Exactly ten years ago, Luis Abril decided to apply the “just in time” philosophy to the book market and combine it with digital printing and e-commerce, which was quite a visionary idea at the time. That is why he founded Publidisa, a company that offers services to the publishing industry and has specialized in on-demand production of books and electronic sales.

From left: Susana Nuñez (Customer Service and Quality Control Manager), José Gálvez Giordano (Production Manager), Salvador Costa (Product Manager, Muller Martini Ibérica), Antonio Martín Guerrero (Operations Manager) and Lucía Fournier (Marketing Manager) in front of the new SigmaLine at Publidisa in Seville.

Impressive Growth
Abril's foresight has paid off. Just four years after the company was established, Publidisa reached the milestone figure of 10,000 “ready-to-print” titles saved in their system, and by 2009 the number of copies the company could prepare for printing in less than 72 hours increased to 98,000. These products can be printed at all partner production facilities in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina and the US.

“Our extensive knowledge of publishers' requirements and our continuous investment in the development of customized tools are important factors that have contributed to this strong growth over the last ten years,” emphasizes CEO Luis Francisco Rodríguez with a certain pride.

Optimizing Runs
Along with the number of titles, the customer base also grew, increasing from 100 in 2004 to over 1500 today. “Thanks to the Internet and our remote management system we collaborate with publishers from all over the world in our production operations,” says Luis Francisco Rodríguez.

It's no wonder that the online market leader Amazon is numbered among Publidisa's best-known partners. Its business model is a perfect match for Publidisa's print-on-demand philosophy. “Offset runs are often higher than the market demand,” explains Marketing Manager Lucía Fournier. “If all of the products cannot be sold, this results in hidden costs. We print the exact number of books the customer requires, even if it is just one copy. The run therefore corresponds to the actual demand.”

Long Search for the Right Solution
Until a few months ago the books and magazines, which are printed on a total of ten digital printing systems (five monochrome and five color), were processed in ultra-short runs on two perfect binders and manually cut with guillotine cutters. Publidisa has automated its production processes by installing a sub-line of the Muller Martini SigmaLine digital book production system, which consists of a SigmaBinder, SigmaTower and SigmaTrimmer.

“We spent a long time searching for the right solution and expect great things from the SigmaLine, which is replacing our manual machines and will therefore further increase production,” says Operations Manager Antonio Martín Guerrero.

Simple Operation
One of the key factors behind Publidisa's decision to purchase the Muller Martini system was the fact that its individual subprocesses integrate logically into the company's finishing processes. “Another reason,” says Production Manager José Gálvez Giordano, “was our positive experience using Muller Martini processing systems in some of Luis Abril's previous projects.”

As well as its high quality, productivity and reliability, José Gálvez Giordano praises the SigmaLine's simple operation. This helps to increase the workflow speed significantly as Publidisa prints in a wide range of sizes and the products are often personalized.

The line is able to change the thickness and size of each individual book on-the-fly at full production speed of 1000 cycles per hour. A sophisticated sensor system monitors and controls the coherence between the contents and the cover as well as the variable trimming.