Muller Martini Solo-Gatherer 3692

Describe your company.
Vishwakala Printers is a commercial offset printing firm located in Bengaluru. The company specialises in coffee-table books, brochures, catalogues, table-top calendars, tags for apparel industry, paper carry bags, corporate stationeries and a lot more. 

What does the machine do?
Muller Martini’s Solo-Gatherer 3692 is a part of the package bundle consisting of two other binding units – a saddlestitcher and perfect-binder, installed early this year. The 3692 model is a 12-station gatherer with one hand feeder and is used for gathering of forms and signatures. The machine can also be attached inline with a perfect binder.

Why did you choose this particular machine?
The Muller Martini brand; but the main reason was to eliminate the manual operations and enhance speedy gathering.

Did you look at any other similar machine?
Yes, we did check the Horizon gathering system. But the demo of the Solo-Gatherer convinced us to opt for this machine.

Why did you make the purchase?
We were facing bottlenecks in the post-press segment mainly with the gathering wherein it used to take us three to four days for a quantity of 10,000. With the Solo-Gatherer we are able to fulfil the customer needs in hours.

What features do you particularly like?
There are sensors on the stations which pick up the missed forms and immediately intimate the operator. We can in all achieve an error-free gathering. Also the other thing is, we can attach a perfect binder and trimmer if needed.

Is there anything you wish it had that it doesn’t?
Nothing in particular.

How fast is it in terms of speed.
We can take up a minimum gathering of 3000 forms and if it is inline we can go up to 5000.

What’s the quality in terms of finishing?
The machine has a error-free gathering and with various automated features the machine has almost a negligible downtime. We can gather a single sheet as well as a 220gsm board on this machine. Table-top gathering as well as signature gathering can happen on this machine.

How easy it is to use?
A week’s training and a month of getting used to the features of the machine, is enough for anyone to master the equipment. We require a maximum of five operators on the machine.

How much time or money has it saved?
At this point of time, I won’t be able to monetise the benefits, but have definitely saved on time. I feel we have earned on time. The machine has enabled us to reduce our worktime by 50%. Now we have the confidence to take up big orders.

Would you say that it offers value for money?
Yes it does.

Any difficulties experienced during the installation or after?
No. The installation went off smoothly.

What about the pre- and after-sales service?
The sales service backup is good. A phone call, and Muller Martini deputes its engineer to our facility. So far we have not experienced any problems.

Who do you think the machine is right for?
The machine is suited for any commercial or publication printers who are into short-run and long-run printing.
 
Under what circumstances would you invest in another such kit?
If I ever plan to expand into the publishing sector, I would opt for another. For a commercial printer like we are today, one system is enough.