The data arrives in the morning, and the stitched products are out for delivery by afternoon – the new Presto II saddle stitcher from Muller Martini contributes greatly to the high level of flexibility provided by the traditional family business Tipografia Cavalli in Tenero, Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Tessin. 

Tipografia Cavalli, with a mere 13 employees, is a perfect example how a small business can be successful in the graphic arts market even in difficult times thanks to its high level of flexibility. “This means, however, that we need to be able to quickly respond to our customers’ needs at all times,” says Fausto Cavalli, who still runs the company four decades its foundation in 1972.

It can happen regularly that a job comes in during the morning and the finished printed products are delivered in the afternoon on the same day. This of course requires a great amount of flexibility from employees. “Our success is based largely on our excellent working atmosphere,” says the company’s head with some pride. For example, practically every employee completed an apprenticeship at Tipografia Cavalli and then remained with the traditional family business. Moreover, no time clock is used by the staff, which also includes Fausto Cavalli’s daughters Micaela and Tiziana as well as Tiziana’s son Simone, who as the first representative of the family’s third generation at the company is completing an apprenticeship to become a printer. “Our employees know exactly when there is a lot to be done, and they can therefore go home early when fewer jobs are running,” Fausto Cavalli explains the flextime model that is based on trust.

Continuous investments

Tipografia Cavalli’s flextime model is not the only modern aspect of the company; its machinery is also state of the art. “In line with our company’s motto ‘don’t expand, optimize instead’, we continually invest in new production systems,” emphasizes Cavalli. For example, the full-service company also has two digital printing presses in operation in addition to two four-color sheet-fed offset printing presses. As a replacement for a saddle stitcher from another manufacturer, since last September Tipografia Cavalli has been using one of the world’s first Presto II saddle stitchers, which Muller Martini presented for the first time to the public at the most recent drupa trade fair.

“A fast setup of the saddle stitcher is much more crucial for us than high production speeds,” comments Cavalli on his decision in favor of the Presto II. Brochures, magazines, leaflets and numerous other commercial products are printed mostly in A4, A5 and A6 format predominantly for customers in the canton of Tessin, the German-speaking regions of Switzerland as well as neighboring Italy usually in print runs between 500 and 50,000 copies. “Whenever we are stitching orders with short print runs, the simple and comfortable operation of the Presto II becomes a great advantage for us,” says Cavalli. 

In addition, the new saddle stitcher with three twin feeders (one of which is tilt-back), the Semko lateral thickness measurement, the three-knife trimmer and the shingle delivery do not have an exclusive machine operator. An essential part of the level of flexibility provided by Tipografia Cavalli, which has also had a B1 pad stitching machine from Muller Martini in operation for the last forty years, is based in the fact that its employees are able to operate several different machines. Indeed, they learned to run the new Presto II on site after receiving just a few brief instructions. 

All Types of Signature Openings

There is also an important technical advantage provided by the new saddle stitcher: The Presto II, which can also stitch digitally printed products, can handle all types of signature openings. For example, Tipografia Cavalli can now open signatures in low and high folio laps, and it is also possible to use the suction opening.

Cavalli is in no doubt “that we have strengthened our market position with this new investment. Due to the higher level of production security, I can now take on jobs with greater volumes without worry. Every now and then we also process jobs with print runs of up to 250,000 copies.”