Most Sophisticated Newspaper Mailroom Line In UK

As part of the company's announced GBP14 million investment at its Preston (UK) site, Broughton Printers Limited (BPL) has signed an agreement to install a new Ferag mailroom line.

As part of the company's announced GBP14 million investment at its Preston (UK) site, Broughton Printers Limited (BPL), a fully owned printing subsidiary of Express Newspapers and the Northern and Shell group, has signed an agreement to install a new Ferag mailroom line.

The installation of new line, which will be fed by a new KBA Commander press - claimed to be one of the most sophisticated in the UK - will begin in July 2007 and it is planned that the line will be fully operational by next November.

Said to enable the high speed production of newspapers at full press speed without creating any bottleneck, the new Ferag line will comprise a UTR forwarding station, which, provides flexibility for the pick-up of print products at the folder delivery, said Ferag.

There will also be a UTR Universal conveyor system, at the heart of which is Ferag's gripper for made-to-measure conveying and which incorporates a check copy extraction unit.

In addition, a delivery station and two Multistack stackers, which can generate up to 40 bundles per minute, will also be featured.

Not only is the UTR Universal conveyor system able to transfer printed newspapers to the stackers at press speed - 85,000 copies per hour in this case - but it also offers a '2-to-1' facility, by which two copies can be assigned to each UTR gripper, thereby cutting chain speed by half during production, which, in turn, extends the life cycle of the chain and reduces noise levels, added Ferag.

Furthermore, the selection of UTR Universal conveyor technology gives BPL the option to extend the system in the future with Xtrawin applications, such as in-line stitching and trimming, Memostick and Memoflag.

BPL reviewed a number of systems on the market, but decided to stay with Ferag AG, which provided the company's existing mailroom equipment.

Tim Lavell, technical director at Broughton Printers, commented: "We have had equipment links with the Ferag organisation since 1988, during which time they have provided us with admirable service and support on our existing Multicell stacker and TTR conveyor system.

To confirm the reliability and performance of the latest Ferag UTR conveyor system and Multistack stackers, we visited several high speed newspaper plants throughout Germany and Switzerland." He continued: "The performance of the UTR conveyor system was excellent in terms of output speed and bundle presentation, even when running it in programme bundle mode.

What's more, the servo motor technology that has been adopted within the design has reduced the compressed air usage to a minimum, this in turn making a great contribution to energy efficiency." Ferag's sales director, Jurg Mockli, commented: "We're delighted that Broughton Printers has decided to retain Ferag AG as its mailroom supplier.

For us, BPL's decision is yet another vote of confidence in Ferag's ability to deliver technologically advanced, post-press processing systems that meet customers' needs and help them remain as competitive as possible in increasingly challenging market conditions." Marcus Evans, managing director of WRH Marketing UK, added: "With support being such an important consideration for newspaper printers, we're very pleased to hear Tim Lavell's positive endorsement of the quality of our service.

We're confident of maintaining that level of satisfaction and we look forward to further strengthening our relationship with BPL during and following the installation of the new Ferag line." Founded in 1988, BPL employs approximately 215 staff, and has a current turnover of GBP26 million a year.

The company prints over 11 million newspaper copies per week, including publications such as the Daily Express, Daily Star and Daily Sport, plus other Johnston Press North West titles.

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