera 130 and Primera 140 saddle stitchers, offers numerous other key benefits.
➢ Kill two birds with one stone: With a maximum size of 482 x 635 and a minimum one of 89 x 165, the 0507 folder feeder covers a large range of sizes, and replaces the 0353 and 0354 predecessor models (the former being for smaller sizes and the latter for larger sizes) with a single feeder model that covers the whole product range.
➢ Flexible installation: Thanks to its compact design, the 0507 folder feeder can be installed anywhere at the saddle stitcher in place of a flat pile feeder. Two flat pile feeders had to make way for the 0354 folder feeder.
➢ Short setup times: The 0507 folder feeder has considerably shorter setup times than earlier models. That makes an impact with several job changeovers per shift.
➢ Ideal for thin paper: The 0507 folder feeder is optimized for the processing of low paper grammages, which additionally extends the product range.
➢ No need for folding process: Since the 0507 folder feeder ensures clean scoring thanks to the tWinScore scoring wheel developed by Muller Martini, the folding process for the covers can be omitted. For saddle stitchers without a folder feeder to date, the use of the folder feeder enables skipping an entire process, making production considerably more efficient.
"An Attractive and User-Friendly Solution"
At Zofinger Tagblatt AG, the Tierwelt cover that is printed in four-up, only needs to be trimmed to individual sheets. The earlier folding process in double production is no longer necessary, allowing around five hours of production time to be saved per week. In addition to greater cost-effectiveness ("without the need for the folding process, we can produce at lower cost and have more free capacity"), Martin Vogel also reports enhanced quality when using the new 0507 folder feeder: "Previously we occasionally had scratch marks, but that's now a thing of the past."
He is therefore in no doubt that retrofitting has paid off for the company: "The new folder feeder is an attractive and user-friendly solution for industrial production in particular – it's just a shame that it wasn't on the market even earlier ..."
