A magazine for packs of blanks includes a vertical channel configured for inserting and extracting packs of blanks, a succession of groups of supporting parts movable between a retracted position to allow the packs of blanks to move along the channel towards a portion under the supporting part, and an at least partly extracted position, in which the supporting part intercepts a pack of blanks moving down the channel and provides a steady support for the pack of blanks, and transmission means configured to automatically move each supporting part from the retracted position to the at least partly extracted position when the supporting part immediately below it intercepts a respective pack of blanks, thereby defining the steady support.

A bag supply system includes: a bag bundle delivery device moves bag bundles from a delivery relay position to a delivery zone; a bag bundle conveyance device which receives the bag bundles from the bag bundle delivery device in the delivery zone and conveys the bag bundles from the delivery zone to a supply zone in a state where the bag bundles are supported by a support part; a bag bundle takeoff device which holds the bag bundles supported by the support part in the supply zone and moves the bag bundles from the bag bundle conveyance device to a supply relay position; and a bag supply device which sequentially supplies bags included in each of the bag bundles arranged in the supply relay position, to a packaging machine. The support part moves along an endless track between the delivery zone and the supply zone.

An image forming system includes: an image former that forms an image; a stacker that stacks a recording medium on which an image has been formed by the image former and which has been discharged from the image former; a lifter that raises or lowers the stacker between a stacking position where the recording medium is stacked and a lower position located below the stacking position; a recording medium detector that detects the recording medium stacked on the stacker; and a hardware processor that controls driving of the lifter so as to lower the stacker from the stacking position to the lower position when it is determined that the recording medium is on the stacker on the basis of a detection result of the recording medium detector within start-up time from a time when power is switched on to a time of shifting to an image formable state.

A depalletizing machine for picking up and moving groups of articles, specifically bundles of blanks, includes a containing structure internally provided with at least one receiving area for a movable magazine containing one or more groups of articles. The machine also includes at least one access opening for allowing the magazine to be inserted into, or removed from, the receiving area. The machine also includes a collection zone configured for receiving a succession of groups of articles from the movable magazine and for moving the groups of articles towards the outside of the machine. The machine also includes at least one sensor configured for detecting a position of the movable magazine within the at least one receiving area and a pickup head configured to pick up groups of articles from the movable magazine and transferring them into the collection zone. The machine also includes a control unit configured for setting a predetermined law of motion for the pickup head as a function of at least one information item obtained from the sensor, regarding the position of the movable magazine.

A lifting apparatus includes a motor, circular support members, power transmission members, guide mechanisms, and electromagnets. The circular support members provide tensile forces to wires connected to a load. The power transmission members rotate around the rotation axis Ax as a center of rotation by driving force of the motor. The guide mechanisms support the circular support members so as to enable the circular support members to slide in a predetermined ranges along a radial direction of the rotation axis, respectively. The electromagnets forcibly arrange the circular support members using electromagnetic force at a position that the center axes of the circular support members agree with the rotation axis in the predetermined ranges.

Personnel saving of a process from a printer to a sheet processing machine is achieved. A general printing management device is connected to be communicable with a conveyance management device that manages a plurality of automatic guided vehicles each conveying a stacker in which paper ejected from a printer is stackable. The general printing management device generates conveyance instruction information for conveying a stacker in which paper ejected from the printer is stacked from a sheet receiving position of the printer to a sheet supply position of a next processing machine, based on job information in which a manufacturing process procedure for manufacturing a printed product is registered, and transmits the conveyance instruction information to the conveyance management device.

Provided is a stacker including a stacking shelf on which printed paper from a printer is received and stacked, a lifting and lowering mechanism that lifts and lowers the stacking shelf, and a stacker control unit that controls the lifting and lowering mechanism. The stacker control unit controls the lifting and lowering mechanism to lift and lower the stacking shelf to a first predetermined height corresponding to the printer at a receiving position for receiving the paper from the printer, and to lift and lower the stacking shelf to a second predetermined height corresponding to a sheet processing machine at a paper supply position for supplying paper to the sheet processing machine, the paper supply position being different from the receiving position.

A stacker device includes: a discharger that discharges sheets in response to a print job; a first tray on which the discharged sheets are stacked; a second tray that serves as a delivery destination of the sheets stacked on the first tray; a shutter that covers an opening on a front side of a housing; a driver that moves the first tray in an up-down direction; and a hardware processor that shuts off power to the driver based on a height position of the shutter and a position of the second tray in a front-rear direction.

A magazine for bundles of blanks includes a vertical channel configured for inserting and extracting bundles of blanks and a succession of groups of supporting parts distributed along the channel. The supporting parts are configured to support the underside of a respective bundle of blanks. More specifically, each supporting part is movable between an extracted position, where it projects from the channel, towards the inside of the channel, to intercept a bundle that is moving down along the channel and to provide a steady support for the bundle, and a retracted position, where the supporting part is aligned or recessed with respect to the channel to allow the bundle to move along the channel towards a portion under the supporting part. The magazine also includes, for each supporting part, an actuating device configured to promote the passage of the supporting part from the retracted position to the extracted position and controllable by an operator, preferably manually.

A bag supply system includes: a bag bundle delivery device moves bag bundles from a delivery relay position to a delivery zone; a bag bundle conveyance device which receives the bag bundles from the bag bundle delivery device in the delivery zone and conveys the bag bundles from the delivery zone to a supply zone in a state where the bag bundles are supported by a support part; a bag bundle takeoff device which holds the bag bundles supported by the support part in the supply zone and moves the bag bundles from the bag bundle conveyance device to a supply relay position; and a bag supply device which sequentially supplies bags included in each of the bag bundles arranged in the supply relay position, to a packaging machine. The support part moves along an endless track between the delivery zone and the supply zone.