By Lew Sabbag

Action Printing, a printer in Fond du Lac, Wisc., had seen success cutting prep times by using a Muller Martini Automatic MakeReady System (AMRYS) for its Prima saddle-sticher. But once the AMRYS began supporting Print Production Format (PPF) files, it really nailed efficiency.

The Muller Martini AMRYS automates the make-ready process for the printer. The system, which comprises touch-screen technology, software and a network of servo motors, lets operators simply enter a job’s parameters on the touch-screen and have AMRYS automatically implement the changes to the stitcher.

Before AMRYS, since configurations needed to be done manually, "It took our operators 85 minutes to make-ready a traditional saddle-stitcher," says Peter Doyle, operations manager at Action. This is due to the fact that much of Action Printing’s setups are complex, requiring adjustment of various peripherals such as inkjet addressing equipment and drilling lines. "With AMRYS we got down to 45 minutes per make-ready."

Nearly halving the setup time was just scratching the efficiency surface, however. Action had been using the AMRYS for about a year when Muller Martini announced that it was capable of accepting PPF files, specifically those output by ScenicSoft’s Upfront software. Since Action’s customer service organization uses Upfront as its production planning tool, the printer knew the time was right to implement a more automated workflow.

Doyle had a team of Muller technicians come to Action to review the stitcher and train the operators on keeping the machine calibrated, a key criteria when implementing such an automated workflow.

The printer then tested the PPF capability by creating a floppy within Upfront and loading it into the PC-based AMRYS. Unfortunately, the operators soon realized that the AMRYS machine was running Windows 98 and the Upfront software was running under Windows 2000, making the applications incompatible. A simple OS upgrade for the AMRYS system eased the process, however.

"Once we had the AMRYS PC running on 2000, everything worked properly," Doyle says. "It was very easy to plug AMRYS into our digital workflow. We subsequently established a hard-wired network connection, and ever since we’ve been sending all our PPF files directly to AMRYS via our network server."

The change means Action’s customer service reps can key in job parameters once, reducing the possibility of errors. And overall setup times have further decreased, down to just 35 minutes.

"AMRYS and PPF helped us standardize the make-ready process,” Doyle says. “Now, we see less variation in our make-ready times and increased standardization as to how the machine is set up,” which are key steps in improving and streamlining the overall print process.