The Watchtower Printing Center in Wallkill, New York recently put a new production facility into operation. At the heart of this new manufacturing system is a Muller Martini “Corona/Diamant” production line, featuring an impressive array of options and providing extensive versatility.
Each week, the “New York Times” publishes a list of best-selling books. Needless to say, every publisher wants to see their publications in the top-ten on the list. If the “New York Times” included religious publications on its list, The Bible and other religious literature would surpass all other bestsellers. “Awake!” magazine, published by Watchtower, reports that The Bible – which has now been translated into 2,355 languages – is the most widely published book in the world with an estimated five billion copies.
State-of-the-art book manufacturing system from Muller Martini
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are among the world’s most dedicated groups involved in promoting Bible education as well as in the production and distribution of Bible study aids. A short time ago, the group put a new printing plant into operation in Wallkill, located about two hours from New York City. Construction at the new production facility, which has floor space of almost 350,000 square feet, began with the renovation of the existing premises. The new, ultra-modern building is dedicated to printing, while the bookbindery and mailroom are located adjacent to offices and residential buildings.
Among the machinery recently put into operation is a fully automatic hardcover bookline from Muller Martini. At the heart of the new system, on which 10 million hardcover books will be produced annually, are a “Corona” perfect binding line, a fully automatic buffer system and two “Diamant” booklines downstream. These technologies are complemented by two addressing and packaging/cartoning systems, followed by two “Cohiba” palletizers.
Configured for fast and efficient manufacturing
Every minute, 120 books can be produced. The line consists of a 33-station gathering system, automatic divert gate and an inline endsheet applicator. The “Corona C12/46” perfect binder is designed so that the “FulDri” primer/hotmelt binding process with infra-red drying can supply both “Diamant” lines with sufficient book blocks through a sophisticated dynamic buffering system. As a result, the “Diamant” does not run any empty cycles. After intensive testing by Watchtower, in close collaboration with Muller Martini, it was decided that gluing was the preferred alternative to thread sewing and that gluing better satisfied Watchtower’s demanding printing standard.
Utilizing a splitting saw for two-up production
A Muller Martini splitting saw, with a switchable turnover belt in the bypass, splits products produced in two-up production. Bundles are formed in the CB16 book counter stacker and then gently fed to the buffer section. Two “Merit S” three-knife trimmers handle perfect trimming on three sides before products are fed into the two “Diamant” booklines. The two “Diamant” rounding and casing-in machines ensure maximum levels of automation, efficiency and rounding quality.
The CTP prepress and five web presses produce up to 294,000 magazines per hour with four-color printing. Signatures for hardcover and softcover are printed using one-up and two-up methods. Among other key factors to consider, The Bible that Watchtower produces has extremely thin 18 gram paper stock, gilded edges, a register ribbon and flexible binding. The work necessary to achieve such ambitious quality is completed after trimming using equipment best-suited for the task: edge gilding machines and a "Ribbon 60" ribbon inserting machine from Muller Martini. These technologies are installed immediately adjacent to the main line, where products are then re-inserted into the inline production system.
Quality, versatility and maximized performance
The result of this elaborate finishing process is outstanding bookbinding quality. In addition, the finishing line is just as versatile, boasting "BLSD 650" book stackers from Muller Martini, inline shrink wrapping, modular carton packaging and two inkjet label printers.
Another advantage is the Muller Martini control system, which allows operators to view current status of the complete production line at any time on a central control console – and to intervene where necessary. Should a malfunction occur at any point in the line, the control system automatically compensates the speed of all active assemblies accordingly. This means the entire hardcover system is always able to produce at the maximum possible performance rate.
At the request of Watchtower, Muller Martini has designed a "tour-friendly" layout of the machinery for efficient "visitor management." Every year, the plant welcomes 50,000 visitors. Anyone who is interested in upgrading their book manufacturing system should definitely plan a visit to this attractive and highly-efficient production facility. |