When Hannanprint first looked at upgrading its plastic wrapping equipment in Sydney, one of the main requirements was for a machine that could handle long runs quickly and easily.

The company already had two Sitma 750 plastic wrapping lines which had given very good service over the years, so it made sense to stick with Sitma and upgrade to the faster 950-E model with a top running speed of 20,000 copies an hour.

“Magazine bagging and inserting has obviously increased over the years and the machinery we had was getting older so it needed to be replaced”, explains Graham Trickey, Hannanprint operations manager.

“We decided to stay with the Sitma brand because, basically, we were a Sitma user and we’ve been very happy with the machines”.

Since the installation of the machine, supplied by Ferag Australia, the market for magazine and mailing products has gone through one of its periodic shifts and the 950-E has been called on to do a lot more than was first expected.

“The machine has certainly proved its versatility because, when we purchased it, we had a lot of longer run work and we expected it to be able to do certain things”, adds Trickey.

“The strength of the machine, however, is that it is able to meet any market demand and, because of this versatility, we were still able to do the work two or three times faster than with the older models”.

This change in market expectations resulted in more demand for inserting, bagging of gimmicks, tip-ons and so on – difficult work that requires more than simple wrapping of the product.
“The market goes through a bit of cycle with these things,” says Trickey.

“It’s backed off again now but it will come back. When we looked at the equipment we wanted, we knew we needed something that could meet all these demands. The 950 seemed to be the one and it has certainly proved itself”.

The wrapping lines at Hannanprint must also be able to cope with the wide variety of product that the plant manufactures, ranging from high circulation magazines to brochures, catalogues and local newspapers.

The Sitma 950E can handle anything from a 32 page tabloid up to a 450 page tabloid as well as smaller format publications.

The machine also performs additional functions such as inserting and personalisation. Up to eight inserting stations can be added to the line and personalisation can be applied to both the front and back of a product in a single pass.

The inkjet personalisation uses Videojet and Domino inkjet print units that are controlled via the Sitma controller that also allows demographic-based personalisation and inserting if required.

Inserting units can be added as required and because each unit has its own servo drive, it is easy to put them on and off as well as feed from either side.

“This flexibility has been its real strength”, says Trickey. “Our expectations were for a machine that could run very fast but the type of work we do doesn’t always allow for that. You can only run the machine as fast as the job will allow. So even though it hasn’t always had to do what it does best, when it comes to the hard grind, it’s still flexible, easy to set up and easy to run”.

Getting equipment to operate at optimum efficiency at all times is an important requirement so Ferag Australia also provides a full-time engineer based on-site with responsibility for both the Sitma lines and two Ferag inserting drums at the plant. The engineer’s role is to provide maintenance and training services to Hannanprint, a function which Trickey says adds value to the relationship.

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