For the first time in Italy, complete in-line production of digitally-printed books was demonstrated. The open-house line at Sesto San Giovanni, near Milan, consisted of an unwinding system (for rolls printed by HP) and a Hunkeler cutting system, an MBO folding machine, a Palamides collator, Solema conveyor belts and a SigmaLine sub-line from Muller Martini with its SigmaBinder, SigmaTower and SigmaTrimmer.

Around 100 visitors from over 50 companies, among them all the renowned graphics enterprises in Italy, made their way to Sesto San Giovanni for a three-day open house at Muller Martini.

Simple change of size

“On the one hand,” said Bernd Volken, Director of Muller Martini Italy, “with this practical, fully-integrated solution we wanted to demonstrate how digitally printed books, even with a short run as small as a single copy, can be produced economically, and how simple it is to change from one size to the next without interrupting production.”

On the other hand, according to Volken, another goal of the open house was to help the visitors become more familiar with the individual components of the in-line system being demonstrated. “Many of our customers already have one or the other machine for digital production such as a folding machine, a perfect binder or a three-knife trimmer. We wanted to show them how to expand their existing systems into a complete line with just a moderate investment.”

Visitors to the open house used the opportunity to have in-depth discussions about the in-line production of digitally-printed books.

Overwhelming response...

The enthusiastic response at the open house shows just how much interest there is in this area today. Around 100 visitors from over 50 companies, among them all the renowned graphics enterprises in Italy, made their way to Sesto San Giovanni in spite of the very wintery conditions that are unusual for Italy. The result was bustling activity in the demonstration room at Muller Martini Italy during all three days. “We are quite positively surprised at how much interest our event aroused,” summarized Volken with visible satisfaction.

...and positive feedback

Many visitors were also clearly pleasantly surprised. “A very smart system with exciting technology and many interesting technical details; it’s ideal for today’s requirements in the digital printing market,” noted Claudio Arrigoni and Emiliano Pedrini, an engineer. Both are Technical Directors at Arti Grafiche Johnson in the town of Seriate, Italy, a company that is part of the Arvato Group. They especially appreciated that they were able to have detailed discussions with Muller Martini experts along with engineers from the various system manufacturers. “Such an open house is simply optimal for providing an opportunity to examine a single line in depth and dig into the technical details. At a large trade show such as drupa you can only get an overview.”

Time for discussions

This opinion was shared by both representatives from Centro Stampa Quotidiani (CSQ) in Erbusco, Italy: Dr Stefano Ceresa (Head of Marketing and Sales) and Francesco Quaranta (Assistant Operations Manager). “At drupa, one is more or less face-to-face with a machine, whereas here at the open house one is face-to-face with a person. You have a lot more time to discuss matters with various people and ask about technical details.”

Just like the book and appointment book specialists Arti Grafiche Johnson, the newspaper and magazine printer CSQ has not yet started to print digitally. “However, we’re watching the market very closely,” said Stefano Ceresa and Francesco Quaranta, “and at this open house we were able to see an in-line system operating live for the first time. It’s quite impressive what the line that was put on view can actually do.”

“The future is in fully-automated systems”

Michal Rejnowski traveled all the way from Poland to Italy just to become familiar with the latest developments in digital printing. “At our facility, various production steps are still done by hand,” explained the CEO of Totem, a five-year old company in the town of Inowroclaw, one that does its printing exclusively with digital methods. “However, it’s clear that the future is in fully-automated systems.” He was very impressed with how the line running at the open house was able to produce various book sizes without any interruptions. “That’s something I’ve never seen before.”

Stefaan Vanysacker was particularly excited about how individual components of the in-line configuration at the open house dovetailed with each other. “You need an optimal interplay of various machines for digital printing,” commented the independent consultant for the graphics industry, who came from the Belgian town of Oekene. “The solution being demonstrated here is a big step forward.”

The demonstrations by Muller Martini Italy were augmented with presentations about digital printing and digital finishing. In addition, at an information booth the many visitors got detailed information about the various modules in Muller Martini’s MMServices program.