March 8, 2004 -- Good Printers Inc., located in Bridgewater, Virginia, has automated its saddle stitching operation with a new BravoPlus from Muller Martini. The machine is equipped with AMRYS, Muller Martini’s automatic makeready system. It incorporates a network of servo drives that eliminates the need for manual adjustment of dozens of settings between jobs. Virtually every component on the BravoPlus saddle stitching system can be set from the machine’s touch screen control console or via prepress data. The BravoPlus replaces a Muller Martini Fox that handled stitching duties the last 15 years at Good Printers. It is faster, easier to set-up and is a major upgrade in technology, says Dave Proctor, General Manager of the company. While the new stitcher will be fed a variety of jobs, ranging from odd size direct mail pieces to annual reports, its mainstay assignment is the production monthly and bi-monthly magazines. The 75-employee facility produces a variety of trade association publications, magazines and how-to periodicals on a continuous basis. “The AMRYS capabilities of the BravoPlus are nice for us because we change sizes a lot,” Proctor proclaims. "It enables us to have faster makereadies for the next job. We're already saving a significant amount of production time and it's only been running for three months." The AMRYS system enables the job's data to be archived the first time it's put in. With the push of a few virtual buttons on its touch screen, BravoPlus automatically replicates the proper settings and is ready to run the job. “AMRYS makes it easy to pull up the job history for any project and set the machine,” Proctor notes. “That’s a key capability for us because our formats range from 11 X 14 to 8 1/2 X 11 to 4 X 8 inches, and sizes in between, and our runs average from 5,000 to 8,000 pieces.” Muller Martini is a charter member of CIP3, CIP4 and the Networked Graphic Production (NGP) group. Consequently, its AMRYS-driven systems are fully compatible with the JDF workflow. Dave Proctor comments that it's a possibility Good Printers will try it by the end of the year. He adds that he has two good operators who have done an excellent job in learning the set up options of the BravoPlus, but if he can give them an advantage, it may be worthwhile. JDF would let them program the machine just by pulling up a job number and tweaking things a bit. The result would be greater accuracy and more jobs completed on every shift. BravoPlus’ 13,000 cycles per hour run rate is already speeding things up at Good Printers. In selecting the BravoPlus, the company first considered Muller Martini’s reputation as the finishing system leader. Then when Dave Proctor went to look at the equipment, he brought along his two operators. They felt the BravoPlus was more user friendly, and it offered more advantages for the type of work Good Printers produces, switching from large books to two-up work without doing a lot of alterations on every changeover. Proctor says durability was another factor in Good Printers’ choice of the BravoPlus. “That is really important because we don’t switch machines out very often. We take our preventive maintenance seriously, so our equipment is in good shape when we do decide to update.” In fact, Muller Martini had the old Fox model sold before it was removed from Good Printers. The printer intends to use its expanded saddle stitching capabilities as a sales tool. It ordered its system with an integrated card and envelope feeder, which allows its clients to bind subscription and reply devices within their publications in a single pass on the BravoPlus. That’s something Good Printers’ sales people intend to use as a selling point. Meanwhile, Proctor praises Muller Martini’s onsite training for getting his two operators up to speed quickly on the machine. He adds that his younger operators were quick to master the system’s digital controls and are willing to get the most out of its automated features. “They watch over it like mother hens and enjoy working on this new piece of equipment.”