Ferrostaal says Willkommen to finishers

German-style ‘Open Haus’ highlights Ferrostaal’s strength in the bindery department. Print21 editor, Simon Enticknap, was there.

Ferrostaal used the arrival of an MBO T800 folder en route to a customer in Perth as an excuse to hold a ‘Open Haus’ for finishing operators in Sydney last week, complete with German-flavoured food and refreshments.

Bindery demonstrator, Nathan Broughton, ran two jobs of the T800, starting with an eight-page double-fold DL brochure running three-up and feeding into a Palamides Delta 703 stacker and banding machine which stacked and wrapped the brochures in bundles of 80.

Running at 20,000 sheets per hour on the T800, this translated into 60,000 brochures an hour, bundled and banded, on the delivery table. However, as Broughton demonstrated, the fact that the Palamides delivery can hold up to 3,000 brochures before being unloaded meant that, even at that speed, it was still possible to run the job with a single operator.

“This means you can run the machines at the speeds they were built to achieve,” he said. “Most machines are only ever run at half-speed.”

Pictured: Bindery expert Nathan Broughton demonstrates the computer controls of the MBO T800 folder at the Ferrostaal Open Haus.

After a short change-over to add two more MBO folding units and a stacker, a second job was run folding a 16-page signature with perforation. Even running a relatively lightweight glossy stock, the folder hit 11,000sph with no problems.

“All folders look good in the brochures but, in a production environment, I see these ones running faster,” added Broughton.

While the MBO machine was the centre of attention at this gathering, general manger for bindery at Ferrostaal, Rayne Simpson, is relishing the prospect of having so many other top finishing brands at his disposal.

The recent addition of agencies acquired from CPI, a move which also saw Simpson and several other staff move over, has given Ferrostaal the most comprehensive line-up of bindery equipment on the market.

In addition to MBO, Palamides, Hunkeler and Herzog & Heymann which were already in the Ferrostaal portfolio, the Osako range of saddle-stitchers has been added as well as Baumann cutting systems.

There is also an embarrassment of riches in perfect binding with both Wohlenberg and Kolbus being represented, although Simpson says that the two well-known manufacturers will focus on different market segments with little overlap.

Speaking to the Open Haus attendees, Simpson emphasised the financial strength of Ferrostaal which is now a global company with a turnover of €1.6 billion and 70 per cent owned by IPIC, an international petroleum company based in Abu Dhabi.