The media representatives were welcomed to the Muller Martini stand by CEO Bruno Müller and corporate management member Felix Stirnimann. With an allusion to all the walking done by visitors at the drupa site, Bruno Müller introduced Muller Martini’s slogan of drupa 2012: “Fitness”. “Today’s market environment in the graphic arts industry represents a great challenge for all market players,” Bruno Müller said at the press conference. “Those wanting to be and stay successful need to be fit. They need to stay on top of their game and regularly adapt their performance to changes on the market.”

Media representatives showed great interest in the international press conference at the Muller Martini stand, where CEO Bruno Müller introduced Muller Martini’s slogan of drupa 2012: “Fitness”.

Click here for more impressions from the press conference and the second day at drupa.

By “fitness”, Muller Martini means the ability to adapt flexibly to market needs, to recognize market opportunities quickly and to make the most of them. According to Bruno Müller, that is very much in the spirit of Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”, according to which those species survive that adapt successfully to the environment, rather than those that defy everything and eliminate other species. “The structural transformation of the media industry is putting pressure on the graphic arts industry to change,” he noted.

“Take Even Better Advantage of Future Opportunities”
In the graphic arts industry, being fit today also means being digital ready. “Digital printing provides a multitude of opportunities to optimize production and to meet the needs of readers or advertising customers even more fully,” the CEO said. “Yet offset technology is also far from having exhausted its potential in terms of cost-effectiveness and quality. That is why, as the manufacturer of print finishing machines, we would like to assist our customers in taking even greater advantage of opportunities in both offset and digital printing in the future.”

Next Felix Stirnimann informed the trade journalists about the machines shown at the drupa stand and in what areas of print finishing Muller Martini is helping to make its customers fit for the future. “At our stand visitors will find a number of new machines and several systems that are used in traditional offset printing and have been further developed to make them digital ready.”

The trade journalists showed great interest in the SigmaLine, which consistently makes the most of the advantages of digital printing.

He outlined the advantages of the four machines unveiled for the first time at drupa 2012: the Alegro (perfect binder), the FlexLiner (newspaper inserting system), the FlexPack (stack formation system), and the Ventura MC Compact (book sewing machine), which can be operated by a single person. According to Felix Stirnimann, a prime example of how Muller Martini further develops its established systems to be digital ready is the Diamant MC Hybrid bookline, the ideal solution for photo books and on-demand production. “Motion Control technology ensures top quality from the very first book, which is vital for one-off production.”

Live Demo at the SigmaLine
Andy Fetherman, product manager of Muller Martini USA, then accompanied the media representatives to the SigmaLine and presented the fully integrated, total industrial solution for digital book production in more detail. The SigmaLine, which was launched at drupa 2004, has been continuously developed since, always keeping pace with the innovations of digital printing press manufacturers. The first SigmaLine has resulted in a fully integrated complete solution that manages ultra-short runs flexibly and cost-effectively. The journalists saw firsthand how graphic arts companies can make themselves fit for the challenges of today and tomorrow with a combination of the SigmaLine and the Pantera Digital perfect binder. “The SigmaLine makes consistent use of the advantages of digital printing and links digital printing and print finishing to a unique complete system,” Andy Fetherman said. That enables fully automated production in a single work process, from the PDF to the completed book.”