Editor’s note: Newspapers & Technology, in conjunction with the Post Press Federation and Perfect Pallets Inc., regularly publishes a question-and-answer column aimed at postproduction issues. Topics and associated responses originate from the Federation’s free online forum. Membership information and other details about the Federation, sponsored and managed by Perfect Pallets, can be found at www.perfectpalletspostpress.com.
 

Topic: Requested positions for FSIs

I’m curious. We’re being asked by an advertiser to position their FSIs as a group, perhaps loaded on adjoining hoppers. How many would intend to do what they can to comply?

Reply: We have not had this request but we did just get a request from a department store asking that their FSI be in one of the first three positions. We told them we would try to get it somewhere in the first three or four spots but no promises and that quality and operations come first in positioning.

 

Follow-up: We have had the same request from a local store. We are going to try to put them together but I do not think it will work out for us to do it. This is the first request we have received for the third quarter. Just one more thing to worry about this time of year.

Topic:1372 belt delivery system issues

We have a 1372 inserter with belt delivery systems. Finished packages drop onto delivery belt No. 1, which is a large black belt. The product then drops down about .5-inch onto delivery system No. 2, which is spring belts. This carries the product to the vertical belts. Does anybody have this similar system? Does your finished product stay even or drop down when going from delivery 1 to delivery 2? When we have large packages, this slight drop causes lapping issues.

Reply: The first thing that comes to mind is the height difference between your delivery belt and your conveyor. The height difference on ours are approximately 4 inches. This allows the product to lay down (we also have spring wire-driven knockdown rollers) before the next one comes along. Another thing to look at is the speed of the delivery in relationship to both the speed of the machine and the lap you are trying to get.

Follow-up: First, your spring wire conveyor should have a separate speed control from the delivery conveyor that is used to control the lap of the product stream coming from the delivery. Varying speeds from the delivery and the spring conveyor can control the lap and nose roll of the product package.

If you have the top wires and knockdown wires, you have additional adjustments to control the product package in the product stream through the ability to adjust height and spring tension on each knockdown wheel.

In between the knockdown wheels should also be your delivery/conveyor jam switch that is adjustable for the product stream.

Follow-up: We run the same delivery as well and have about a 2-inch drop from belt conveyor to spring conveyor. This is needed so the paper-fold won’t jam into the tail of the previous paper. I have moved my knockdown rollers back toward the upright portion of the conveyor about 2 inches. This allows the paper to lay completely flat on the spring conveyor before the next paper shingles onto it. Finally, I have strung my spring conveyor with heavy-gauge wire to prevent “surging” on the conveyor because of the weight of the finished product.

Topic: 1372 production

Q What kind of package-per-hour performance are you realizing from a 1372 inserter?

Reply: For our inserted products were have a database of documented production runs for estimated nets off each type of inserter we use for scheduling production. This takes into account pre-packs and notations for special products. The numbers we used for our acceptance testing of our 1372 inserters might be of help to you:

Inserts  Estimated nets

1 into 1 17,000 pph

2 into 1 16,500 pph

3 into 1 15,000 pph

4 into 1 15,000 pph

5 into 1 14,500 pph

6 into 1 12,500 pph

7 into 1 12,000 pph

8 into 1 11,500 pph

9 into 1 10,000 pph

10 into 1            9,000  pph

11 into 1            8,500  pph

These estimated nets are based on standard/good products without limitations from downstream equipment. Running prepacks back through and other large packages affect these results.

Topic: Stacker parameters

We are testing a stacker. Do we have to change the parameters every day to reflect various insertion runs? I can’t imagine everyone weight-counting his or her bundles.

Reply: Stackers in general need to have their parameters checked and changed as needed on every production run. The stacker has to be adjusted to the product and product stream to give not only an accurate count but to also get a quality bundle. Granted, the default parameters or general settings will handle a wide variety of products, but if you are after quality and the best you can get, you need to adjust parameters.

Topic: Holiday inserting

Q Is anyone out there experiencing a bigger Thanksgiving holiday than last year?

Reply: We have fewer customers and fewer total ads. However, the size of the pieces seems to be on the rise. The inserts’ composition has also changed. We aren’t seeing many newsprint ads. Everything is printed on slick, clay-based stock. Even traditional customers are coming in with the slick ads. Building a package that will go back through the machine gets more and more challenging all the time.

Follow-up: We are up five inserts (50 total inserts), 144 more pages and 750,000 more pieces to handle than in 2006. Bundle sizes are going to slow us down this year. All you can do is hope for the best and tweak what ever happened last year. We usually run well. Our biggest issue is covering shifts with bodies toward the end of the (Thanksgiving) week.

Follow-up: Right now we are up to 51 ads, three down from last year. We actually started our package today. We will insert it back into another kraft wrap with additional inserts on Monday. That package will get loaded on trucks.

Then on Tuesday, we will start building another package and run it into another kraft wrap on Wednesday. We will also load this package on the trucks. Only a minimal amount will run live.

Follow-up: We are up three pieces from last year, a total of 79. Page counts are also up and it seems that buy-in is also higher, so my total pieces are up too. I’m looking at 11 million total inserts (not including ROP) and last year was a little over 9.5 million.

Topic: First inserter

We are looking for our first inserter. Currently we do everything by hand. We usually get about 12 inserts per week for our community paper and we print and insert for about six others. We have about $50,000 to spend.

Reply: For your operation, a used (good condition) Muller Martini 227 inserter would be what I would be looking for. A crew of no more than three would be able to handle the inserting portion (on the line) for your paper. Then there would be an additional one or two to fly or stack, if you get a stacker on the end. The maintenance is pretty basic on the machines. If you keep them somewhat clean and lubed they seem to run quite well. The machine is pretty easy to use, and I’m sure your crew could figure it out quite quickly.