The Stahlfolder P-Stacker is a new autonomous stacking system for folders. Launched by Heidelberg in April, this robot creates stacks of signatures from folders of various brands and places them autonomously on pallets. This increases folder productivity and significantly reduces the physical workload of employees - estimated at seven tons per shift.
The Stahlfolder P-Stacker deposits up to 300 packages/hour, which corresponds to the speed of the most productive folders on the market, such as the Stahlfolder TX and Stahlfolder TH from Heidelberg. This equipment, which forms stacks up to 1.06 meters high, can also automatically insert intermediate sheets and turn over signature bundles.
For several months now, the P-Stacker has been used by various printing companies, including the German companies Aumüller Druck and Meinders & Elstermann.
In these two printing plants with Heidelberg's Push to Stop print automation technology, this P-Stacker solution has accelerated the production lines.
Printers' feedback: significant increase in productivity
The Aumüller printing company increased its production by 25 percent. In addition to the speed of the stacker, the workflow is also optimized by the right type and direction of stacking, the printer points out.
Indeed, the different signatures detected automatically can correspond to several stacking patterns on the pallets.
In addition, the printer can choose the stacking direction. Depending on the type of finishing (saddle stitcher or adhesive binder), the signatures must be stacked with the first page either up or down. This task, which was previously performed by the operator, is now carried out by the P-Stacker robot, which turns the signatures over or not.
The printing company Meinders & Elstermann has equipped each of its three Stahlfolder folding machines with a P-Stacker.
And thanks to these robots, the Push to Stop production mode can be used to its full potential on the folding machines, the manager assures.
The company ordered the first P-Stacker as a pilot customer. The folding operation was found to be 15% faster than without the P-Stacker. This prompted the company to equip its other two folding machines with this solution.
Today, the production lines on the two Stahlfolder TX 96 are monitored by one person, and the operator of the Stahlfolder TH 82-P folding machine works in parallel on a Polar PACE cutting system. "Previously, our employees had to move up to six tons of paper in one shift on the folders." says Jens Rauschen, Managing Director of Meinders & Elstermann. We now leave all that heavy lifting to a robot."
With this solution, the company expects to be able to further increase its overall efficiency rate (OER) and achieve an increase of 40 to 60 percent over the entire production process.
