NY Bar Association In-plant Upgrades Bindery

The in-plant at the New York State Bar Association is the first operation to take advantage of the strategic sales partnership between Colter & Peterson and the KomoriKare program of Komori America. The largest voluntary state bar association in the nation, NYSBA completed installation of a custom built C&P Saber 37.4˝ paper cutter on February 10, in addition to a Prism automatic stack lift system.

“The speed of the Saber is incredible and so is the automation of the machine. Our operators absolutely love it,” says Gordon Ryan, Director of Design, Printing and Fulfillment Services at NYSBA, and the subject of April's IPG manager profile. He signed on with NYSBA as a print production manager in 2010 and now heads a 10-employee in-plant in Green Island, N.Y., about 10 miles north of the capital in Albany.

When Komori America agreed to market and sell C&P’s ancillary print finishing equipment at PRINT 13 last September, company leaders expressed satisfaction with the reuniting of two industry leaders. The Komori organization had previously sold C&P equipment through multiple dealerships in the United States from the 1990s to 2002. It was a successful venture for many reasons, including the unique level of service and attention afforded to customers.

That mindset was evident at PRINT 13 when Ryan met with Komori sales reps Brian McMahon and Marty Ford. Ryan found what he was looking for when he spied C&P’s 45” Saber X15 that was attracting crowds while being demonstrated in the Komori booth.

“I’ve known the people at Komori since they installed our Komori LS429 press in 2010,” recalls Ryan. “I’m very happy and impressed by their responsiveness. For such a large corporation, they act like a local company and you are their most important customer. Our confidence in the people at Komori had a big impact on our decision to choose this equipment.

“I had looked at other cutters and checked with some distributors before going to the Print show," he continues. "I was aware of Colter & Peterson and heard good things about their Prism line of cutters and how they treated customers. When I saw the Saber in action, I was very impressed with it.”

Ryan’s in-plant is impressive, and it needs to be to meet the demands for a membership of 75,000 attorneys and judges. The shop prints over 80 million pages of material annually, ranging from post cards and direct mail marketing to members, to a large number of publications that include books and form products, reports, guides and the Practical Skills book series. Before adding the custom designed Saber, Ryan was relying on an old Mandelli 30” cutter.

“The Saber cutter is helping with our production efficiencies. That’s why the speed and automation were important factors in our decision,” remarks Ryan, whose crew manages the busy workload in one shift.

“After adding the Komori, our turnaround times for full color work decreased significantly. However, it was quite cumbersome when it came time to cut each job. C&P did a good job meeting our specifications with the 37.4” cutter and the stack lift. It saves us a considerable amount of time in handling the printed sheet, compared to the old 30” cutter.”

Print providers can streamline operations with turnkey solutions as a result of this sales partnership. The KomoriKare program offers an entire line of value-added support, including service programs, press efficiency audits, ancillary equipment and consumables. As North America’s largest independent distributor of paper cutters and paper handling equipment, C&P delivers high quality finishing products that exceed back-end production workflow demands in the marketplace.