Collator Buying Tips

Selecting a Collator:

If there is a big difference in price, there is usually a reason. It is always good to test the equipment on equal footing and speak to owners about what they like or dislike about the system they own and what drove their purchasing decision.

—Bob Flinn, director of Business Development, Standard Finishing Systems

Consider the reliability of both mechanical and electronic components, the number of years the manufacturer has been in business, the number of years the machine has been manufactured, the average life of the machine. Speak with other end users. If possible, visit a current user and get their opinion.

—Paul Byrne, bindery consultant, Vijuk Equipment

Look for a

machine that will last 10 years or more. Many machines out there are poorly built and do not last a decade. Look around to see if there are used ones available. If not, the machine does not have a long life span.

—David Spiel, partner, Spiel Assoc.

First determine the application matrix. The matrix would include minimum and maximum paper sizes, paper substrates, digitally printed stocks or offset-printed stocks, monthly volume and if a bookletmaker is needed.

—Si Nguyen, Product Marketing Manager, Duplo USA

Equipment Demos:

Make sure when you get a demonstration that you are seeing what you want to see and not just what the seller wants you to see. Although the canned demo can be good, the true test is how the equipment and seller responds to something out of the ordinary.

—Bob Flinn, Standard FinishingSystems

If the salesperson asks you what paper size you would like to see the equipment run, tell him 11x17?, however, show up at the demo with three to five different paper sizes or jobs as well. Ask him to run your job first. If the salesperson cannot do the job or gives you excuses on why it can’t be run, then it probably is not the collator you are looking for.

Ask the salesperson to perform three to five different size changes and take note on how quickly and easily he can do it. If he initially told you that the equipment is user-friendly but he has difficulty operating it, most likely it is not user-friendly and your people will have a hard time running it. If the demo takes place at his client’s facility make sure to have the salesperson run the machine and not the operator who has been running it for years.

During the demo, ask the salesperson to run at least 50 booklets for each job. If the equipment can only run 10 books at a time then it’s certainly not the right kind of equipment for you.

Always ask questions. Take notes on functionality and, more importantly, how knowledgeable the salesman is about his products.

—Si Nguyen, Duplo USA

Request a demonstration of your product being collated. But because the machine has been prepared for your product, plan to request on the spot that they run the other materials the collator was advertised to do.

—Paul Byrne, Vijuk Equipment

Features to Look For:

Automation, programmability, missed/double sheet detection without stopping, loading without stopping, quick setup and low waste. Also, diversity: can it change sizes (paper format) in seconds? Can it run different stock weights per pocket?

—Hartmut Sohn, MBO America

Machine speed is important but only in how it effects actual overall productivity. Other key factors that are equally if not more important are ease of operation, efficiency of loading and unloading, minimal down-time for loading and unloading, ability to handle difficult stocks and overall reliability of the equipment.

—Bob Flinn, Standard Finishing Systems

If you do a great deal of collating, look for a top-load, bottom-feed machine. This way you can continually load paper without stopping the machine. Collators stop often enough on their own. You shouldn’t have to stop them to load paper.

—David Spiel, Spiel Associates

Electronic and mechanical devices to guarantee accurate and consistent production; variable speed control for easy makeready; air blasts to help separate materials for dependable feeding. Can it run different sizes, weights or types of materials in the same cycle? Can it be programmed to run a different number of pieces of product from each individual pocket? Also, look for missing- or double-sheet detection, deep-pile feeders, deep-pile delivery and the ability to upgrade with new features like bookletmaking, side/corner stitching, gluing, folding, numbering and shrink wrapping.

—Paul Byrne, Vijuk Equipment

Tower collators are good for saving space, but flat-sheet collators run more consistently, can run mixed stock or materials and can be continuously loaded on the run.

—Paul Byrne, Vijuk Equipment

Collating Jobs with Mixed Stocks:

If you are running various sizes as well as weights and textures, then consideration should be given to the type of delivery stacker that will be used. While high-capacity receding stackers are ideal for most flat sheet work, options like a vibrating jogger or a 90 degree criss/cross stacker might be better suited for applications like kitting where a wide range of materials are run.

—Bob Flinn, Standard Finishing Systems

For collating jobs with mixed stocks, look for individually adjustable vacuum suckers at each station.

—Hartmut Sohn, MBO America

Comparing Equipment:

Can the machine collate both signatures and single sheets? Get the sets per hour rate. Sheets per hour rate on a collator is meaningless.

—David Spiel, Spiel Associates

Features to compare:

1. Quality of construction

2. Levels of sophistication and ease of operation. Is the setup and operation simple enough so the operator would not require advanced training?

3. Versatility to handle a vast range of stocks.

4. The number of pumps and motors. Compare the quality and level of sophistication under which the main drive operates.

5. The ability of the manufacturer to customize the equipment to your needs.

—Paul Byrne, Vijuk Equipment

Operating Tips:

When you talk about flat sheet collating and bookletmaking, one of the biggest keys to quality is the accuracy of the cutting before the sheets even get to the collator. Systems with three-knife trimming can clean up the edges, but if you are looking to nail cross-over registration it all begins at the cutter.

—Bob Flinn, Standard Finishing Systems

During installation, the technician should be able to give pointers for ease of operation.

—Paul Byrne, Vijuk Equipment

Maintenance:

There should be a schedule for maintenance and lubrication, which should be explained in detail by the technician during installation. The sales consultant should have, in brief, already explained the subject.

—Paul Byrne, Vijuk Equipment

Equipment Care Tips:

Collating systems today require much less operator maintenance than in the past. However it is important to stay on top of cleaning to prevent problems with sensors or slipping of belts or rollers and oiling of critical parts like stitching heads to insure that things don’t go wrong when you need the system the most.

—Bob Flinn, Standard Finishing

Overcoming Common Problems:

Keep it simple and start at the beginning. If the problem is in the finishing, start looking for the cause at the first step of the process. It is also a good idea to make a call to your local tech support early on rather than fighting a problem. The odds are it is something that they have seen in the past and they can point you in the right direction.

—Bob Flinn, Standard Finishing IPG

The Friction vs. Suction Debate

Friction collators: This feeding method uses a combination of top rubber rollers and a bottom silicon paper separator pad or a bottom rubber roller design. It is usually a top-feeding method, meaning that the feeding takes place from the top sheet of a paper stack. As the rubber rollers rotate to feed the top sheet of a pile, the paper separator limits it to one sheet at a time, thus preventing double feeding. The method is repeated until the paper bin is either empty or an error occurs.

Pros: Inexpensive, compact in size and easy to operate.

Cons: Designed to feed bond stocks up to 90-lb. index. Coated stocks are usually not recommended. Friction collators have a tendency to cause marking problems in the feeding area where the rubber rollers make contact with the sheet and the paper separator. Friction collators have a small paper bin capacity and are designed for low- to medium-volume use. They are unable to cope with static and offset powder.

Suction collators: This feeding method uses a pump to generate air for sheet separation between sheets—unlike the paper separator in the friction method—and the same pump also generates suction for suction cups to pick up and deliver each sheet to the transport belt. Some advanced air feeding methods use suction belts instead of cups, mainly designed for speed and greater pick-up of surfaces.

Pros: Versatile. Able to feed bond, coated stocks and up to 12 pt. stock. Fast, efficient and productive. Built to run medium to high volumes. Modular: able to add multiple towers in a single system.

Cons: Larger footprint, air pumps are noisy, more expensive.

—Si Nguyen, Product Marketing Manager, Duplo USA