McPherson's bound for the future - Print 21 feature

No-one knows books like McPherson's Printing but even for a company with McPherson's expertise, staying competitive in the book market requires constant vigilance. Now the industry's top book producer has emerged from a two year process of re-organisation and re-investment with its sights set firmly on the future.

For the casual visitor, it's hard not to be impressed by the sheer size and diversity of the finishing operations at McPherson's Nelson Street premises in Maryborough, Victoria. This is the site that the company acquired when it took over neighbouring printers, APG, and it is now home to a huge bindery and finishing department, with a range of equipment worthy of any trade show.

Not only is it big, it's also abuzz with activity as pallet-loads of 'work-in-progress' make their way through the various stages of production.
McPherson's is, after all, best known as the leading book producer in the country, responsible for printing and binding a myriad of titles for major publishers such as Penguin, Pan Macmillan, Allen & Unwin, and many others. It also specialises in legal and educational texts as well as producing the Melway/Sydway street directories.

Recently though, the Nelson Street site has also been the focus of an ambitious long term investment program designed to reinvigorate and streamline the company's book and catalogue production.

While there has been a good deal of activity over the past year or so among the larger printing groups as they seek to re-equip and re-organise for the future, it's doubtful if any can match McPherson's when it comes to the importance it places on the process of finishing. Certainly none has ever invested in such a range of different types of equipment, both in terms of the various manufacturers involved and the types of processes they cater for.

A time to invest

Bill Drummond, Manufacturing Manager for McPherson's, is ideally placed to reflect on the changes that the company has undergone over the past couple of years.

“Following the acquisition of APG, we sat back and reassessed the company and looked at our position in the market,” he explains. “The equipment we had was aging, so we thought it was time to reinvest, particularly in the bindery because that's the area that involves a lot of handling and is very labour intensive.”

He continued: “At the same time, we wanted to look at quality and also manual handling issues. If we were going to install new equipment, we wanted to make sure that, where possible, we eliminated any manual handling issues associated with lifting heavy books day in, day out. As much as possible we also wanted to eliminate the human error element of the finishing processes.”

“Basically, we looked at our entire product range and asked 'How can we do it better?' Each piece of equipment that we purchased was done with that in mind.” And what a shopping list it turned out to be in the end.

Bindery is the heart

At the heart of the new installations is a new collating and sewing line from Aster that comprises the Multiplex SA (Super Automatic) loading and unloading system combined with an Aster 220SA/51 sewing machine. This proven system from Italian manufacturers, Meccanotecnica, exemplifies the McPherson's approach to its new investments.

For a start, it is recognised as being among the best of its kind on the market, as demonstrated by the fact that the system purchased by McPherson's at Drupa last year was the 100th order for the Multiplex SA system worldwide. Further, by combining the gathering, feeding and sewing of book blocks in-line, the system not only promised to increase productivity, it also met McPherson's criteria for eliminating manual handling and quality issues. Suddenly, all the time-consuming manual operations such as palletising, storage and handling of pallets as well as the manual loading of the sewing machine became a thing of the past.

This focus is also evident in the installation of two MBO T800 folders which come with a unique return delivery system that effectively ensures that one operator can easily load and unload the machine at full speed. Then there were two guillotine peripheral equipment systems from Senator Technology comprising pile hoists, joggers, re-stackers and air tables, again all aimed at reducing the emphasis on manual handling.

The list goes on. A new Kolbus 152-P three knife trimmer which will eventually run off the end of a new binding line was introduced to replace an aging trimmer; another new stitching line was also installed as well as a new end papering machine from Hunkeler and various other bits and pieces. In most cases, these items were the best currently available on the market.

A single supplier - IPP

Given the extent and variety of the installations, perhaps what's most surprising about the overall project is that 90% of the equipment was purchased from a single supplier - Intergrafica Print & Pack. Meccanotecnica, Kolbus, MBO, Senator and Hunkeler are all exclusive to IPP in Australia and just happen to be among the best of their kind.

“Never at any stage did we think that we would be going to a single supplier,” explains Bill Drummond. “We asked suppliers to come in and have a look at the equipment that we've got and what we found with IPP was that they could supply the complete package. Not everything was bought from them but certainly the biggest spend was with IPP.”

“It makes the equipment installation a lot simpler when you're dealing with one contact. The support we got as a result of doing it that way was great. A project manager was put on to look at the whole installation rather than just for each piece of equipment and there were times when we were able to hold back a piece of equipment so that it arrived at the right time. You can do that with one player but not when there are three or four.”

On the move

In addition to the focus on new finishing equipment, the company has also been investing in new press capacity, for both web and sheetfed printing, and reorganising its plant layout. There are in fact two facilities operating in Maryborough, one at Sutton Road as well as the one at Nelson Street.

Printing and finishing operations at the former site will all eventually move into Nelson Street. The Sutton Road site will then be used primarily for warehousing and logistics and Nelson Street will become the focus of all book printing and finishing operations. In addition, the company also operates a sheetfed only facility at its headquarters in Mulgrave, Melbourne. Here there are several multi-colour high speed presses with coaters that are used for producing book covers and general sheetfed colour printing. Items produced here are then shipped on a daily basis to Maryborough for finishing.

With the majority of new finishing equipment now in place, a new binder due for installation in May and a new web press due to arrive later this year, the hard work of planning and project managing the entire process over the past couple of years is starting to take effect.

“There have been a lot of changes and that creates its own set of issues, such as training,” commented Bill Drummond. “But now we're starting to see greater efficiency and people are a lot happier now that they can see the new equipment in operation. There is still some fine tuning to be done but, overall, it's been very good indeed.”

No illusions

Nobody is under any illusions as to the competitive nature of the market in which McPherson's is operating. Perhaps more than any other printing sector, book manufacturers must compete on a global scale and for customers who operate internationally. The past two years have clearly given the Group new purpose and direction and, with the right equipment and processes in place, the McPherson's story is all set for the start of a whole new chapter.