The economic climate has caused many finishers who might previously have looked to buy a new collator to pursue secondhand options. These bits of kit may not be very sexy, but they're nevertheless necessary to any finishing operation, which means that there will always be a market for used models.
"Over the past 12 months, clients have been buying, but few have been buying new units," confirms Paul Bailey managing director at Col-Tec. "They seem comfortable buying refurbished and updated machines from the manufacturer."
While sales have increased, this has not necessarily been to UK buyers. "Our boost in orders has come predominantly from overseas markets, the most buoyant being in the US," adds Bailey.
Horizontal vs vertical
Horizontal collators continue to be more highly specified than vertical machines, although they are considerably more expensive. However, with the extra cost comes flexibility as horizontal systems can typically handle a wider stock range.
"Most horizontal collators use traditional electro-mechanical design which suits the durability and reliability expected of these machines," says Bailey. "Vertical collators are less industrial by comparison and use more lightweight components, which results in higher maintenance costs and a shorter working life." However, automated low-cost vertical systems are still best if you have a large number of short, frequent jobs to perform.
While advanced quality control and automated makeready features were previously only found on high-end collators, these features can now be found on most machines. "Features of the highly automated systems include CCD camera verification systems that compare the image of the collated sheet with a master image stored in its memory," says Alan Harrison, technical finishing products manager for Intelligent Finishing Systems.
"Look for existing testimonies and pay close attention to the cost and level of service support that is offered," advises Col-Tec's Bailey. "Find out how quick the response time is and just how skilled and experienced are the service engineers who might attend."
It's also worth asking about ‘real' production speeds, level of operator training, warranty and call out response times. "Some clients want a basic unit that will give them minimal service issues and they typically look for high speeds. Others want extras that add value to their service," adds Bailey.
WHAT'S NEW IN COLLATORS?
? Col-Tec held an open-house in January to showcase an interface conveyor between its Signature collator and its Buffalo perfect binder. The new set-up provides an entry-level automatic gathering
and perfect binding line. Also in March Col-Tec was awarded the contract to manufacture and install a collation machine for National Lottery operator, Camelot. The eight-station Col-Tec signature collator, linked to a Norpak C35 flow wrapper, will collate a range of point-of-sale material
? Glasgow Caledonian University invested in a Duplo System 5000 bookletmaker and DC-445 DuCreaser in March to remove bottlenecks in its finishing department. The purchase consists of a 20-station vertical collator tower, which feeds a DBM-500 bookletmaker and trimmer
? Murodigital, the national distributor for Plockmatic, will be exhibiting its range of Plockmatic digital collators at next month’s Ipex
