The product incorporates the Ferag RollStream feeder and Kolbus's Publica perfect binder and is capable of achieving high net output speeds with fast makeready times.

Kolbus managing partner Kai Buntemeyer claimed that the RollStream Publica would set "a new yardstick in the production of periodicals" and that the process would be "redefined as a result of this new system".

The eagerly awaited launch is the result of a seven-month development process which saw technicians from both companies working hand in hand to harmonise the two machines.

Instead of a conventional gathering unit Ferag's RollStream is connected to the perfect binder. Signatures are formed into a copystream via mini-loops, transferred to the RollStream collector belt and gathered as separate sheets. Book blocks are then transferred via a newly developed pocket carousel.

Ferag also unveiled several other new products at the exhibition. Rollsert: an inserter for the newspaper market, which is aimed at small to mid-size circulation papers with a high number of inserts; Polystream: a polybagging product which is positioned upstream from the foil-wrapping process, and which the company claims can double net speeds; and the UniDrum gatherer-stitcher that has recently been ordered by both Polestar and St Ives.

Story by Simon Creasey at Drupa