Whirlwind installs top-spec saddlestitcher and jogging system from Ferrostaal

Whirlwind Print has overhauled its bindery line with a new "top of the range" Osaka Tener saddlestitcher as well as Australia's second Baumann automatic jogging system, both from Ferrostaal Australia.

The printer, based in the suburb of Knoxfield, said the "Alpha" model saddlestitcher "hasn't missed a beat" since being installed along with the Baumann BASA around October last year.

Managing director Andrew Cester said: "We certainly compared it to the competition and it had very similar capabilities and was very flexible in its makereadies."

He said he was "a fan of Japanese engineering" - Whirlwind runs Komori presses.

"The good thing about the Osaka is it is quite modular so as upgrades come out we can upgrade our machine. They have a new cover feeder coming out so we could upgrade that," said Cester.

Rayne Simpson, Ferrostaal's general manager, print finishing, said 48 Osaka saddlestitchers had been sold into Australia since they were brought into the country 10 years ago, originally as a CPI agency.

Whirlwind's Osaka is a six-station plus cover feeder, while the Baumann BASA is a fully automatic model.

Simpson said the jogging system provided a solution to the guillotine bottleneck created by today's high-speed perfectors.

To solve this, he said "printers put another guillotine in or put on another operator, which is the biggest cost in the bindery. This [Baumann system] is the missing link to cope with the long perfectors."

Ferrostaal also recently sold a six-station Osaka Tener into Sydney-based Rostone Printing.

Pictured (l-r): Ferrostaal's Rayne Simpson, Whirlwind production manager Paul Sealy, Whirlwind's Andrew Cester