B&R MOLL, Inc. And Platinum Sed, Inc.Productive Partners For Progress

“It has produced over 80 million pocket folders since joining our team fourteen years ago, and hasn’t missed a beat since. It still runs smoothly and efficiently every day, making a continuing contribution to the success of our business.”

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That’s how Alan Williams, president of Platinum SED, Inc., a high-end specialty finishing company located in Ivyland, PA, described the remarkable performance of its first high-tech folder/gluer system which is now known as the STANDARD® 2000 system. Williams had installed the system in 1993 as the initial step in his program to automate his firm’s production capabilities from a hand operation and hopefully to generate a sudden surge in sales.

“We knew we had to automate our hand pocket folding process if we were to make any real progress in the finishing business,” explained Williams. “Going high-tech would dramatically increase our production capabilities, pump up volume, boost our sales, attract new customers, and expand our business with our current customers At the same time we wanted our advanced technical equipment to be user-friendly, ultra-dependable, economically priced, and require very low maintenance. The Standard 2000 system has given us all that and more.”

Designed and engineered by B&R Moll, Inc, of Ivyland, PA, the Standard 2000 system provides folding and gluing in one easy operation. The system has a unique make-ready feature that fosters easy set-ups. All settings are in inches, not metrics. Stainless steel is used throughout the system to prevent marring. The Standard 2000 system comes with a roll up standard stacker, a suction air pile feeder, a motorized table with specially designed height control, and a specially designed fold plate.

Other major features of the Standard 2000 system include Moll’s Super-Grip fold rollers with stainless steel core and movable segments for fast and clean set-ups without crushing embossing; glue solenoid flip mounts which flip up or can be removed for easy cleaning without losing registration position; a belt drive for smoother operation and low noise level; and two pumps with low noise level that produce high volume-pressure air.

“With our Standard 2000 we could now produce four-page pocket folders regardless of what shape the pockets were in, whether they were curved, angled, or in unusual configurations,” recalled Williams. “Our production capabilities and the types of jobs we could now handle greatly increased, while our turn-around times greatly decreased. Almost overnight we became much more competitive because we could now take on a larger variety of jobs requiring heavier volumes with complete confidence.

“The user-friendly nature of the Standard 2000 system was particularly significant for us in terms of dollars and cents,” Williams continued. “Although this system is high-performance and very versatile, it is simple to run by only one operator. This allowed us to divert staff members from this process to other operations taking place in our plant. Use of this system has economically enhanced our overall capabilities, and enabled us to utilize our personnel more advantageously, without the need to expand our staff.”

Another important benefit of the Standard 2000 system is its ability to avoid unsightly paper marking. This is a particularly big plus for the management of Platinum SED.

“Unlike competitive high-speed folder/gluer systems which regularly mark the paper sheet, the Standard 2000 system never leaves marks, even on the most finicky paper stocks, from 60-pound to 120-pound covers,” maintained Williams.

Over the years Platinum SED has made solid strides in its automation program by continually adding a series of high-performance components to enhance its production capabilities and better meet customer needs. The most significant addition was the installation of the innovatively designed REGAL® folder/gluer system, a product of B&R Moll. This system includes a primary pocket folding/gluing unit; a secondary unit called the VERSA-FOLD®, that glues and forms pockets and is capable of changing product directions for additional operations; and the DIAL-a-STACK®, an adjustable mobile stacking unit with electronic scanner control which eliminates delivery jam ups due to feeder gaps.

“Addition of the Regal system opened up a whole new avenue of assemblies that now could be done quickly by a folder/gluer system which we could not handle before,” stated Williams.” These assemblies included six-page pocket folders with one or three pockets, whether with one or six glue tabs. The Regal really streamlined and speeded up our operation, gave us more flexibility, made us much more competitive, and really gave our sales a big boost. We began to capture more customers through an attractive combination of a quality product, expanded high-tech capabilities, rapid turn-around times, and advantageous pricing. Our firm soon developed a reputation for handling problem jobs quickly and with complete customer satisfaction.”

Key to the enduring high performance of the Standard 2000 and Regal folder/gluer systems for Platinum SED is the superior after-sales service provided by B&R Moll.

“Our friends at Moll have always been very responsive in terms of periodic maintenance and replacement parts,’’ commented Williams. ‘The Moll maintenance and parts technicians are very competent, down-to-earth, nice guys who are always ready to discuss our specific requirements and quickly provide us with the precise solutions we need to keep our operation running smoothly. What is really remarkable is that they always have the exact part we need.”

Platinum SED, Inc. has substantially grown its business in part through use of B&R Moll’s high-tech folder/gluer systems. However, the management of Platinum SED management is continually seeking to improve and speed up its specialty folder operation with the foremost focus always on retention of high quality and reduced turn-around time

Is there another innovative product from B&R Moll that could help Platinum SED achieve these goals?

“We’re very interested in Moll’s SPRINT® high-speed capacity folder,” stated Williams.” The Sprint has production speeds of up to 3,600 units per hour, making it the most profitable unit of its type in the industry today. In operation with our Marathon folder/gluer system, the Sprint could produce capacity folders of many styles, ranging from 1/8-inch to 3/4-inch thicknesses. We particularly like the unit’s centralized control of all functions.”

Platinum SED’s installation of B&R Moll’s Standard 2000 and Regal folder/gluer systems has been highly beneficial to both organizations. Platinum SED has proven to be a much appreciated, long-time customer. B&R Moll has helped its Ivyland neighbor become increasingly successful, very competitive, and a highly regarded specialty finishing company.

Indicative of its impressive growth, Platinum SED, Inc. now specializes in such diverse operations as die-cutting, embossing, foil stamping, folding/gluing, stitching, mini-folding, and sheet fed forms for a variety of companies in the chemical printing industry. The firm’s customers range from store-front print shops to large, corporate-owned printing companies. Major projects produced by Platinum SED include pocket folders, folding cartons, presentation folders, table tents, CD mailers, greeting cards, invitations, envelopes, and annual reports.

Over the course of their long and fruitful relationship. Platinum SED, Inc., and B&R Moll, Inc., have evolved into a vocational dimension beyond that of progressive customer and valued supplier. These two tech-savvy, well-managed companies have frequently joined their considerable talents to become highly productive partners for progress. They have worked together to dramatically improve a host of conventional processes and to create innovative ones, shared technological breakthroughs that streamlined and upgraded their operations and solved difficult problems, while contributing substantially to the technical knowledge of the finishing industry.

“More than a few companies have ‘adopted’ some of the many techniques and processes that my company and B&R Moll created,” maintained Alan Williams. “Be that as it may, it’s been a lot of fun working together to help our two companies prosper, and break new ground in high-tech finishing operations. At the same time it’s a source of great satisfaction to us that we are considered to be innovators in our field, and respected for our continuing efforts to move the finishing industry forward.”

REGAL, SPRINT, and STANDARD are registered trademarks of B&R Moll, Inc., Moll International, Inc., and Moll Equipment LTD.