News

As Drupa approaches, printers are feeling more optimistic than they have done for a while despite the global credit crunch, high interest rates and general economic gloom. The BPIF’s Directions survey for spring 2008 reveals that nearly half of all printers had raised their margins in the first quarter of the year – an upturn derived, in part, from improved efficiency and in part from extra business gained after a rash of printing firms failed in 2007. But as a basis for optimism, these facts are strictly temporary – the number of firms working below capacity was the same as a year earlier, while debtor days have risen to their highest level since the BPIF launched the survey six years ago. And the report also shows that in post-press, in particular, printers believe that the practice of severe price-cutting to win new business or fill capacity is on the up.

However, printing kit suppliers are gloomier than their customers. A strong euro, balanced on the back of the current weakness in both pound and dollar, has resulted in many European-based manufacturers feeling the pinch. In February, KBA marketing director Klaus Schmidt voiced the feelings of many: “We must accept that the total volume of orders placed at Drupa may well be lower than in 2000 or 2004, as a result of the current turbulence in financial markets.”

Nonetheless, print technology developments continue thick and fast, as Drupa will amply demonstrate: the quest to keep makereadies to a minimum and productivity to a maximum has driven plenty of post-press machinery designs. At the show, there will be a number of technology advances in post-press – the greater use of servo-motors for finer control and trackable production, for instance, and the greater level of operating and makeready automation. Both illustrate that in post-press, printers are still looking to gain efficiency to keep profits as high as possible.

This year’s Drupa will provide a good illustration of a trend that has been emergent for some years now: the polarisation of technology between large, high-output lines where the product is standardised, and smaller-scale, more flexible, specialised output lines. In both areas, automation is at its highest-ever level – mostly in on-the-run automation, but there are also increasingly high levels of makeready automation.

Flexible options
The move towards greater levels of flexibility is shown by, among other machinery trends, the increased numbers of combination folders (as opposed to buckle folders, often the architecture for more standardised work) being designed and sold. At Drupa, a raft of new combination folders will be shown, with high levels of automation and add-on devices for one-piece mailing, direct mail and value-added folding.

Since the last Drupa, adhesive binding has seen a steady increase in the numbers of jobs using PUR (polyurethane) in addition to, or instead of, standard EVA hotmelt glues. PUR binding offers several advantages over ordinary hotmelt, including its use for heavily-coated papers and extreme temperatures, and better layflat for the bound books. It’s also claimed to work better with digitally printed sheets, especially those from toner-based machines. Two-shot binding – where a book is given a first ‘shot’ of PVA and a second of standard EVA hotmelt for the ultimate strong bind – is also on the rise, with a handful of binders at Drupa advertising the capability for a two-shot option.

Digital print’s capability for producing highly personalised documents will be the focus for many at this year’s Drupa, and post-press manufacturers have kept up with the trend, with more optional features than ever before for secure document production, checking and matching. Expect to see plenty of machines and lines with optical document recognition capabilities, or with barcode, OMR or Data Matrix readers; some, such as Kern’s EasyMailer or Buhrs’ BB700, now have the capacity to check images or encoded information against a database, to ensure that all sheets in a set match, and that the document(s) also match their envelope. Buhrs, in fact, has thrown its hat firmly into the document integrity ring with a raft of dedicated inspection systems that can be retrofitted to some of its mailing lines.

Less in evidence than elsewhere in the print production chain, the environment is nonetheless a theme for post-press manufacturers at Drupa. Many manufacturers have considered energy consumption among their latest R&D efforts and the result is an array of machines that have been optimised for energy use, often by means of newly formulated consumables such as glues and films. Czech manufacturer Soma’s new wet laminator is a good example: the machine uses a two-part PUR glue that sets by chemical reaction rather than by heat, making it less expensive and more environmentally friendly to run.

JDF connectivity
Drupa will be only a small-scale showcase for JDF connectivity in the bindery. Despite the maturity of the technology – and its prevalence in the communications link between pre-press and the pressroom – JDF remains mainly unseen in the bindery. However, Heidelberg will be promoting the technology in Halls 1 and 2, where its new Postpress Manager software tool is being demonstrated. It will be shown linking guillotines, folders, stitchers and binders into a full JDF/CIP4 network, completing Heidelberg’s Prinect linkages between MIS, pre-press, press and post-press. “JDF connectivity could enable printers to access more real-life, real-time data,” says Heidelberg post-press marketing manager Mark Hogan, “and provide the hard facts to determine what does and does not make money, and where the real bottlenecks lie.”

However, not many other manufacturers have chosen to follow Heidelberg’s lead – with the major exception of small-format supremo Horizon, whose i2i NetWorkFlow theatre will be providing three daily presentations demonstrating JDF workflow in the bindery. Horizon has been fine-tuning the i2i system for six years now, and the latest version on show at Drupa includes the ability to write JDF profiles for non-automated machines, and full integration with the host MIS.

In finishing-on-demand environments, JDF isn’t entirely absent, but is certainly less in evidence than onboard devices for local, document-specific set-up. A new breed of print-on-demand technology will make its presence felt at this year’s Drupa: lines are beginning to incorporate information readers that are capable of setting transport systems, and all document parameters for true book-on-demand production. UP3i – the information format and protocol set up by digital press and finishing manufacturers to pass information between the press and post-press kit for inline and nearline production – is more to the fore here than JDF.

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POST-PRESS: ADHESIVE BINDING
CP Bourg
www.cpbourg.com
Stand: 13/B69
The manufacturer is launching a new version of its small-capacity adhesive binder, the BB3002, capable of PUR use. Impressively for a single-clamp machine, the BB3002 has a fully automatic set-up and can handle a book block thickness of up to 60mm.

Duplo
www.duplointernational.com
Stand: 13/B53
Duplo has a new baby adhesive binder to launch, the DuBinder, for short- to medium-run adhesive-bound books. A new closed design of glue tank is claimed to reduce glue waste and downtime by avoiding the need for draining at the end of each use, and the binder runs at up to 525 books per hour.

Heidelberg
www.heidelberg.com
Stand Halls: 1 and 2
Alongside its presses, the German giant will be showing the Eurobind 4000, a new 4,000 cycles per hour binder intended for larger commercial operations. Like most other new-launch binders on the market, the 4000 has a dual capability for PUR and standard EVA hotmelt. A drum feeder can handle individual sheet weights up to 350gsm, and the gatherer can run thicknesses up to 32pp signatures. The new Eurobind also sports an entirely new three-knife trimmer, a boosted net output rate of 95% courtesy of some ‘intelligent automation’ in both set-up and running, and a raft of options including criss-cross delivery, back-stripping and a PUR spine nozzle.

Horizon
www.horizon.co.jp
Stand: 13/B35
The latest-generation BQ-470jdf four-clamp binder will be shown – the new model, as its name implies, is JDF-ready, and is now available with a PUR glue option.

Kolbus
www.kolbus.co.uk
Stand: 16/C40
Kolbus is taking its usual tight-lipped line prior to Drupa, but the company’s penchant for showing new machines rather than improvements to existing machines is well-known. It appears that case binding will be the focus, with a rumoured new casemaker, case binding line and a perfect binder to boot.

Muller Martini
www.mullermartini.co.uk
Stand: 14/B46
Muller will introduce a new gathering line for its perfect binding range. The 3697, which was launched in November and already has one UK installation, gives a maximum production speed of 18,000 copies per hour and uses a ‘peel’ method of signature separation as well as an enveloping air-cushion to protect the book during transport. The firm will also introduce its concave raceway, which bends the signatures slightly to give them a stable shape for transport.

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POST-PRESS: COLLATING & BOOKLETMAKING
CP Bourg
www.cpbourg.com
Stand: 13/B69
A new bookletmaker will take pride of place on CP Bourg’s stand. The BME is configured with two modules: a stitch-fold unit and a front-edge trimmer. It’s designed for use with Bourg collators, and will handle paper sizes from 600x370mm at a top speed of 5,000 books an hour. Bourg will also launch a new feeding unit for transferring a stacked pile of collated sheets into its bookletmakers.

Duplo
www.duplointernational.com
Stand: 13/B53
Duplo has gone to town for this year’s Drupa, with a raft of new products including the mid-range DBM-350T bookletmaker (3,000 books per hour) and the independent sheet feeder DSF-5000 – the latter incorporates barcode readers and OMR facilities to allow a bookletmaker to produce selective binding and personalised documents.

SCS Automaberg
www.scsautomaberg
Stand: 14/D50
SCS Automaberg will be showing a number of bookletmaking devices on its stand, including an automatic inline single-knife trimmer; a trimming and perforating line working online with sheet folder and saddle-stitcher; the Corner Master round-cornering device for hard-cover books; and a corner trim unit for soft-cover books that can be connected to a three-knife trimmer.

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POST-PRESS: CUTTING
Perfecta
www.perfecta.de
Stand :17/A23
Perfecta will bring a full representation of its guillotines, variously featuring materials handling devices, in-bed waste removal and automatic positioning. All Perfecta’s machines now come with a 19in control screen and are JDF-ready.

Polar
www.polarsales.co.uk
Stand: 1/A02
Polar’s stand (part of the Heidelberg halls) will show incremental improvements in the art of guillotining. Extra-large-format work is now accommodated on the X and XT series guillotines, and new side- and front-flap airtables give easier operator access. The 176cm model now also incorporates the option for a tilting table and full cutting automation. Polar will also show a new jogger, the Autojog XT, and label handling machines.

Senator Technology
www.senator-technology.de
Stand: 14/A70
Senator Technology – the new(ish) name for Schneider Senator – will be at Drupa to show off its advances in the automated cutting race. On the stand will be linked materials handling peripherals combining to make a system that works “very nearly without operator intervention”, claims Senator.

The Challenge Machinery Company
www.challengemachinery.com
Stand: 15/B04-27
Challenge’s Titan range will be augmented at Drupa with the new 230 machine. Slightly confusingly, the 230 is a 584mm machine with an LCD display, 99 memory channels and over 9,000 cut positions are rolled up into a compact body that has the additional benefit of castors for mobile operation.

Wohlenberg
www.wohlenberg.com
Stand: 6/C11
The new generation of Wohlenberg machines will be launched, known as the High-Speed range, with a faster backgauge speed, CIP4 compatibility and an improved air cushion for easy handling and turning. The new guillotines are operated entirely via touchscreen, and Wohlenberg has moved the hydraulic unit that drives the clamp to the centre, underneath the clamp, to give even pressure across the clamp’s width.

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POST-PRESS: DIE-CUTTING & PUNCHING
Bobst
www.bobstgroup.com
Stand: 10/A04
Die-cutting leader Bobst is tight-lipped about what it will launch at the show, but it is known that the Swiss group will debut the latest generation of its Power Register dynamic registration control software, using photocell technology to reduce unplanned stops due to misregistration of die to sheet.

Heidelberg
www.heidelberg.com
Stand Halls: 1 and 2
Heidelberg’s new Dymatrix 145 CSB cutting, stripping and blanking die-cutter will be launched at the show. The machine is designed to sit with Heidelberg’s new Speedmaster XL 145 packaging press, and has a non-stop high-performance sheet feeder, and shorter makeready times; it can also be integrated into the Heidelberg Prinect workflow for fast makeready and operating data.

Masterwork Graphics
www.masterworkgraphics.co.uk
Stand: 11/D57
Chinese manufacturer Masterwork Graphics will bring to Drupa its new MK21060STE hybrid finishing line, which claims to be the world’s first die-cutter, foil
stamper and stripper in a single production line. The dual-platen machine is a B1 format and can handle any t combination of the three processes with speeds of up to 5,000 impressions per hour.

Saroglia
www.saroglia.it
Stand: 11/C16
The new FUB three-in-one die-cutter, foiler and embosser from Saroglia will make its debut: the automatic machine is a new version of the range first launched in 1970, and has a larger 620x820mm foiling area and a higher level of feed and delivery automation. On the stand, Saroglia will also take the wraps off a new laser-cutting machine, but no more details on this will be available at the show.

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POST-PRESS: FOLDING & FOLD-GLUING
Heidelberg
www.heidelberg.com
Stand Halls: 1 and 2
Packaging printers will be interested in Heidelberg’s new-look Diana X 115, now with fully automatic changeover, maintenance-free servo drive technology, and transportation and roller bar concepts for faster settings adjustment.

Horizon
www.horizon.co.jp
Stand: 13/B35
Horizon hasn’t traditionally been known for its folders, but the Japanese manufacturer is dedicating a significant part of its biggest-ever Drupa stand to new folding technology, including a version of its B3 range, the EF-35, featuring combination steel and rubber rollers for greater transport integrity and reduced marking; two new versions of the AF-406 pharmaceutical folder; a prototype of the new six-plate B2 folder; and in deference to the rising call for secure finishing for personalised products, a fully automated AFC-744 B1 folder with two CCD image recognition detectors.

MB
www.mb-bauerle.de
Stand: 13/A53
Showing off its credentials as the producer of some of the world’s most automated folders, MB will be demonstrating the PrestigeFoldNet 52, a fully CIP4/JDF-enabled machine.

Shanghai Purple Magna Machinery Co
www.sh-pm.com
Stand: 10/C48
MAN Roland’s new co-operation with Shanghai Purple Magna Machinery Co will see the group bringing to Drupa a range of heavy-duty folders new to the European market. The range will include the ZYS780 buckle folder with a 4/4/2 configuration and 10 buckle plates, and a B3-format ZYS560 in 6/4/2 configuration with 12 buckle plates. The Purple Magna offering also includes combination folders.

Shoei
www.shoei-folder.co.jp
Stand: 13/B66
The company will be showing a range of folders in formats from 560mm to 1,220mm, including an SRK74-4KTLZ with two 32pp knives; Shoei will also run demonstrations of the t SPK74-4KTTL with fully computerised set-up, and will launch what it calls “some advanced gluing solutions for booklet production.”

POST-PRESS: LAMINATING
Autobond
www.autobondlaminating.com
Stand: 11/A78
Autobond looks likely to score a first at this year’s Drupa with its embossing facility. The process involves using a special textured calendar roller to emboss special-effect textures into the laminating film. Also on display will be a new UV coater/laminator and a dual-function laminator/encapsulator, the Mini 76 TPE-H. The firm will also show its new Mini 76 TPM, a perfecting laminator with the ability to apply magnetic film on one side of the print while standard laminating the other.

D&K Europe
www.dkeurope.co.uk
Stand: 11/C57
D&K Europe will come of age at Drupa when it celebrates its 21st birthday with a showcase of products including the Proteus, the fully automated B1 thermal laminator, and the Jupiter, a similarly automated B2 machine.

GBC
www.gbcfilm.com
Stand: 11/D05
GBC’s offering will include two digital print-on-demand laminators, one for single-sided and the other for double-sided lamination in sizes up to 520x740mm. The machines will be shown working with GBC’s scuff-free and lay-flat films.

Soma
www.soma-eng.com
Stand: 17/B39
The re-specified version of Soma’s Lamiflex E wet laminator will be debuted at the show. The Czech manufacturer has shaved the laminator’s footprint and given it a new solvent-free adhesive system using a two-part polyurethane glue that sets via chemical reaction, so eliminating the use of solvents and the need for an energy-expensive heated drying tunnel.

Steinemann
www.steinemann.com
Stand: 3/D32
German varnishing and laminating specialist Steinemann is to launch its Syrius range of wet laminating machines at the show. The W model is a water-based laminator with automatically controlled dryer for reduced energy consumption, together with a two-drum system with separate laminating roller and large drying drum.

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POST-PRESS: MAILING
Beck Packautomaten
www.beck-packautomaten.de
Stand: 12/A69
High-speed packaging is the focus of the Beck Packauto­maten stand, where the company will show a number of new technologies, including machines for book packaging, t mailings and stacks of loose paper. These will include a new ‘travelling’ cross-sealing beam, about which the company will reveal no further details until the show opens.

Buhrs
www.buhrs.com
Stand: 14/C46
Mailing supremo Buhrs has a long list of product refinements to show off at Drupa. For its BB700 mailing line, a new channel input is promised, although as PrintWeek went to press Buhrs had not revealed whether the channel input was web- or sheet-based. There will also be a new barcode reader for the BB300 line, to check plastic card and carrier letter matching; a speed bump for the paper wrapping option on the hybrid 4000 polywrap/paper line; and a new high-speed inkjet system, the PPS-30K for personalisation, addressing and sorting.

KAS
www.kaspapersystems.com
Stand: 13/B07
KAS Paper Systems is to give an international launch to the new Mailwrap polywrapper at Drupa. Designed to fill the productivity gap between entry-level systems and high-output lines, the Mailwrap runs at up to 5,000 packs per hour and shares its feeders with KAS’s market-leading Mailmaster 465HS inserters, for extra flexibility.

Sitma
www.sitma.com
Stand 13/B37
Sitma will show the latest wrapping modules for its polywrap and enveloping lines, the 1005-BW and the 1150-FW. The former offers high performance with up to 15,000 cycles per hour and the option of inkjet addressing plus Sitma’s Tightwrap process that gives a tight package by stretching the film during wrapping.

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POST-PRESS: SADDLE-STITCHING
Osako
www.osako.co.jp
Stand 13/D04
Japanese manufacturer Osako is coming to Drupa with its first fully automated saddle-stitcher. Taking a leaf out of sheetfed press manufacturers’ books, the Tener Alpha has double-circumference feeders, and a foredge-first trim routine, which the company maintains produces better quality; the entire line runs at speeds of up to 12,000 books per hour.

Purlux
www.china-purlux.com
Stand 3/E52
Chinese manufacturer Purlux will be taking the wraps off its new Nova 12 saddle-stitcher at Drupa – the Nova has a top speed of 12,000 books per hour, and uses a camera-triggered clutched drive system to facilitate selective binding.

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POST-PRESS: MISCELLANEOUS
Horizon
www.horizon.co.jp
Stand: 13/B35
The Japanese manufacturer will showcase its new book-on-demand case-binding line. The HCM-1/HCP-1 is a part-automated, part-manual device capable of both casemaking and case binding, using Horizon-sourced pre-glued greyboards, in formats up to A4 landscape.

Hunkeler
www.hunkeler.ch
Stand: 14/A40
There will be a raft of new kit on the Hunkeler stand. This will include the Variweb Matrix Rewinder (for ‘smart’ label production), and a plow-fold module for the company’s online paper processing equipment. Hunkeler will also show its Universal module for making one-piece mailers, together with a sheet-end gluer, an offline mailing line with merge and chip-out cutter, and a roll-to-stack line for four-up production.

KAS
www.kaspapersystems.com
Stand: 13/B07
KAS is to showcase its new creaser at Drupa. The Crease Matic Auto50 looks set to pose a challenge to existing creasers, as it can handle up to 7,000 sheets per hour, at sheet sizes up to 500x700mm, and also includes perforating tools as standard.

Kugler-Womako
www.kw.kpl.net
Stand: 11/B62-C62
Kugler-Womako will be showing its new punching machine, ProPunch, and double-wire forming ProLoop. The punch can be used for different materials, including plastic, and has a new non-stop stacker to collate packs and send them to a transport belt for further handling. The 3,250 loops per minute ProLoop wire-former will be demonstrated with faster size changes and a non-stop spool change to minimise operator input.

Mariani
www.mariani-it.com
Stand: 11/C36
Mariani will show off its RPG 474 Robot palletiser, a four-axis system with a compact footprint. The machine has a flexible gripper head that can accommodate a wide variety of products including piles of books, loose items and thermo-wrapped or strapped bundles.

Palamides
www.palamides.de
Stand: 6/B03
Bindery ancillaries manufacturer Palamides is focusing on short-run solutions on its stand. Its ‘automatic delivery’ presentation will highlight the short set-up times, format flexibility and simplified handling that its delivery solutions offer for folders, saddle-stitchers and other bindery lines.