Parker Machines (Frankfort, Illinois) has been manufacturing custom machinery for collating and stitching books, calendars, and tickets, and business forms since 1965. One of their newest machines is the Model 4000 Binder system, with throughput up to 20 finished "pads," or books, per minute. The 4000 is highly flexible, accommodating books ranging in size from 3" wide x 5" long x 1/16" high to 20" wide x 20" long x 7/8" high, and supporting up to 20 positions for the stitching heads that staple the books together. Two Control Technology Corp. automation controllers, connected via Ethernet, control the entire Model 4000 system, which consists of eight servo axes and 128 input and output points in all. Setup data is available via a CTC, 5.7-inch color touchscreen installed on the 4000.

After collation, the 4000 binder receives books from the collator via conveyor. Grippers rotate the books 90°, 180 °, or not at all, and then the books are taken to a hand marrying station via a second conveyor for any additional manual assembly that may be required. The books are transferred to the stitcher-taper unit, where each book is jogged on all four sides to align pages and then indexed down to two adjustable stitching heads that bend and insert wire into the books. After that, the stitched books advance to the taping station, which cuts to exact length, applies, and folds tape over the spine of the books.

Andy Crim, Parker Machines Engineer, chose the CTC controller because "it was so easy to integrate everything through the controller." Using CTC's Quickstep™ State Language, servo code, motion, and logic are integrated into one application. "Programming was a breeze," reports Andy, who credits CTC's Midwest Applications Engineer with teaching him everything he knows about Quickstep. A Quickstep user for four years, Andy found CTC's State Language easy to troubleshoot compared to ladder logic and, when his customer wanted to add new features, Andy quickly edited the Quickstep application onsite to meet customer expectations. All of these advantages were available in a Control Tech. system that cost less than many alternative solutions.

Parker Machine's customer loves the Model 4000 binder system. Three people operating the new machine can now output as many pads in one day as seven people formerly produced in a week using manual procedures. Users also like the fact that Andy can change the system's operation over time so they end up with exactly what they want. Control Technology is pleased to be part of Parker Machine's success.