Bookbindery director Krzysztof Nadej (left) and Edwin Piotrowski from Muller Martini Poland scrutinize the quality of the products finished on the “BravoPlus AMRYS.”

Success stories in which dishwashers become millionaires are well known to people in the United States, a land of unlimited possibility. The story of Andrzej Skotnicki, Szymon Nowosielski and Jarek Nakielski is somewhat less spectacular, but is a typical Polish success story. The three men founded a company in 1993, gave it a name with their initials (“SNN”) and started with almost nothing...except for plenty of optimism and a great deal of confidence.

This was supported by the fact that all three men could bring something valuable to the new company: their extensive knowledge gained from different fields. One was a desktop specialist, the second an experienced printer and the third was a self-made man in sales, possessing many key contacts. Printing jobs were acquired based on this foundation and completed with a wide variety of partners. The business was quickly in high gear, and SNN Poligrafia prospered, becoming a flourishing enterprise in only a few years.

SNN manufactures high-quality saddle-stitched and adhesive-bound periodicals and brochures for the Polish market.

From Flyers to High-Gloss Brochures
Today, SNN Poligrafia employs about 130 workers and does everything from pre-press to printing, print finishing to product shipping. The company has even established its own small logistics center, in order to be able to optimally organize and coordinate jobs. SNN produces nearly everything that is used in advertising – from simple, folded flyers to high-gloss brochures for the automobile industry.

The predominant portion of SNN Poligrafia’s products is produced for the national market (currently, only about 10 percent is for export), but many international companies are included on the customer list. SNN produces advertising brochures for the Polish market, for example, for internationally operating firms. The company’s philosophy is very clear: Quality, reliability and on-time delivery are the highest priorities.

“BravoPlus AMRYS”: Fast Changeover and the Ability to Produce Jobs In-Between
These are achieved in Lomianki with the most advanced production tools, which were acquired successively. The latest acquisition is a “BravoPlus AMRYS (Automatic Make Ready System)” saddle stitcher from Muller Martini. The critical young entrepreneurs at SNN Poligrafia did not take the evaluation lightly, scrutinizing many different products in great detail. A visit to a competitor finally tipped the scales. “They have several saddle stitchers from Muller Martini,” explains Andrzej Skotnicki, “a new ‘PrimaPlus AMRYS’ and various older models. All of them were running perfectly. Is there any better marketing? After that, our decision was made clear very quickly.”

The AMRYS automatic make-ready system also played an important role for the future-oriented SNN founders. “With our job structure, larger jobs very frequently alternate with smaller ones,” explains Szymon Nowosielski. “We used to have great problems in producing everything on time. With the ‘BravoPlus AMRYS,’ all of that is much simpler now. We can even quickly take a job in-between.”

“Waste – What is That?”
About 400 tons of paper are processed each month in Lomianki. The number of different products is between 200 and 300.Of that, about 30 percent are finished on the “BravoPlus AMRYS.”

One can easily imagine that the saving and recalling of jobs and the fast, computer-supported machine set-up and changeover all combine to save lots of time and money. “The greatest argument for the ‘BravoPlus AMRYS,’ though, is still the sensationally good quality – in addition to the high net capacity,” emphasizes Szymon Nowosielski. He points to the clean trim and the high stitching quality of his products, and adds the following, smiling, with regard to waste: “What’s that? We have practically no waste…except from three-sided trimming.”

SNN Poligrafia is the first Polish bookbindery to have an “Acoro” for PUR production.

Also Entering the Adhesive Binding Marketplace with the “Acoro A7”
Adhesive-bound products used to be printed at SNN, but had to be sent out for binding. With the recently completed installation of a new “Acoro A7” adhesive binding line – the first “Acoro” for PUR production in Poland – all that has changed.

“Before now, we didn’t work for other publishers,” stresses Szymon Nowosielski. “We want to change that now. We hope to be able to produce for various other publishers with the new ‘Acoro’.”The first promising contracts have already been signed.

Why did SNN choose the “Acoro A7?” Szymon Nowosielski smiles: “Because Muller Martini adhesive binders have an exceptional reputation, and we want to take advantage of this for ourselves. Besides, we can also process PUR with the ‘Acoro.’ That was important for us. With the ‘Acoro,’ we are the leaders in PUR production in Poland. Naturally the good experiences we’ve had with the ‘BravoPlus AMRYS’ and the excellent support from Muller Martini here in Warsaw also played an important role in our decision.”