World Premiere from Muller Martini at the World Publishing Expo
Muller Martini will once again demonstrate its innovative strength in mailroom equipment when it presents its new conveyor, the NewsGrip F, currently the fastest single-gripper conveyor in the market, at this year's World Publishing Expo in Amsterdam.
Cost-effective, fast and flexible: Muller Martini's universal NewsGrip F gripper conveyor guarantees the extremely careful and reliable transport of newspapers and semi-commercials right from the printing press.
The slim aluminum profile provides for a flexible and compact conveyor guide with tight bends. The profiles are joined using flange technology and can be very easily assembled, exchanged or adjusted to changes in the chain run. "The NewsGrip F can therefore be adapted to new requirements in the mailroom at any time," says Adrian Mayr, Muller Martini Product Management Director. "Thanks to its flexible construction, quiet running and minimum maintenance costs, the NewsGrip F is the ideal conveyor for newspaper printing plants of all sizes. It also comes into its own downstream of fast printing presses for commercial work."
Currently the Fastest Conveyor in the Market
With a speed of up to 100,000 copies an hour with 1:1 pick-up, the NewsGrip F is currently the fastest single-gripper conveyor in the market and is particularly efficient in production. Its quick assembly, low-cost maintenance thanks to the flexible construction principle of the profile and chain, and the use of extremely sturdy and wear-resistant materials for the tread and guide rolls add to its cost-effectiveness. As it has only a minimum of moving parts, the equipment is typically subject to little mechanical stress.
Gentle Pick-Up at Top Speeds
Transport straight to the pick-up station takes place without acceleration, pressing or registration leveling of the freshly printed products. The wide clamp grips the product gently and transports it steadily and reliably. The chain/clamp spacing of 3 inches is ideal for all product sizes and enables a high transport performance at low chain speeds. The NewsGrip F satisfies all requirements for the print finishing of newspapers and semi-commercials in the standard sizes and product configuration variations.
Integrated with Data and Process Management
Interfaces with upstream and downstream components and with the Connex.Mailroom data and process management system or Mailroom Production Control (MPC) system from Muller Martini provide a clear production overview and reliable reporting at all times.
Muller Martini's universal NewsGrip F gripper conveyor guarantees the extremely careful and reliable transport of newspapers and semi-commercials right from the printing press.
NewsGrip F for State-of-the-Art Direct Printing Lines in India
Malayala Manorama, India's third largest newspaper producer, whose daily newspaper of the same name, Malayala Manorama has a run of some 2.3 million copies, will be one of the first customers worldwide to use the NewsGrip F. In order to increase its printing capacity, the publishing house is installing five double-width Diamond Spirit SA newspaper rotary presses from Mitsubishi with a maximum production speed of 75,000 copies, each with 40 broadsheet pages, per hour at its four sites in Kozhikode, Kottayam, Pathnamthitta and Kollam in the southern Indian state of Kerala. The backbone of the state-of-the-art mailroom is the NewsGrip F conveyor, each with a pick-up station and two delivery stations. In addition, the five lines, which will come on-stream between December 2014 and December 2015, each include two NewsStack compensating stackers, Solema belts, a Sitma bundle film wrapper with cross strapping, manual application of preprinted top sheets and a control system for bundle production.
Three service technicians from Muller Martini India, Kaliyaperumal Sambandam, Mathivanan Sampath and Sivakumar Selvarju (pictured together with project manager Mathias Naef), enhanced their mechanical and electronic knowledge of the new NewsGrip F at Muller Martini's Print Finishing Center in Zofingen.
"The Best Total Cost of Ownership"
Mammen Mathew, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Malayala Manorama daily newspaper, explains that the solution from Muller Martini was chosen, above all, for financial and technical reasons: "First, out of all the quotes we received, the Muller Martini systems provided the best total cost of ownership. Second, the production speed of the Muller Martini systems is slightly above that of our printing presses." That means the mailroom systems are not producing at their limit, which keeps maintenance costs down and increases their economic life-time.
To commission the NewsGrip F swiftly and smoothly at Malayala Manorama, three service technicians from MMIN who have experience of the NewsGrip have completed intensive training at Muller Martini's Print Finishing Center in the Swiss city of Zofingen. Together with project manager Mathias Naef and several technical specialists and instructors, Kaliyaperumal Sambandam, Mathivanan Sampath and Sivakumar Selvarju delved into the mechanical and electronic innovations of the flexible gripper conveyor. In addition to the quick make-ready, they were impressed, in particular, by its user-friendliness: "The menu-guided control at the touch-screen is a great help for the machine operators." The service technicians will now pass on their experiences with the NewsGrip F and the NewsStack compensating stacker by providing professional support to the Indian machine operators at Malayala Manorama, so that they can swiftly get the maximum performance from the world's fastest single-gripper conveyor.
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