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Michigan political printer invests in Heidelberg Stahlfolder KH 82

Allied Media, a family-owned printer located in Fenton, Michigan, specializes in printing for local unions, as well as political printing and mailing. In order to prepare for the amount of campaign mailing that will be done this year, Allied Media installed a new Stahlfolder KH 82 from Heidelberg to increase the company’s throughput and shorten turnaround times.

As they were unable to fold a full press sheet from its Speedmaster SM 102 with its two older, smaller Stahlfolders, the printer decided to purchase a more robust folder to prepare for its busiest time of year, campaign season. Allied Media installed the Stahlfolder KH 82 in April 2019, which allowed the printer to eliminate the need to outsource its larger folding jobs to external vendors, helping cut both turnaround times and costs.

The KH 82 with stacker can fold up to 12,000 sheets per hour. Although Allied Media still has its older folders, it runs nearly all its jobs on the KH 82.

“This machine has sped up my process immensely, and we can get jobs to our customers much faster,” said Rob French, bindery manager. “On our older Heidelberg TF folders, my set-up time for a standard job is around 30 minutes. With the built-in automation and job recall on the KH 82, I can go from job to job in as little as five minutes. Job changeover is as simple as pressing a button and make-ready time is minimal. It’s simply an exceptional machine.”

The Allied Media team was trained by Heidelberg’s SystemService team, which French said taught him 95 per cent of the skills necessary to operate the KH 82 successfully, while the remaining five per cent was learned on the job.

This is not the first investment in Heidelberg equipment that Allied Media has made. It also has two Heidelberg presses – the Suprasetter CtP and Saphira Consumables – to produce work for its customers.

“We pick Heidelberg because they make great equipment that requires very little maintenance. Running Heidelberg equipment just makes my job less stressful as an operator,” added French.