The AutoRegister, presented at last year’s Drupa, is now commercially available and costs from £36,000. It can be used with Kama’s ProCut range of die-cutters to tighten up on accuracy in cutting, creasing and other finishing operations in digital printing.

Kama originally developed the AutoRegister for its ProCut53 die-cutter for the common format of 530x400mm. But it has adapted it further to cater for other sheet sizes including the B2 format 760x600mm, ProDigi 76 die-cutters, and models that hot foil stamp.

"This has an accuracy of 0.1mm," said John Harrison, sales manager for the converting division at Friedheim International, which is the sole distributor for the UK and Ireland. "Sometimes trade finishers are asked to foil stamp an image and that image constantly moves."

He said in contrast to conventional post-press machines, which aligned the sheet along the sheet edges, the AutoRegister positioned each sheet individually based on the actual print image. The kit also costs less than any other alternative register system from competitors, he said.

"A camera detects small deviations in the position of the print image relative to the sheet edges. Servo motors correct the sheet position and move the sheet into the gripper with an accuracy of 0.1mm. Cuts, creases and finishing effects can now be applied very precisely."

Kama managing director Marcus Tralau said the system opened up new business opportunities in commercial print and short-run cartons: "Customers can now integrate the system into their digital workflow and get more value-added in-house benefits thanks to the new finishing options.

"Sheets which are cut after printing can now also be finished with the same high registration accuracy. This can mean significant cost savings in printing, especially when material utilisation is optimised with multiple blanks per sheet."