Finishing & Screen Printing
FERAG STREAMFOLD OPENS UP NEW MARKETS TO NEWSPAPER PRINTERS
Monday 19. October 2009 - Processing copies at up to 60,000 per hour, the simply designed and mobile quarterfold component can be hooked up to any Ferag delivery station, enabling StreamFold to be fed from any printing machine folder delivery linked into the mailroom via UTR conveyor.
For online processing with direct infeed of the products, which can be up to a maximum thickness of 100 pages when unfolded, StreamFold can be integrated into any Ferag system via UTR conveyor technology. For offline production, a JetFeeder hopper feeds the StreamFold, which can be linked to a MultiStack bundling system, to a JobStack compensating stacker via an ascending belt, or can be wound onto MultiDisc units in preparation for the inserting process.
The new StreamFold quarterfold process is smudge-free and delivers high quality and an exact fold thanks to the precise alignment of the copystream sides on guide-rails and a cam belt, along with a gentle pressing sequence via surface-treated folding rollers. A lateral correction at the inlet enables quarterfold production with either a leading or trailing lap and products can be processed in sizes ranging from Berlin to Northern format. With high paginations, the W-fold takes account of any paper displacement. Thanks to processing in the copystream, the speed of the individual copies remains relatively low, even in the upper performance range.
Lee Whatmough, who heads WRH Marketing UK, commented: We can see a number of applications for StreamFold in the UK. One example is the production of newspaper supplements and inserts, for which the inserting process requires that some of these products have a third fold on account of their oversized format. Newspaper houses are also looking for additional work in the marketplace in order to maximize capacity and, in a changed market structure, tap into new sources of revenue. Thanks to the high printing quality of coldset machines, more and more newspaper printers are breaking into markets that were once the preserve of commercial operators. Apart from paid-for products, this printwork is largely of a promotional nature and reaches the mailbox via direct distribution, for which a third fold is required. But the ability to take on such jobs is often dependent upon the availability of a quarterfold function, for which some press folders are not equipped – and it is in such cases that StreamFold comes in as a cost-effective and flexible solution.”
Coldset printing machines achieve a high printing quality that opens up new markets to newspaper producers. If efficient use is to be made of this potential, then postpress processing must take on a key function. StreamFold is another link in Ferags added-value chain. The quarterfold process takes account of a sea change in conditions in the newspaper market and further strengthens postpress processing as a centre of excellence in the production of varied printed products in a demanding quality.
The quarterfold in newspaper production has its origins back in the 1970s. It was mainly in Belgium, France and Switzerland that the so-called post-fold was required for postal newspaper distribution. At that time, Ferag had developed a quarterfold process that secured continuity in the production flow as a part of processing conveyor technology. With a relaxation of postage rules, for a while the quarterfold disappeared from newspaper production. Now, however, its back and experiencing a renaissance in the form of StreamFold, a new development from Ferag. And again, it is publishers and printers in the newspaper market who have expressed a need for such a solution. Ferag has put all its 30+ years of know-how into the development of StreamFold, adapting the process to the increased demands for speed and flexibility with all-new functions and components.