Because of the high initial costs involved in conventional offset printing, up to now it has scarcely been possible to produce short print runs of books cost effectively. The trend here is clearly heading in the direction of smaller runs. In the end, publishing houses wanted to reduce their sales risks and book shops large and small wanted to reduce their inventory.

Many printed products, such as brochures, catalogs, financial reports, documents, instruction manuals and products for one-to-one marketing must also be laid out individually. Or they often need updating, for example medical textbooks, law books, product brochures, operating instructions, school text books and diaries.

Cost-effective short print runs are now possible
The new SigmaLine is the first total solution for Book on Demand, with which printed products can be produced cost effectively, even in miniature runs – from prepress data via digital printing to the finished, perfect bound or saddle stitched product.

The basic principle of this high-performance system developed by Muller Martini is impressively simple: the prepress data is continuously processed on the digital press. Roll-fed paper is printed on both sides in one colour, trimmed inline, as well as folded and finished accurate to the copy on an integrated perfect binder or saddle stitcher. The job data transferred from the prepress operation is used for setting up the entire system fully automatically.

Intelligent networking of all part processes
Digital printing has actually been around for a few years now. The intelligent networking of all digitized part processes makes new efficient solutions in the manufacture of printed products possible. Thanks to the SigmaLine, they can be manufactured in a single operation and with an integrated and continuous production line control system.

Setting the trend with this worldwide one-of-a-kind Book on Demand solution with industrial build quality for multishift operations, Muller Martini combines high levels of competency from the press and post press sectors. Thanks to its modular construction, the Book on Demand system also offers a high level of flexibility.

Continuous production line control system
At the heart of the SigmaLine is the SigmaControl continuous production line control system. All processes are controlled and monitored via a Windows PC with a touchscreen. It is also possible to operate single or partially linked machines. Efficient workflow is guaranteed thanks to JDF-compatibility.

Each product is printed in a sequence
At the beginning of the production process is the SigmaPress fully integrated digital web press. It is designed for process speeds of up to 450 feet (137 meters) per minute and prints each product in a sequence, in that the printing cylinder is continuously re-imaged. Industry-standard formats are used for image data.

The production line control system can handle JDF job data and coordinates all the processes in the line. The printing presses of various business partners are fully integrated into the control system. The Muller Martini system is open to all web-based printing systems. At drupa, the system was exhibited with the CR 2000 digital press from Delphax.

From the printing press to the perfect binder...
via the SigmaFolder signature folder, products then arrive at the perfect binder or saddle stitcher. The SigmaFolder, which employs high-performance folding technology, produces signatures with the highest precision.

The SigmaCollator servo-controlled gathering machine with automatic size setup which leads to the perfect binder can handle products between 3 and 40 mm. It guarantees interruption-free, continuous operation and enables the processing of book thicknesses that vary from cycle to cycle.

The SigmaBinder fully automated perfect binder can produce up to 1,000 books per hour, using hot glue binding technology with spine and side gluing. The SigmaTower compact cooling tower linked with the SigmaBinder guarantees the rapid cooling of books and drying of glues.

The SigmaTrimmer fully automated book block trimmer facilitates changes to the book format from cycle to cycle. It is capable of producing books in the size range from A4 to A6, with a maximum thickness of 40 mm.

As an alternative to the total SigmaLine solution there is also a partial SigmaLine for perfect binding. The Hand-feed station/Measuring station can be used to feed book blocks manually into the SigmaBinder or as an automatic transfer from digital printing systems for inline production. In the Hand-feed station/Measuring station book blocks are automatically aligned, measured and then synchronously fed into the SigmaBinder. The fully automated partial line (SigmaBinder/SigmaTower/SigmaTrimmer) can produce up to 1000 books per hour.

Partial SigmaLine as alternative to the total line.

...or to the saddle stitcher
The SigmaStitcher saddle stitcher is able to handle up to 6,000 stitched products per hour inline (or 10,000 offline). In inline mode, it has a continuous folder and a gathering unit, ensuring synchronized product changes. The flexible use of additional modules, such as cover feeders, sample gluers or card folders means a wide range of products can be handled. The saddle stitcher is equipped with a new type of selective stitching mechanism, patented by Muller Martini. The maximum thickness of finished products is 13 mm.

The SigmaLine from Muller Martini revolutionizes the Book-on-Demand market and opens up new market opportunities and prospects for completely new business models.