Cooke Communications North Carolina LLC adds technological enhancements to its Muller Martini SLS1000A inserting system in order to meet both productivity and customer demands

Today's economic conditions have challenged many newspaper mailroom operations to achieve a competitive edge with an aging fleet of equipment.  Recently, Cooke Communications North Carolina LLC which publishes The Daily Reflector (Greenville), The Rocky Mount Telegram, The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City) and 10 weekly newspapers in eastern North Carolina explored the possibility of purchasing new or reconditioned equipment in order to improve the efficiency of its inserting operation.  Their decision?  Upgrade two of its Muller Martini SLS1000A inserting machines with web reduction kits and delivery gripper conveyors.

Due to the rise in newsprint costs, the web width reduction kit enables newspapers to achieve narrower web widths which result in less paper usage – and significant cost savings.  The full kit includes a moveable pocket wall, a sucker relocation kit and the ability to run a 42" web or 10 ½" wide product.  The kits are extremely economical as customers make a one-time investment in the enhancement which provides them the ability to handle a variety of web widths as production needs change.

Dan Mastin, Operation Director at Cooke Communications, put it succinctly when asked why they purchased the web width reduction kits.  "Savings," he replied.  "That's the bottom line.  Our presses produce a variety of daily and weekly newspapers.  We needed to find a way to control paper costs, and the web reduction kits were a logical and effective solution."

Cooke Communications also does a variety of production work, which includes the handling of various product specifications.  The SLS3000 Gripper conveyor upgrade – compatible with the SLS2000 and SLS1000 – easily handles a wide range of packaging production challenges – from larger page counts to uneven product thickness.  Other benefits of the upgraded SLS3000 delivery gripper conveyor include:
- Increased dwell time, enabling increased holding power and improved pickup geometry
- Increased product stability due to greater gripping force
- Fewer moving parts so there's greater reliability and fewer maintenance issues
- Enhanced product integrity without limiting capacity
- 90 degree range of articulation (± 90 degrees)

When it came time to choosing a vendor to upgrade the conveyor and grippers on the SLS1000 inserting machines, the choice was clear.  "Muller Martini is the leading name in mailroom systems," commented Mr. Mastin.  "They have a proven track record for quality work and solutions to mailroom problems.  We knew by choosing Muller Martini technology, we'd achieve more machine uptime – and greatly improved product integrity.