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.  AFL is fully integrated into its clients' processes throughout all aspects of production just as Muller Martini has integrated their specialists into AFL's operational needs.  Gary Owen, Vice President of Sales of Muller Martini U.S. describes the AFL business model as a perfect fit for the new industry environment allowing flexible solutions in a regional format.  The combination of the AFL model with Muller Martini's theme of "Grow with Us" is an excellent match.

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.