The PowerSqaure 160 is the smaller sister product to the PowerSquare 224. It is an open-architecture system that staples, folds, forms and trims in a single pass and is used to produce square-backed books.

The machine, which has JDF/JMF compatibility, will be available as an inline, nearline or offline system. The modular system can include up to three suction-fed feeders and, in inline configurations, features dual-mode functionality for flexible workflows.

The device will be commercially available in the fourth quarter of 2016 at an expected cost around a third lower than the 224.

Watkiss communications director Jo Watkiss said: “The 224 is a high-end product that goes online with higher production printers but this is more of a mid-market. Apart from price, the big difference between the 160 and the 224 is that we use staple heads instead of stitch heads, which is lower cost and lower maintenance.

“The consumables cost is higher than wire so therefore you have a point at which if you're doing high production, you're better to stitch and if you're doing slightly lower production you're better to staple.”

Watkiss is also showing the 224 as well as the BookMaster Pro30, which is said to meet the increasing demand for short-run hand-fed bookletmaking, and the SpineMaster, which post-processes traditional stitch-fold booklets and transforms them into square-backed books.