| As
print production operations throughout the newspaper industry
seek new avenues for generating revenues, many of those
operations are looking to Muller Martini for technological
innovation and growth-oriented strategies. An example is
AFL Web Printing, a 350-employee commercial printer that
serves more than 300 newspaper publishers. AFL recently
installed two Muller inserting systems, an SLS3000 and an
SLS2000.
“These
machines have enabled us to service the traditional seven-day
dailies and still run the equipment on our general commercial
work as well,” says Dennis G. Forchic, President &
CEO, for AFL Web Printing. In addition to handling the demands
of daily newspaper production, the new inserting technologies
on the floor at AFL were also installed to produce 500-plus
commercial press transactions each week. Mr. Forchic is
confident that AFL’s new Muller Martini machines are
more than up to the task, particularly in light of the fact
that AFL already owns several Muller machines and has had
great success with them. “We chose Muller Martini
because of the flexibility of the equipment, Muller’s
commitment to the marketplace, a firm understanding of our
Regional Print Center approach along with our experience
with our current Muller equipment,” he explains.
AFL
Web Printing is a full-service commercial printer with two
Regional Print Centers (Voorhees, New Jersey and Secaucus,
New Jersey). Besides the commercial work described above,
the company produces over 10 million impressions per week
for newspaper customers encompassing 5 daily publications
which have outsourced production to AFL comprising approximately
a half-million pieces produced each night along with weeklies
and monthlies.
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The
Muller Martini SLS3000 inserting system and its predecessor,
the SLS2000, are robust and versatile. The SLS3000 features
a modular design and can be configured with 1 or 2 deliveries
with a single delivery SLS3000 running at speeds up to 32,000
cph.. Linear inserting design provides flexible processing
of many different types of inserts. More than 50 feeders
can be installed to feed inserts. The SLS3000 utilizes a
servo drive technology, allowing feeders to be switched
on and off easily during production while staying synchronized
with the pockets. The feeders allow scaleable settings,
are simple to operate and can be adjusted while the machine
is running. Due to unique pocket design and high feeder
reliability, light products with only a few pages can be
produced as easily as bulky weekend editions with up to
1,200 tabloid pages.
The
SLS3000 can be loaded directly from the newspaper press
or automatically from FlexiRoll buffer stations and it can
also be operated off-line with streamfeeders. Muller Martini’s
programmable mis-feed and double-feed detection system monitors
the insertion process. The integrated Missed Insert Repair
System (MIRS) automatically recognizes missed inserts and
repairs them in a second pass, assuring quality while reducing
manual intervention and waste.
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