Ferag is pitching for emerging markets that want to automate with a new newspaper handling system designed from the ground up.

The HPC conveyor – which has mostly-plastic components – and supporting equipment including a new stacker were launched at a customer event in Switzerland yesterday.

The mailroom market leader has the BRIC countries firmly in its sights, as well as other low labour cost markets in Asia where the need to automate product handling is recognized.

New are the HPC high performance conveyor and HPS stacker, both complementing the MiniSert inserter – launched this time last year – which has also been upgraded. All will be available early next year.

Chief executive Jurg Mockli says that while customers told them that automation was important to them, it had to be affordable. “We set key targets of functionality, performance, durability and affordability in a multi-million dollar project which received board approval less that 12 months ago,” he says.

Advanced composite material (plastic) chain link and gripper components have been teamed with traditional steel rail to deliver a ‘no maintenance’ system which is quieter, a third lighter and has a lower energy requirement. It can also be twisted and routed into tighter curves and more confined spaces.

A spring-loaded clamp adapts to variable products up to 13mm thick

And to those who shy away from mention of the word ‘plastic’, Mockli points to the fact that more than half of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, with its ‘bendy’ wings, is made of such materials.

Conveyor and stacker components – designed using FIM (finite element method) principles – have been destruction tested and the system designed to handle copies at up to 90,000 cph. Twin pickup halves the conveyor speed and extends component life, he says.

Ferag has created a new pick-up system and envisages configurations including looped stations to transfer copies after the second or third fold, as well as tandem systems on double folder deliveries. Products can be linked with any third party equipment equipped with a delivery belt, or wound for offline processing.

The chain links can also have other conveyor components – such as the PKT plates used to transport stacked bundles – in place of grippers. It’s also clear that Ferag, which now makes a proportion of its revenue outside the newspaper and high-volume print sectors, sees other industrial applications for it.

The programmable HPS compensating stacker is based on technology from its MultiStack units – with the introduction of a universal servo drive – and is rated for 25 bundles a minute. Up to three HPS units can be series-connected.

At the customer event at the company’s factory in Hinwil, the new systems were shown linked to the entry-level MiniSert inerter, which can now have up to 12 hopper ststaions and a greater range of opening options.

Including magazines, broadsheet newspapers and half format products which do not have an overlap.

Sales since the October 2012 launch have included the Philippines Daily Inquirer as well as multiple units in South Afric, the UAE and the printer of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – which has Ferag’s MSD drum inserting technology –  where it covers production peaks on the Frankfurter Rundschau and other titles.

Pictured: Guests see the conveyor and stacker in ‘live’ production at the customer event at the customer event in Hinwil, where it was teamed with applicator equipment from partner Accraply

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