Since April, bookbindery Tony Besserer AG has been producing on a K80 combi folder from MBO. Changeover of the folding system is largely automatic. Six buckle plates in the parallel fold, two folding knives and an additional horizontal buckle plate allow a wide range of fold types.
From the right – Tony Bresserer, owner with book binders Christian Rohs, Remo Besserer and Martin Baumann
Tony Besserer is not one of those people who simply grumble about the erosion of prices in the printing industry. As an entrepreneur, he is used to tackling challenges head-on. Ever since he founded the bookbindery Tony Besserer AG, which is based in Nesselnbach, in 1990, he has been driven by the question of how to develop the company in a demanding market.
His recipe for success includes: “The use of cutting-edge technology to achieve rational production.” It was this principle which led the company to purchase an MBO K80 combi folder, a B1 / 70×100 folding machine which replaces two older models, in the spring of this year. The new K80 is a folding system with largely automatic changeover. Six buckle plates in the parallel folding unit and two slitters in the cross fold allow a wide range of fold types. A horizontal buckle plate after the first slitter makes it possible to give the folded sheets a further parallel fold (winding fold, zig-zag fold) or turn the folded sheets to produce with a newspaper fold. This horizontal buckle plate accounts for the suffix Super-KTL in the name of the K80.
All fold rollers in the parallel fold and cross fold and the stops in the buckle plates are adjusted to the correct dimensions via precision servomotors. The desired folding layout can be selected at the touchscreen of the M1 Advanced control.
“Precision servomotor is the right term,” says book binder Christian Rohs. He appreciates the fact that the servomotors transfer the values he enters at the touchscreen reliably to the entire folding system, so that there is no need for manual re-adjustments.
For the bookbindery Tony Besserer AG, exact pre-setting of the folding system is a decisive factor. On average, the K80 is changed over for a new job five times every working day. Christian Rohs frequently changes the format, the folding layout and the thickness of the substrate at short notice when it becomes necessary to interrupt a large run to process a small but urgent job. And in addition to the fact that he can save the values for each job and access them again at the touch of a button, the precise pre-settings are impressively effective. They make set-up much faster, which in turn boosts the productivity and economic efficiency of the K80.
For Remo Besserer, also a book binder by trade, the attribute precision also applies to the folding process. The K80 folds extremely precisely, he says. He states that he does not see any differences across print runs, right up to the top speed ranges – “We fold 16-page sheets at 12,000 copies per hour.” Among other things, Remo Besserer attributes these consistently good results to the so-called Virotec fold rollers. He says that their highly effective plastic coating guides even challenging paper qualities with a smooth or glossy surface or low-weight paper types reliably through the folding system.
Remo Besserer and Christian Rohs are dedicated professionals. They want to exploit the full potential of their tools. They demand solid mechanical engineering and expect technology that allows stable production. And, they say, the K80 from MBO meets these requirements. It has the Vaculift III, a high-performance feeder head designed for a frequency of up to 20,000 cycles per hour. The sheets are reliably separated by a blower at the rear of the stack and two blowers on each side of the stack. The major advantage: “I can select and regulate the air quantity for each blower individually,” says Christian Rohs.
The same applies to the feeder table. Instead of ball rails, a vacuum belt guides the broadsheets into the buckle plate folding unit, without pressure and without marking. The strength of the vacuum is adjusted in percent via the touchscreen. Christian Rohs reports that he usually selects a value of 60 percent, as this leaves him enough leeway in upward and downward direction to achieve stable sheet running from very light to very heavy papers.
Full slitter shaft after the folding knife
The K80 has a slitter shaft that can be pulled out on a carriage, allowing the operator to replace tools comfortably and safely.
It is not leeway but space which comes to Remo Besserer’s mind when he describes the operation of the K80. He appreciates the good accessibility at points where he needs to make manual adjustments to the folding machine. In his opinion, one of the greatest strengths, which is unique to the MBO folding machines, is that he can pull the slitter shaft out of the machine at the side. “That makes my work so much easier, especially as our job structure means that we frequently have to change the tools or adjust them to the format.”
On the K80, there is also a pair of full slitter shafts after the first cross fold. Thanks to plug bearings, the slitter shafts can be quickly and easily removed and re-installed in order to change tools.
What Tony Besserer really needs
With the purchase of a K80 folding machine from MBO, Tony Besserer is following a policy of continuous investment. Ten years ago, the company put a City E 5000 perfect binder from Wohlenberg into operation. It was followed two years later by a Wohlenberg 132 high-speed guillotine, while at the same time, the perfect binder was equipped with a powerful trimmer with automatic changeover. Like the new folding machine, the Wohlenberg products are supplied by trading and engineering company Gramag Grafische Maschinen AG in Reiden (LU). According to Tony Besserer, the technology is not the only reason why he has such confidence in this company. He says he particularly appreciates the expert advice and the fact that Gramag suggests products he really needs for the development of his company.
