New Flexible Press, Folder, Mailroom Functions

Mortons Print is equipping its six-tower MAN Roland MAN Uniset press with an additional MAN folder and new Ferag equipment for flexibility in press, folder and mailroom facilities.

A division of Mortons of Horncastle in Lincolnshire (UK), Mortons Print's order for Ferag equipment from WRH Marketing UK includes Streamstitch equipment, two Multistack bundle stackers, accumulation bundle conveyors and a Smartstrap unit, as well as pick-up stations for tabloid and quarter fold products.

WRH Marketing UK is also providing an Affeldt bundle polywrap machine.

Installation will begin in February 2008 and will be timed alongside the commissioning of the new MAN folder.

In addition, WRH Marketing UK has received a major endorsement from Mortons Print for its Xtrawin business initiative, which is designed to help newspaper printers enter new sectors and make better use of reserve press capacity.

Ian Fisher, managing director of Mortons Print, said: "A newspaper press represents a huge investment but its full potential capacity is often never achieved because of limitations within the post-press area.

At present, if a job does not require all six towers, then those not used are effectively wasted for the duration of that work.

We already operate off-line stitching facilities and have mailroom systems from WRH Marketing UK, including a Ferag Rollsert inserting unit, plus stacking, conveying and trimming systems.

They have proved to be highly efficient, enabling the production of tabloid and quarter fold work incorporating a wide range of inserts." He continued by explaining: "With the additional Ferag equipment we will have huge press flexibility, which will enable us to utilise the majority of towers for most of the time.

For example, we could print a job requiring four towers, then quarter fold and stitch it on-line using the new Streamstitch facility, whilst at the same time producing a completely different job on the remaining two towers, with the output from them being handled off-line by the existing equipment.

The tower combinations could be one and five, or three and three, whilst the stock, run lengths and finishing could be totally different for each job." Mortons Print uses its coldset MAN Uniset virtually entirely for contract printing, producing more than 200 newspapers and lifestyle publications for customers throughout the UK.

The latest investment by the company will allow it to handle semi-commercial work, as well as newspapers within the current Lincolnshire factory.

Fisher added: "For a relatively low cost we will create what is effectively a second comprehensive mailroom facility without having to duplicate the equipment we already have and we will achieve this within the present factory space.

The versatility of the existing Rollsert system means it can be used for either on-line or off-line inserting, whilst the significantly higher throughput that can be achieved with on-line inserting, stitching and trimming will enable us to handle longer print runs more efficiently and take us in to new markets.

It's a very exciting venture." Mortons Print has brought forward by nearly two years its planned investment in the Ferag equipment because of an excellent start to 2007, which has seen it win several new orders, said WRH Marekting.

The publishing business of Mortons of Horncastle has also expanded, with several new launches during the last six months.

The company publishes around 20 titles, many of them for niche markets.

According to WRH Marketing, the ease with which Ferag equipment can be integrated with existing lines has made the company's Xtrawin business initiative increasingly popular, as newspapers seek greater flexibility from their presses to move in to the semi-commercial sector.

Marcus Evans, managing director of WRH Marketing UK, said: "The Mortons Print scenario is a perfect example of how the Xtrawin business initiative can enable newspaper printers to put capacity reserves to better use and potentially enter new sectors.

The modularity of the Ferag technology has been vital to enabling this flexibility, which lets companies expand its functions to meet changing needs.

With systems such as Memostick and Memoflag, the production options can be extended even further.".

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