KENNESAW, Ga. – July 3, 2007 – Lithotone in Elkhart, Ind. has raised the performance bar by installing a Stitchmaster ST 450 from Heidelberg this month. After experiencing significant increases in productivity and quality with last year’s addition of Heidelberg’s Speedmaster XL 105 press, Lithotone once again looked to Heidelberg for this latest upgrade in postpress technology.
“We are looking at significant growth in the near future, with greater ability, quicker turnaround times and deliverables on both the XL 105 and the new Stitchmaster ST 450,” Lithotone President Bob Priebe said. “We replaced three 40-inch presses with the XL 105 – that type of productivity gain is available only with Heidelberg.”
The company anticipates at least a 30 percent jump in productivity on the ST 450, having seen positive results just three jobs into the stitcher. Stitchmaster ST 450 technology allows frequent format changes, responds flexibly to changing customer demands, delivers short and long runs, and runs at speeds up to 14,000 cycles an hour. Lithotone serves local, regional and national clients in the high-end wood products and fabrics industries. The company has 52 employees and was founded in 1962.
Caskey Printing, Inc. Doubles Results with Heidelberg Stitchmaster Technology
Caskey Printing, a full-service commercial print company in York, Pa., has experienced an 80 percent increase in throughput with the installation of a new Heidelberg Stitchmaster ST 350 saddlestitcher. Jim Chioda, the company’s plant operations manager, cites the automated features and technology on the stitcher as reasons why the Stitchmaster ST 350 was chosen to compliment Caskey’s operation.
“We now can offer our customers a wider variety of sizes,” Chioda said. In addition, our bindery operators can produce booklets at double the speed as before, since the automated offerings on the stitcher have eliminated the need for hand work. “We produce stepped booklets for our customers, and the Stitchmaster ST 350 allows us to feed the sheets directly into the pockets – the time saved is absolutely phenomenal,” Chioda said.
More than 6,000 of the booklets are now produced per hour, up from 1,500 per hour before. Caskey Printing has an all-Heidelberg bindery, including a POLAR cutter and a Stahlfolder folder, and uses Heidelberg Consumables, including wire for the stitcher and blankets. The shop also uses Heidelberg’s Speedmaster CD-64 sheetfed offset press to produce its newsletters, magazines, fliers, booklets and other general commercial work. Founded more than 20 years ago, Caskey Printing currently employs 41 people.