Remata has bought a Hohner HSB 8000 semi-automatic saddle binder. While many of the benefits improve Rematas stitching operations, they have knock-on benefits for customers since the company can now deliver its books in less time and at better binding quality.
On the older model, we often experienced misfeeds which meant that books had to be de-collated and re-assembled which increased the possibility of errors, said Esmé Bense, director at Remata. With the new machine and its improved feeding system we have been able to eliminate much of the machine and human errors that have occurred so the entire process is improved. It is clear that Hohner has focussed on fixing issues experienced generally in the field to ensure improved performance from one end to the other on this latest model. It is truly a joy to work on.
Misfeeds occur when the machine snags two sheets or more instead of one that results in botched jobs. These must be corrected manually after the job has run, delaying the process, introducing additional costs and also the potential for human error. Misfeeds have now largely been eliminated by the vertical, as opposed to horizontal, feeders on the machine. Bense said she has not had any issues since the machine began operations a week ago.
Remata has pushed this machine to its limit since its installation, discovering new ways of feeding multiple sections without the use of anchor stitches. This is due to the binders incredibly reliable engineering that has been developed over years in the Industry.
Also ranking high among the new benefits are the eight hoppers and cover feeder for feeding sheets into the system. Having more feeders speeds up the process and the machine can produce up to 8 000 finished books per hour, up from 6 000 in the old system. Setup between jobs is also greatly improved and faster which leaves the machine idle for less time. Adjustments are made without tools, which makes the machine friendlier for operators.
The binder has meant that our stitching maintains pace with our printing so that now they are playing in the same field, whereas printing was always faster in the past, said Bense. Remata has run several jobs, one of which was a 30 000 print run of 80-page books, on the machine since it was installed.
