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Just 10 minutes for set-up instead of two hours

The company Schaten Offsetdruck in Ahaus has maximized its added value by purchasing a fully automatic folding system from MB Bäuerle.

shown on the photo from the right are Petra Schaten, the MB Bäuerle sales representative for the western region Sebastian Scheel, Josef Schaten and the machine operator Christel van den Berg

Schaten Offsetdruck GmbH is situated in Ahaus, close to the Dutch border. In 1928, the grandfather of the present owner Josef Schaten founded the company as a print shop and bookbindery with an affiliated store for devotional objects. In the sixties and seventies the print shop was gradually expanded. 22 years ago Josef Schatten, a qualified and skilled typesetter, took over the company after the early death of his father. Since then he and wife have successfully continued the business in the third generation.

The product portfolio of the full-service print shop consists of a variety of services, such as brochures, image leaflets, commemorative publications, mailings, posters, letterheads, newspaper supplements, labels and envelopes. The print runs are mainly in the lower range, i.e. between 5,000 and 10,000 copies. An order for package inserts for pharmaceutical products, 12 different types of which are delivered to countries all over Europe and even to Dubai, ensure a steady utilization of the printing company with a volume of two million per year. For a long time print finishing was outsourced, but the high costs for handling and transport as well as the time required for this were out of proportion.  

“We wanted to have the added value in-house and therefore needed the latest folding technology. As we had made positive experiences with a smaller folding machine from MB Bäuerle, we decided to purchase the fully automatic folding system prestigeFOLD NET 38“, Josef Schaten explains the reasons for the investment. The folding machine is equipped with six fold plates in the first and four fold plates in the second fold unit as well as a vertical stacker for processing package inserts. The operators appreciate the intuitive operation by means of the touchscreen display. The prestigeFOLD NET 38 is completely automated from the feeder to the delivery. After entering the format and the type of fold, the side stops and the rear edge separator in the flat pile feeder move to their pre-defined positions. On the alignment and roller table, the alignment rails also take up the required positions. In the fold unit, paper stops, deflectors and fold rollers are set to the type of fold and on the shingled delivery the delivery rollers are also brought into position. 20 standard folds for parallel and cross folds are pre-programmed and can be called up immediately, whereas other folds are freely programmable. A program memory with setting data for more than 200 jobs allows the exact reproduction of repeat jobs. Parameters such as speed and sheet gap can also be saved in the memory and thus contribute to a reduction of the start-up waste. “With the new folding machine we can react much more quickly and flexibly. As we have to handle many different small print runs, it is very helpful that we can save certain jobs in the memory. In the past, set-up took several hours, now we are able to do this job in a few minutes“, Josef Schaten explains the first experiences with the new system. 

Besides the expansion into print finishing, Schaten Offsetdruck GmbH invested in a digital colour system in order to strengthen the ‘mailings’ product area. “The requirements profiles of the customers are changing. With the two recent investments we have set the course for the future. Long-term success is only possible if you can stand out from other suppliers by offering particular services and consequently an added value for the customers”, summarizes Josef Schaten. 

The main features of the prestigeFOLD NET 38 are simple operation and a high degree of automation.

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