Innovative Saddle Stitching Solution Helps Company Embrace Opportunities Presented by Print On Demand and Variable Data Printing.

It has been three years since DS Graphics in Lowell, Massachusetts, installed their first-ever Primera Digital Saddle Stitcher. The company, which provides digital strategies and integrated marketing solutions, initially purchased the Primera Digital to more efficiently process and disseminate customized travel brochures with runs of one.

The line is equipped with a MBO pile feeder-buckle folder, Muller Martini’s plow folder, six (6) standard feeders and a cover feeder. Its proprietary barcode system handles full product validation down to the signature level, delivers an audit trail for job compliance and automatically provides routed distribution of each job. DS Graphics runs personalized jobs one right after the other without any interruption because of the system’s ability to confirm that every page of every book and every book of every job is complete, resulting in massive time and labor savings compared to their previous manual solutions.

Today, the Primera Digital’s versatility and efficiency continues to impress. Not only does DS Graphics continue to rely on the stitcher for its customized travel brochures but for other complex, variable data jobs as well including financial booklets featuring differing page counts and content and hybrid magazines which contain both offset and digital signatures.

According to Finishing Manager, Kevin Perron, one of the most welcomed features of the Primera Digital is its intense level of automation. “The Primera Digital has significantly reduced our makeready times,” he said. “Before we installed this equipment, we had to specifically schedule 2-up work because those types of jobs consumed so much production time. Now we can run 2-up in the morning, switch to 1-up in the afternoon, and go back to 2-up right after that. The Primera Digital’s makeready time is just incredible.”

In addition, the Primera’s cover feeder has proved resourceful as well. Remarked Mr. Perron, “The cover feeder is one of the best we’ve ever used and definitely speeds throughput. It handles both light weight and thicker stocks. We fold envelopes on it and four-pagers. It’s extremely versatile and the makeready is also super simple.”

Since the installation of the Primera Digital was one of the first in the United States, there was some initial apprehension with regard to on-going support and service. But those concerns have proved unnecessary. Said Mr. Perron, “With some vendors, once the machine is installed and the training done, that’s the last you see of the manufacturer. That hasn’t been the case with Muller Martini. The communication between us has been great. Muller Martini’s sales team and technicians are always available to answer any questions. And, the prompt availability of parts, especially with a new machine, has been a non-issue.”

The Primera Digital offers all of the advantages of a powerful saddle-stitching solution and provides the highest possible levels of automation and process reliability. It features a modular system and can be configured with signature feeders for conventional applications. Customers who choose a conventional Muller Martini Primera saddle stitcher can integrate it into a digital printing workflow at any time. This makes it a highly scalable solution that provides investment protection to easily adapt to changing business demands.