Spring Panorama 2014 by creative

The Magazine for Muller Martini Customers

Spring 2014

Print products can be made more attractive with augmented reality – on page 7 you can find out how to decipher the “word salad” on the front page.

15:37

52-01_panorama.indd 1

19.03.14 07:21

Editorial

Appealing to All Senses with Print Products Volker Leonhardt, Director of Sales and Marketing at Muller Martini Print Finishing Systems AG

E The content of “Panorama” is more than the sum of Muller Martini’s innovative solutions and installations. Our customer magazine is also designed to point to ways for you to increase the attractiveness of your print products and impress your customers. Along the value creation chain for printed communication, all players need to demonstrate and promote actively the many advantages of print in the media mix. Interesting opportunities arise precisely from the interlinking of different media channels. Print products can become the main point of departure for breathtaking multimedia communications experiences and provide direction in the increasing digital information overload. One promising technology here is augmented reality (AR), which we have covered extensively in this edition (see pages 4 to 7). AR is no longer in its infancy. International enterprises such as the furniture chain IKEA or the car maker Audi make clever use of AR to provide customers with information that is both exciting and useful. IKEA, for instance, enables customers to project a sofa into their living room using a combination of its printed catalog and an app on a smartphone or tablet so that they can see how it fits the room. For IKEA, it is an additional tool to prepare customers optimally for a visit to one of its 350 furniture stores. Audi lets potential buyers configure their dream car using AR and see it in detail. The

02-03_panorama.indd 2

user can look around inside the car at their leisure, see the lighting system in action and hear the purr of the motor. If users are impressed by the performance of the car, they are just one click away from booking a test drive at the nearest dealership. That increases communication efficiency, which is the ultimate goal of all marketing and advertising efforts. Providing the new technology is used to provide genuine added value, that aim will be reached. Publishing companies can strengthen the position of their titles as creative and unconventional advertising vehicles. Bauer Media Group, for instance, shows how it is done. Technologically speaking, augmented reality is a largely mature technology. New, higher-performance mobile devices will allow for further fields of application. One promising area is books, in particular non-fiction and children’s books. However, packaging and operating instructions also lend themselves to AR. Imagination knows no bounds. As many experts predict, point-of-sale communication will also change permanently as a result of AR. At first glance, augmented reality offers opportunities for printing plants to expand their portfolio towards printing and media services. Address the topic and show your customers and the market the exciting opportunities that AR presents for breathing new life into print products. After all, those who stand out from the competition acquire new customers and conquer new

markets. It is important for the end customer to get what they are hoping for. And that is the case with augmented reality – a communications experience that appeals to all the senses.

Kind regards,

Volker Leonhardt, Director of Sales and Marketing at Muller Martini Print Finishing Systems AG

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 06:48

Contents

Imprint

Volume 29 Muller Martini “Panorama” Editor Dr. Markus Angst markus.angst@ch.mullermartini.com Publisher Muller Martini Marketing AG Untere Brühlstrasse 13 CH-4800 Zofingen, Switzerland Telephone +41 62 745 45 75 Fax +41 62 751 55 50 www.mullermartini.com

12 In the past 12 years Jingyi Printing Nanjing has invested in nine print finishing systems from Muller Martini

20 Orbo Labels has strengthened its position as a trend-setter in the foil printing business with a VSOP web printing press

39 Hobbs the Printers Ltd. is the first graphic arts business worldwide to invest in a Presto II Digital saddle stitcher

Publication frequency Appears three times a year in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese editions. Reproduction with reference to source is permitted. Printed in Switzerland.

Forum Printing provides a window onto augmented reality

Softcover Production Runge, Oyten – net output has risen by 25 percent with the new Bolero Haishun Printing, Tianjin – the Pantera increases flexibility and value creation Jingyi Printing, Nanjing – an Alegro for jobs with larger runs

8 10 12

Services Pozzoli, Inzago – “The service package doesn’t come cheap, but…” Dataform, Grossebersdorf – when a machine ages…

15 18

Printing Presses Orbo, Kortemark – four letters boost foil printing

PERFO RMAN CE

neutral Printed Matter No. 01-14-629396 – www.myclimate.org © myclimate – The Climate Protection Partnership

Technology Grill, Constance – Joachim Grill has spent his whole career working with Muller Martini equipment 23 Saddle Stitching Systems H+B, Mönchengladbach – the Tempo 220 continues the high-performance tradition Tipolito Moderna, Due Carrare – the second Primera in three years Druckerei Albisrieden, Zurich – the new Presto II is digital ready

24 26 28

News

Hardcover Production Artron, Beijing/Shanghai/Shenzhen – three Diamant MC 60s at three plants 32 Prosperous, Hong Kong/Shenzhen – high level of automation compensates for declining revenue 34

Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

02-03_panorama.indd 3

Digital Solutions Bell & Bain, Glasgow – Fuji is already its third SigmaLine printing partner Hobbs, Totton – its fifth saddle stitcher is equipped for offset and digital

36 39

Newspaper Mailroom Systems Druckzentrum Penzberg – “We believe in printed newspapers” Athesia, Bolzano – a new printing press and a new NewsGrip-A mark its 125th anniversary

42 45

Interview British Industries, Kuwait – all print products are produced under one roof

19.03.14 06:48

Forum

Printing – a Window onto Augmented Reality One of augmented reality’s many fields of application is augmented print – a way for new communications experiences to be staged in connection with printed material. “Panorama” surveyed several countries and found some trendsetting examples of how print products can be enhanced using augmented reality.

E With a total circulation of some 210 million copies, the IKEA catalog is by far the largest print order that is perfect-bound worldwide by many Muller Martini customers. Despite the advance of electronic media, the catalog is IKEA’s key means of communication ahead of customers’ visits to one of its roughly 350 furniture stores across the world. And that, as the manage4

04-07_panorama.indd 4

ment assures us, will not change in the future. However, IKEA is looking closely into how to increase the catalog’s appeal. Two years ago IKEA began breathing new life into its catalog by means of augmented reality (AR), as a way of providing customers with a new perspective on its range in the true sense of the word.

Project a Sofa Live into Your Living Room Combined with an app for smartphones and tablets, the “x-ray” function lets customers open the sliding door of a cupboard, for instance, and take a look at the storage possibilities inside. And anyone wanting to check whether a sofa fits in their living room can have it projected live Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 06:51

1 The “x-ray” function lets customers see inside cupboards via smartphone from the IKEA catalog. (© IKEA) 2 Anyone wanting to check a table for size in their living room, can have it projected live onto the camera image of their mobile device via the catalog. (© IKEA) 3 With the new prototype of the American company Innovega’s iOptik system, users can view virtual content, while still seeing their actual environment.(© Innovega)

onto the camera image of their mobile device. With more than 8.5 million downloads of the app and 42 million visits to the 2012 digital catalog, the new technology has caught on. Some 600,000 visitors have tried out a virtual piece of furniture in their apartment via the catalog. IKEA stresses the importance of AR in providing customers with genuine value added. Gimmicks alone will not have the desired positive outcome, noted Maria Ekberg Brännström from IKEA, who is responsible for the production of the catalog, at the InsideAR 2013 conference in Munich last year. Vorsprung durch Augmented Reality IKEA’s adoption of augmented reality has played an important part in it going mainstream. However, some car manufacturers, in particular Audi and VW, have long been enhancing their print products with AR content. The Austrian service provider Card eMotion is overseeing the technical implementation for Audi and VW. Card eMotion’s Managing Director Clemens Kirner stresses that AR strengthens the positioning of tech-savvy brands. A good example is Audi with its “Vorsprung durch Technik” slogan. The company links a wide range of online and offline channels via the Audi link app, creating new communication experiences Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

04-07_panorama.indd 5

for customers in combination with brochures and advertisements. The features that enable customers to configure their dream car, far beyond simply changing the color and the wheel rims, are really impressive here. Not Just a “Wow” Effect For instance, you can choose between a coupé and convertible, and see using a smart device how the roof opens and closes. Or you can have the car speed across the screen in both daytime and nighttime conditions to see the lighting system in action. If you like the model, you can arrange a test drive with your nearest dealer directly from the app. “Such additional functions are limited with a homepage on a smartphone, so augmented reality is the optimal solution,” says Sergiu Ardelean, Creative Director at Card eMotion. He notes that QR codes do not provide the best user experience either. Card eMotion cannot comment on the success of Audi’s AR activities for contractual reasons. However, the fact that Audi is pressing ahead with AR internationally indicates that its efforts have gone down well with the market. Just as for IKEA, it is also important to Audi that customers are provided with genuine value added in addition to the “wow” factor. Portal to a Parallel World Augmented reality is the portal to a parallel world, as Israeli AR specialist Rafi Albo, founder and CEO of Segmarketing in Tel Aviv, puts it. Users are supplied with information that supplements their perception of their actual environment by means of real-time interaction.

A distinction can be made here between object-based and location-based AR applications – object-based applications promote development toward augmented printing by means of marker or image recognition, whereas locationbased applications typically function independently of physical objects. In general, the subjects are enhanced with invisible information, which can be thought of as a digital watermark (see example on the cover). Adverts with App Existing printed materials are usually used for augmented printing. The relevant app recognizes the image marker and creates a connection via the smartphone or tablet to the server (referred to in the industry as the tracking pattern), where the additional information is stored. Companies can fall back on existing app solutions such as junaio, Layar, Card eMotion and Wikitude, which enable the implementation of AR applications with relatively little outlay. Ardelean reports of one industrial customer who enhanced an advertisement with an app, including a landing page, while staying within a manageable budget. They sky is the limit when it comes to companies developing their own apps. However, many companies are sitting on a real data trove in the form of CD, vector and image data, as well as videos, which means that they have already established the basis for augmented reality, Ardelean says. He notes that the advantage for a company of developing its own app is that the functions can be tailored to the needs of customers, resulting in a more customerfriendly solution. 5

19.03.14 06:51

Forum

Publishing Companies Show Great Interest Market researchers from the English company Juniper Research, which specializes in cell phone apps, predict that the numbers of users in the field of mobile augmented reality will rise from around 60 mil-

Do-It-Yourself The publishing tool Metaio Creator enables publishing companies to link interactive content and media to their magazines with ease. The software adopts all complex configurations according to Metaio and performs the necessary conversion of content automatically. That makes the tool especially suitable for users who would like to update their content frequently and at short notice. The software processes the most common digital print, audio and video formats and provides the editor with a preview directly on the screen. Metaio Creator enables AR content to be made available in two ways – either in the form of an app specific to the publishing company or via the established junaio AR app. In the latter case, the content gains in reach directly thanks to the ever growing number of users of the mobile AR browser, without the publishing company being burdened with additional costs. Further information: www.metaio.de/produkte/creator/ overview

04-07_panorama.indd 6

lion at present to some 200 million by 2018. Global turnover generated using apps and services related to augmented reality is set to be almost EUR 1 billion in 2014, and is forecast to double within a year. That anticipated dynamic growth is due in no small part to the wide range of uses – from navigation through ecology and geology to architecture and entertainment, not to mention communications and interactive packaging. “There’s massive interest from the publishing industry – in Germany over 10 million magazines are printed each month that offer AR content,” says Daniel Gelder, Marketing Director at the Munichbased company Metaio GmbH, which specializes in AR solutions (see also box). Interactive Reader Posts The Bauer Media Group in Hamburg is among the pioneers of AR applications in the magazine segment. The media enterprise has supplied titles such as Welt der Wunder [World of Wonders], TV Movie and Bravo with interactive content since May 2011. “We know that our readers have a strong smartphone affinity. That’s why we decided to be the first magazine in Germany to use augmented reality editorially,” says Uwe Bokelmann, Editor-in-Chief of Welt der Wunder. That strengthens the company’s position as a creative, unconventional advertising medium, he says. Additional content such as background reports in the form of videos, interactive reader posts, quizzes and three-dimensional representations of complex image content are popular with readers, says Bokelmann. Augmented Reality at Point of Sale In the packaging segment, Lego began projecting the content of its packaging at

the point of sale in the form of 3D animations four years ago, enabling buyers to get a clear idea in advance of what the set would look like when built, and examine it from every angle. A kiosk system called Digital Box, containing a camera and an app for image recognition, was developed for that purpose. Since then, it has been relatively calm on the augmented reality front in the field of packaging and point of sale. AR as an Educational Aid Rafi Albo from Augmentricks, however, is convinced that AR in the packaging field is about to experience a breakthrough. Augmentricks is certainly hard at work on just that. Albo illustrates the direction that it could take using the example of a children’s shampoo. The label with the app from Augmentricks is scanned and launches a 3D animation designed to encourage children to wash their hair. Parents would surely appreciate such support. Albo also has other ideas up his sleeve when it comes to enhancing printed material, including books and games, with AR. AR gaming is a highly promising segment, he says. The platform Kazooloo, for example, provides a taster of how it is possible to play with reality (see the QR code at the end of this article). AR and the Printing Industry Augmented reality has the potential to expand the product portfolio of modern printing and media service providers and enable them to present themselves on the market as forward-looking and innovative. However, the technological hurdles to entry should not be underestimated. In addition to the technical challenges of implementing an AR app, the relevant content, such Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 06:52

Four Steps to Augmented Reality – Or How to Decipher the Word Salad on the Front Page.

4 Audi lets customers configure their dream car using augmented reality. (© card eMotion)

Download the SEGlive app via the App Store or Google Play.

5 The roof of the Audi Cabriolet can be opened and closed. (© card eMotion)

Launch the app. Focus the camera of your smartphone on the letters of the cover picture and hold it there for a few seconds … …and enjoy the surprise!

6 Lego began projection of the content of its packaging at the point of sale in the form of 3D animations four years ago. (© Lego)

as animations, 3D rendering and sound, also needs to be created, and most printing plants are not set up for that. That is why Elanders Germany, for instance, is working together with the Israeli AR specialist Augmentricks. “Printing plants today are industrial business that are absolutely streamlined for efficiency. That’s not the place for the creation of content,” says Albo, who supports customers across the world as a consultant and service provider. Print Acts as Important Anchor The current inroads made by Audi, IKEA and Lego into the field of augmented reality are just the tip of the iceberg. With a little imagination it is easy to picture how Google Glasses & Co. and intelligent

contact lenses could change our perception of the world in the future. And it is clear where the journey will head if augmented reality is also combined with a customer relationship management system. Yet whether that is what consumers really want is another matter. However, one thing is already evident today: given the increasing information overload, print will act as an important anchor in the future to point customers to offers in a targeted way. From adverts and posters to catalogs and packaging, in interaction with augmented reality print products will become highly personalized media, tailored to the given situation, that create the im pulse to buy.

Scan the QR code above for a taster of how it is possible to play with reality at Kazooloo.

card eMotion: www.card-emotion.com clemens.kirner@card-emotion.com Augmentricks: www.segmarketing.com rafialbo@segmarketing.com

6 Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

04-07_panorama.indd 7

19.03.14 06:52

Softcover Production

Runge’s Net Output Rises by 25 Percent with the New Bolero A new perfect binder for a new hall: the family-owned business Print Medien Verarbeitung (PMV) Runge has combined its move to its new and considerably larger production site in Oyten near Bremen (Germany) with an investment in a Bolero perfect binder from Muller Martini. “We’ve increased our productivity in the softcover segment by 25 percent,” says Managing Partner Kay Runge.

From left: Michael Runge (Technical Operations Manager), Matthias Kandt (Sales Representative at Muller Martini Germany), Harald Peter Runge (Managing Partner) and Kay Runge (Managing Partner) in front of the new Bolero perfect binder at PMV Runge in Oyten.

E PMV Runge processes a wide variety of print runs, from 500 to 2 million copies per title, for its extensive softcover range consisting of numerous (trade) journals, special interest magazines, annual reports, guide books, industrial catalogs, Swiss brochures and layflat books. Yet it also produces many high-quality products, such as special brochures for the au8

08-09_panorama.indd 8

tomobile industry featuring register gradation of the contents pages, that require highly sophisticated production. The numerous types of finishing include, for instance, eight- to ten-page (flap) covers. “We need a perfect binder that enables quick changeovers for our smaller jobs and also ensures the flawless production quality of our premium

products,” says Managing Partner Kay Runge. All-Round Machine Suits Product Range Perfectly Following a thorough evaluation involving extensive tests, PMV Runge decided on a Bolero perfect binding line from Muller Martini with a 24-station gatherMuller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 06:54

2 1 The Solit three-knife trimmer has played a considerable part in the 25 percent productivity increase in the softcover segment at Runge. 2 PMV Runge produces brochures with flaps cost-effectively in a single procedure using the Frontero front trimmer.

ing machine that can be loaded on both sides, a book block feeder, hotmelt and PUR back gluing, a PUR side nozzle, a cover gatefolding station, a Frontero front trimmer and a Solit three-knife trimmer. “This all-round machine suits our segment perfectly in this configuration,” says Harald Peter Runge who, like his son, is Managing Partner. In view of falling prices in the market, the senior partner is thinking not just of the high net output of the Bolero (a factor which is becoming increasingly important) and short setup times, but also of the machine’s great size variability: “We bind a very wide range of products with thicknesses of up to 2 mm and spine lengths of up to 510 mm.” AsirCode for Maximum Reliability After the first few months of operation, PMV Runge is impressed with how the Bolero, which was installed and operational within just four weeks, has satisfied its two main requirements. “AsirCode in the cover feeder especially contributes to achieving high quality, since it checks the correct sequence of signatures with 100% accuracy, which is naturally extremely important when you have 40 types of the same product,” says Kay Runge. “Thanks to loading the gathering machine from both sides, which means Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

08-09_panorama.indd 9

we can prepare the next job during one production run, and easy changeovers on the Solit, which in my opinion is currently the best three-knife trimmer in the market in terms of operation, we’ve increased our net output by 25 percent.” Saddle Stitching and Thread Sewing In addition to perfect binding, which accounts for some 80 percent of the company’s volume, PMV Runge, which employs 25 people, provides customers located around Bremen within 250 km of its plant with saddle stitching and thread sewing services, as well as upstream and downstream services such as trimming, folding, inserting and film wrapping. Postcards, CDs, booklets and merchandise samples (gadgets) can be affixed to the outer page of magazines with fugitive glue using a pick & place feeder on the Onyx/Rubin inserting line from Muller Martini. The company’s specialty are loose-leaf catalogs, whose spines are processed using a flush-cut miller and glued using a special hotmelt. The blocks go directly from the three-knife trimmer (for threesided trimming) to a fully automated punching system. The blocks are then piled down and fanned out. The special glue application detaches itself and the content blocks can be cased in ring binders.

PMV Runge also performs finishing jobs and corner rounding of brochures in house, as well as personalized distribution and index punching in cooperation with partner companies. 

www.pmv-runge.de 9

19.03.14 06:54

Softcover Production

New Pantera Increases Flexibility and Added Value Until now Tianjin Haishun Printing and Packaging Co., Ltd., which is based in Tianjin, a city of 12 million located 120 kilometers from China's capital of Beijing, outsourced the production of its books. By investing in a Pantera perfect binder with PUR from Muller Martini, the managing director Song Yunzhe has not only increased the flexibility of his company, but can also keep the entire value added chain for softcover products in house.

E Tianjin Haishun Printing and Packaging has made a name for itself with the production of softcover and hardcover art books, which focus on painting, and food packaging. The company’s own neat miniature museum displays the high-quality books that the company, which was established by Yunzhe in 1997 and now employs 200 people, produces mainly for publishing houses and business customers from Greater Tianjin, but also from other parts of China, Australia and Europe. In-House Print Finishing for the First Time Until now books were printed in house using four sheet-fed offset printing presses, 10

10-11_panorama.indd 10

but bound by partner companies. That will change this spring. For the first time in its 27-year history, Tianjin Haishun Printing and Packaging has invested in a print finishing solution, i.e. a Pantera perfect binder from Muller Martini with a 12-station gathering machine, criss-cross delivery, PUR book spine nozzle and an Esprit threeknife trimmer. According to company owner Yunzhe, there were four reasons for opting to produce softcover books in house in the future. “First, it provides us with quality control during the whole production process. Second, we can shorten deadlines considerably, because we’ll become more flexible. Third, we can reduce costs

and keep the entire value added chain in house. Fourth, we can now also bind our books and brochures using the PUR technique.” Ideal Solution According to Yunzhe, on top of Muller Martini’s excellent reputation, it was the PUR option, in particular, that tipped the scales in favor of the Pantera. “We print paper that’s heavier than 250 grams. PUR is crucial for binding that,” stresses Yunzhe. What is more, the Pantera suits the run range of Tianjin Haishun Printing and Packaging optimally. “We have an average run of 5,000 copies per title,” says Yunzhe. Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 06:59

“For that, we need a machine with quick changeovers and simple operation, so the Pantera is the ideal solution for us.” Gaining Experience for Hardcover The successful businessman became convinced that the new perfect binder suits his needs optimally on two visits to Chinese bookbinderies that already produce their softcover books using a Pantera. Shortly thereafter, he signed the purchase contract and will commission the new perfect binding line this spring. Tianjin Haishun Printing and Packaging will continue to outsource the production of hardcover books. “First, we want to gain experience using the Pantera,” says Yunzhe. “However, in about two years the time will likely be ripe for our own bookline.”

www.tjhaishun.en.alibaba.com 1 Song Yunzhe (right), founder and owner of Tianjin Haishun Printing and Packaging Co., Ltd., signs the purchase contract for a new Pantera perfect binder. Left: David Chen, Sales Manager at Muller Martini China. 2 The company’s own gallery displays the diverse products produced by Tianjin Haishun Printing and Packaging.

PUR Binding Increasingly Popular With the Pantera Perfect Binder, several binding techniques can be used flexibly in a performance range of up to 4,000 cycles per hour. PUR binding is now supported in addition to conventional hotmelt binding techniques; this is a key benefit, as PUR binding is becoming increasingly popular. The Pantera is available with the Amrys automatic make ready system, that allows reducing job setup and changeover times further. High binding quality is ensured by the precise monitoring of the glue temper-

Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

10-11_panorama.indd 11

ature and the glue level in the specially coated dual roller gluing unit. Movable glue trolleys ease the glue change process during production changeovers.

the perfect binder and gathering machine can also be used separately for different jobs.

The Pantera offers a broad range of sizes and a whole host of options, ensuring that a diverse range of jobs can be produced. With its compact design, the perfect binder provides a great deal of flexibility if space is tight. With an additional criss-cross delivery,

19.03.14 06:59

Softcover Production

Jingyi Printing: Softcover and Saddle Stitching Now Joined by Hardcover Over the past 12 years, Jingyi Printing Nanjing Co., Ltd., has invested in nine print finishing systems from Muller Martini, its most recent acquisition being an Alegro perfect binder in 2013. Now the successful enterprise of Su Zhao Chun and his wife Linda will enter hardcover production this year.

1 12

12-14_panorama.indd 12

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:00

1 “That’s where they’re going!” Company founder Su Zhao Chun (right) and Stephen Liu, General Manager of Muller Martini East China Region, study the layout for the Diamant MC 60 bookline and the VenturaConnect integrated book sewing system, which will be installed this year at Jingyi Printing in Hefei. 2 The compact layout also spoke in favor of the new Alegro perfect binder since space is tight at the Jingyi factory in Nanjing. 3 Su Zhao Chun (left), founder of Jingyi Printing Nanjing Co., Ltd.: “You can only be successful in our industry, if you’re close to the customer.” Right: Stephen Liu, General Manager of Muller Martini East China Region.

E With five perfect binders, two book sewing machines, two saddle stitchers, plus a Diamant MC 60 bookline and a VenturaConnect integrated book sewing system to be commissioned this year, the print finishing machine line-up of Jingyi Printing at its facilities in the metropolises of Nanjing and Hefei could easily pass for a Muller Martini showroom. Step by Step The company, which started out in 1994 with 14 employees, has been built up by company founder Su Zhao Chun and his wife Linda over 20 years to what is not the largest, but surely the most contemporary graphic arts business in Nanjing, with 243 employees. “We followed three main principles,” says Su Zhao Chun, explaining his successful business philosophy. “First, we wanted to grow step by step. Second, we have always relied on state-of-the-art machinery from world renowned manufacturers. Third, I always keep my eyes peeled in the graphic arts world and regularly look around at how printing plants and bookbinderies are producing in the US and Europe.” Printing Only Until 2001 The step-by-step approach meant that until 2001 Jingyi Printing focused exclusively on the sheet-fed offset printing of books, brochures and magazines, while the products were finished by external partners. Then the company also entered print finishing with an Amigo perfect binder and a 1509 saddle stitcher. Both machines came directly from China Print to Nanjing. “We wanted to supply our customers with better quality products in an Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

12-14_panorama.indd 13

even shorter space of time,” emphasizes Su Zhao Chun. Thirteen years later, Jingyi Printing has impressive figures to show for itself: Some 38 million saddle stitched products, 20 million softcover products and 700,000 hardcover products are produced in Nanjing and Hefei, mainly for the local market, though the hardcover products are still being produced externally (more on that later).

Alegro for Higher Runs The step-by-step approach also meant that the time was ripe last summer for Jingyi Printing to invest in a new perfect binder with a high degree of automation. Alongside average runs of 1,000 to 2,000 copies, occasionally going as low as 20 or 100, Su Zhao Chun has increasingly also acquired jobs with higher runs – as many as 800,000 copies per title in the case of his largest customer. “That prompted us 13

19.03.14 07:00

Softcover Production

Several perfect binders and the Ventura book sewing machine (from left) – Jingyi Printing has relied on Martini systems since 2001.

to invest in a higher-performance, stateof-the-art line,” says the company head. According to Su Zhao Chun, it was natural that the company decided on a solution from Muller Martini, i.e. the Alegro with a 15-station gathering machine (which will also be used to gather thread-sewn books) and a Solit three-knife trimmer. “We don’t tend to change machine supplier,” he says with a grin. Su Zhao Chun highlights not only the long-standing, friendly partnership with Muller Martini, but also the good after-sales service. And there was another key factor, explains Su Zhao Chun. “I like the compact line. For us that’s important because space in the city center of Nanjing, where we have our factory, is expensive.”

studied the hardcover market in depth and traveled to Europe specifically for that purpose,” says Su Zhao Chun. “I'm convinced that good margins can be achieved in this segment. That's why the logical next step for us is to produce hardcover products in house, which will increase speed and result in higher quality products. You can only be successful in our industry, if you’re close to the customer.” 

Addition of Hardcover The new investments of Jingyi Printing, i.e. a Diamant MC 60 bookline and a VenturaConnect integrated book sewing system, will be commissioned this year not in Nanjing, but at the company’s second plant in Hefei, which opened in 1998. “I 14

12-14_panorama.indd 14

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:00

15-17

Services

“The Service Package Is an Excellent Investment” At Pozzoli S.p.A. in the Italian municipality of Inzago, an Acoro A5 perfect binder and a Prima saddle stitcher run around the clock during the company’s five-month peak season. In order to ensure the high performance and availability of the two machines, the family business, which specializes in high-quality packaging for consumer electronics, the cosmetics industry and corporate design, has concluded a service contract with Muller Martini.

Pozzoli Managing Director Giacomo Rota (second from right): “Although the service package doesn't come cheap, we get something in return”. Right: Gianni Spessa (Production Manager Printing Division). Left: Matteo Cuomo (Service Manager at Muller Martini Italy). Second from left: Fabio Ferraroni (Sales Manager at Muller Martini Italy).

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

15-17_panorama.indd 15

19.03.14 07:02

Services

E When two sectors under pressure seek to establish a joint and successful business segment, creative ideas are indispensable. Pozzoli S.p.A. is proof that it can work. The packaging specialist is Italy’s first graphic arts company to make a name for itself with unusual print and packaging ideas for the CD/DVD industry, which is struggling with falling sales due to the popularity of Internet downloads. Exclusive Print Takes on Downloads Striking packaging and cases, interesting booklets and other print products such as posters, stickers and brief biographies are the only way to draw consumers’ attention to the collected works of well-known singers, bands or film directors. “To take on the electronic downloading of music and films, high-quality special packaging is needed,” says Giacomo Rota, Managing Director of Pozzoli S.p.A., which entered 16

15-17_panorama.indd 16

the entertainment industry segment four decades ago with vinyl LP covers. “Today, this field is about quality, whereas earlier we generated our turnover with quantity.” Acoro and Prima in Constant Use Pozzoli S.p.A. has used an Acoro A5 perfect binding line (since 2006) and a Prima saddle stitcher (since 1990) for CD and DVD booklets, whose runs range from 500 to millions of copies. Of those, 85 percent are perfect-bound and 15 percent are saddle-stitched. Both the Acoro A5, with a Merit S three-knife trimmer and an Easy Fly face trim machine, and the Prima, with five flat pile feeders, a cover feeder and six stitching heads as a special feature, are in constant use six days a week in three shifts from August until the end of the year. The company makes products for the Christmas trade during those five months, while the machines run in “only” two

1 Pozzoli S.p.A. has made a name for itself with unusual print and packaging ideas for the CD/DVD industry. 2 Naturally Pozzoli S.p.A. has also designed special branding materials for itself.

shifts from January to July. “High performance and availability of our machines is crucial, especially in the peak season,” stresses Production Manager Printing Division Gianni Spessa. Good Balance That is why Pozzoli S.p.A. has concluded a customer-specific service contract with Muller Martini Italy, comprising products from the MMSelect, MMImprove and MMRemote MMServices labels. “We keep detailed statistics on our machines so we are fully informed about the individual production Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:03

runs,” says Rota. That also means that Pozzoli S.p.A. knows what (ad hoc) support it needs to request from Muller Martini. “The service package, which doesn’t yet include any regular inspections, doesn't come cheap. Buts it’s an excellent investment since we get something in return,” says Pozzoli S.p.A.’s General Director with a grin. With 40 years’ experience in the graphic arts industry, he is an old hand. “We have an excellent balance between costs, services and results at the machines,” he says, bearing in mind the company’s bottom line.

aging for the cosmetics industry. “We see great potential in the cosmetics industry and want to keep our company growing with this new segment.”  www.pozzolispa.com

Valuable Tips by Phone “That’s why the telephone support is so valuable to us,” adds Spessa. “In addition to odd cases of resolving problems in the traditional sense, in most cases it’s a question of achieving greater productivity. The Muller Martini technicians can give our machine operators valuable tips that are equivalent to extra training. Our products are not only of higher quality than before, but also have to be delivered within much tighter timeframes. In order to achieve that goal, it’s important for us to minimize downtime so that we can make our products even more efficiently.” For years, the family business, which was established by Aldo Pozzoli in 1968 and today employs some 170 people, produced solely for the CD/DVD market, delivering to customers in numerous European countries. More recently, however, it entered a new market segment: luxury pack-

2 Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

15-17_panorama.indd 17

19.03.14 07:03

Services

When a Machine Ages ... Does reconditioning or a new investment make more sense? The comprehensive inspection by Muller Martini’s specialists of a 15-year-old Concept web printing press has provided Dataform Print in Grossebersdorf, Austria, with the ideal basis for a cost-benefit analysis.

Walter Erhardt (Print Production Director at Dataform Print): “After the inspection, we now have an ideal basis for deciding between reconditioning the machine and making a new investment.”

E “Like a car, a printing press needs to be serviced, because certain signs of aging appear over time,” says Walter Erhardt, Print Production Director at Dataform Print. “Unexpected occurrences can lead to increased downtime or lengthen setup times.” For instance, register or perforation accuracy can decline. Alternatively, certain spare parts for the electronics may no longer be available after so many years. “That means having to convert the machine either ourselves or in conjunction with Muller Martini,” says Erhardt. The longer a printing press has been in operation and the more hours of service it has under its belt, the closer it gets to its limits and the greater the risk of malfunctions. 18

18-19_panorama.indd 18

Inspection Featuring Tips and Tricks On Erhardt’s advice, the company, which was founded four decades ago, recently decided to subject its Concept web printing press from Muller Martini to a comprehensive check-up. The machine was commissioned in 1999 and has been in use since then, occasionally running six days a week around the clock. Using the standardized MMInspect inspection tool from Muller Martini’s service portfolio, the specialists submitted the printing press to a thorough examination, and also gave the machine operators tips and tricks on the fly for more efficient operation (in particular, for shortening setup times) and optimized maintenance. Muller

Martini provided the company with an indepth, point-by-point report establishing the condition of the Concept, as well as a detailed investment program (see also “Panorama” 2/13). Cost-Benefit Analysis “The quality of the inspection, which lasted a whole day, was superb and to a high professional standard,” says Erhardt and adds with a grin: “The results did not come as a great surprise to me, but we now have an ideal basis for deciding between reconditioning the machine and making a new investment.” The management of Dataform Print is currently performing a cost-benefit analyMuller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:05

sis. “Of course, that also takes into account our predictions and expectations for the future. Questions such as where the market is heading and how we will position ourselves in the future are key to our future investment decisions.” Similar considerations are also taken into account in Dataform Print's decision on subjecting further printing presses to an inspection. Austria’s Market Leader Dataform Print, which employs some 50 people, is the clear market leader in Austria for web offset with a total of six printing presses, four of which from Muller Martini (two other Concept printing presses and an A52). In addition to the continuous stationery still ordered in large quantities by banks, insurers and health insurance funds, Dataform Print also prints personalized mailshots, products with special finishing (thin plastic cards and integrated labels), tickets for major sporting events and newspaper inserts – perforated single sheets and other advertising products folded in size A4 or A5. “We’ve tended more toward commercial printing recently,” says Erhardt.

years ago we had a comfortable three to four weeks for a job, and were still considered fast,” recalls Erhardt. “Today we have between one and three days.” The 300,000 personalized and enveloped mailshots (printing, personalizing and enveloping) produced for a customer within two days at the end of last year to collect donations for the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines are evidence of Dataform’s quick reaction times, which Erhardt describes as the company’s “greatest strength”. 

Order Your Personal Investment Protection Program The extensive MMServices Life Cycle Management program from Muller Martini lets you react flexibly to current market requirements and ensures that your machine lineup remains profitable in the long term. With a customized investment protection program, the productivity of your equipment will remain optimal for as long as possible. Boost your profitability by making use of maximum investment protection – exclusively from Muller Martini with MMServices. Order your personal investment protection program free of charge by contacting ipp@ch.mullermartini.com.

www.dataform.at

“Print Needs to Stand Out” In addition to high quality, versatility is particularly important in this field. “Often our customers, including numerous advertising agencies, have ambitious ideas, which we then develop together,” says the production director. “There is often a fine line between creativity and implementation. However, in the struggle against the competition from electronic media, print needs to stand out, which is why close ties with customers and customer care have absolute priority for us. Our customers value the fact that we take care of the whole process chain personally and offer everything from creative services through printing to route-specific mailing from one source.” Much Shorter Turnaround Times In addition to creativity and quality, with high machine uptime comes another factor that is increasingly important. “Ten

In addition to three Concept printing presses (pictured is the recently inspected machine), Dataform also operates an A52 web printing press from Muller Martini.

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

18-19_panorama.indd 19

19.03.14 07:05

Printing Presses

Four Letters Boost Foil Printing By commissioning the new VSOP (variable sleeve offset printing) web printing press from Muller Martini, Orbo Labels, which is based in the Belgian municipality of Kortemark, has strengthened its position as a trendsetter in the foil printing business. Electron-beam hardening, which ensures lasting prevention of food contamination from inks, contributes greatly to the satisfaction of Orbo’s customers.

20-22_panorama.indd 20

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:06

E Four letters symbolize the success of Orbo Labels: LPDE. They stand for low-density polyethylene. LPDE foil feels softer and thicker and has lower density than traditional foils made from HDPE (high density polyethylene). What is more, it barely rustles. Thanks to these specific qualities, it is ideally suited to the packaging of frozen foods. Therein lies one of the greatest secrets of the success of Orbo Labels, which was founded in 1994 and employs 65 people. The area surrounding the company’s site in Kortemark is known for the cultivation of a wide range of vegetables. The numerous vegetable producers provided an ideal niche market for Orbo Labels. Next, firstclass suppliers of the highly challenging

LDPE foils and the right web printing press were needed for frozen food packaging. Switch from Flexo to Offset After entering the flexible packaging business six years ago, Orbo Labels, which has made a name for itself in Flanders and beyond and has customers in both the food and non-food segments, printed exclusively using the flexo method. “Our total printing volume is rising steadily. However, our runs for the various products were decreasing owing to the sales campaigns of our customers and increasing product variability, so we searched for alternative printing methods,” says Sales Manager Rik Pappijn. Orbo Labels found what it was looking for at Muller Martini’s Printing

Training Center in the German town of Maulburg. “We performed tests on the VSOP with LDPE foils of 30 μm in thickness, although we normally print on foils of 50 μm in thickness,” says Pappijn. “The results were perfect.The printing quality using the VSOP from Muller Martini is just as high as with rotogravure printing, with the difference that the pre-press costs with the VSOP are markedly lower than with rotogravure printing.” “We’re Experts in Foils” A few months after the successful test runs, Orbo Labels put its VSOP with six printing units and a flexo unit for opaque white and lacquer into roll/roll operation.

1 Some 95 percent of the products printed using the new web printing press are foils.

EB – Ideal for Foodstuff Packaging

2 The VSOP at Orbo Labels provides equally high printing quality as rotogravure printing, with markedly lower pre-press costs.

Electron-beam (EB) hardening, as used by Orbo Labels, is ideal for labels and packaging produced using web printing presses, says Bernd Sauter, General Manager at Muller Martini Printing Presses GmbH. “EB is especially well suited to foodstuff packaging, as the ink film is immediately hardened all the way through. The result is a high-quality,

3 The quick make ready is one of the major advantages of the VSOP (pictured is Orbo Labels machine operator Francis Steen).

2 Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

20-22_panorama.indd 21

low-odor and low-migration print product, manufactured under reliable production conditions, without the use of photoinitiators or the emission of pollutants.”

3 21

19.03.14 07:06

Printing Presses

Faster format changes: Thanks to sleeve technology, print sizes on the VSOP can be changed easily without entire printing inserts having to be exchanged.

Currently, 95 percent of the products printed using the new web printing press are foils. An increasing number of companies rely on the considerable expertise of the Belgian foil specialist, whether it be in duplex or triplex laminates, which are increasingly in demand because of prevention of migration, printing on polyester or color sealing by means of OPP (oriented polypropylene) foils. “We have received a 22

20-22_panorama.indd 22

lot of positive feedback from our customers and are continuing to strengthen our position in this market segment,” says Pappijn with pride. “EB Is the Perfect Solution” Orbo Labels, which leaves the sleeves and in-mold business to other printing plants, is currently only using four of its six VSOP printing units. “We can produce all our products using the four process colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black so we don’t need any specific Pantone colors,” says the Sales Manager. “That means we never need to wash our printing units, which saves us a lot of time, as do the quick changeovers between the various sizes thanks to the convenient operation of the VSOP.” Orbo Labels, which also uses six label printing presses, two digital printing presses and a flexo printing press and has British Retail Consumer certification, benefits from two other key advantages of the new web printing press, in addition to the high printing quality and the quick make ready.

E First, the large roll width of 850 mm, which provides a high degree of flexibility and productivity. E Second, drying using electron beams (see also box on page 21). “I consider EB the perfect solution, since it prevents contamination and smells,” says  Pappijn.

www.orbolabels.be Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:06

23-23

Technology

A Whole Career Spent Working with Muller Martini Equipment A JGV saddle stitcher from Muller Martini manufactured in 1966 served the Grill bookbindery in the German city of Constance reliably for 29 years on a daily basis. After closing his business at the end of 2013, Joachim Grill sold the old-timer and is convinced that “it will keep on running for another 30 years.” E Grill spent his whole career working with print finishing systems from Muller Martini. Even before setting up his own business, he operated saddle stitchers and perfect binders from the Swiss machine manufacturer. When he set up his own bookbindery in 1984 with his wife Barbara, it was clear to him that only a Muller Martini saddle stitcher would do. He opted for a secondhand JGV manufactured in 1966 and featuring six feeders, which he used to stitch A4 and A5 magazines with runs of between 300 and 100,000 copies for numerous printing plants from the Greater Constance area and neighboring Switzerland for 29 years. “I always very much enjoyed working with the JGV, because it not only worked reliably, but also ran practically all by it-

self. Pre-gathering, in particular, was very simple.” “Certainly No Need for Major Repairs” To keep the saddle stitcher in good condition over the years, Grill not only lubricated and oiled it regularly, but also used only original spare parts from Muller Martini, including stitching heads. The meant that he experienced no major faults over three decades. “Occasionally I had to replace a ball bearing or a drive belt,” says the bookbinding expert. “But there was certainly no need for major repairs. This machine is so robust, you could repair it with a hammer!” It was hardly surprising that Grill, after closing his business at the end of 2013, easily found a buyer for his old-timer

through a machine dealer. “The JGV kept on producing high-quality magazines throughout, so it would be a shame to throw it on the scrapheap. I’m convinced that it will keep on running for another 30 years.” 

1 Joachim Grill at his saddle stitcher oldie: “I always very much enjoyed working with the JGV.” 2 Joachim and Barbara Grill relied for 29 years on a JGV saddle stitcher. Right: Peter Stein, Sales Manager at Muller Martini Germany.

1 Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

23-23_panorama.indd 23

2 23

19.03.14 07:07

Saddle Stitching Systems

H+B Opts for Proven High-Performance Technology with the Tempo 220 In order to be able to stitch increasingly complex, million-copy jobs containing up to four inserts even faster and more flexibly to meet increasingly tight delivery deadlines, H+B Finishing GmbH & Co. KG in Mönchengladbach, Germany, has invested in a Tempo 220. That continues the company’s tradition of using high-performance saddle stitchers from Muller Martini. E H+B Finishing stitches around 200 million products annually, which are printed by its partner company TSB in the same industrial park using six rotogravure presses, and by other printing partners. According to Managing Director Thomas Horn, the volumes of the various magazines and advertising brochures, which are predominantly from the commercial printing market (in particular mail-order firms) have declined slightly since the company was established. However, the total annual number of copies has remained constant in recent years, despite increasing competition from electronic media. 24

24-25_panorama.indd 24

Route-Specific Mailing H+B Finishing not only stitches the various titles, whose average run is around one million copies, but also takes care of their route-specific mailing. The company, which employs 13 permanent employees in threeshift operation and up to 50 temporary workers a day depending on the job situation, is also part certified by the French mail service (La Poste). The complexity of the jobs has grown continuously in recent years, says Horn. “With our massive volumes, it’s a major challenge to deliver the right quantities to the right location within deadlines set by customers, while also ensuring high quali-

ty, since customer service is highly important at our company.” Such complex jobs, containing up to four inserts, today need to be processed even faster and more flexibly due to increasingly tight delivery deadlines. H+B Finishing has therefore installed a new Tempo 220 in addition to its two existing high-performance Tempo saddle stitchers from Muller Martini. Exchange of Experiences with HeiRa “Exchange of experiences with HeiRa is very important to us,” says Horn. “Peter Dickler, Technical Director at HeiRa is an expert in high-performance saddle stitchMuller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:08

1 Thomas Horn (left), Managing Director of H+B Finishing: “The short make-ready times of the Tempo 220 enable us to produce even relatively short runs cost-effectively.” Right: Reinhold Achtner, Sales Manager at Muller Martini Germany. 2 The new Tempo 220 barely has any downtime, which makes it far easier for H+B to plan. 3 Automatic log feeding by means of stream feeders ensures the high net production of all of the three high-performance saddle stitchers at H+B. 4 The complete Tempo 220 line also has an addressing unit from Sitma.

5 H+B inserts up to four inserts per product using a Muller Martini Integro inserting machine with a Twinfeeder and suction and sword opening.

ers, whose phenomenal know-how rests on many years of experience. He knows the machines back to front.” Easier Planning Horn is impressed not just by the complete line, but also by an additional aspect of the Tempo 220 that is of considerable importance to H+B: “Unlike earlier, we now also stitch relatively short runs. The short makeready times of the Tempo 220 enable us to produce even such jobs cost-effectively.” The Managing Director also emphasizes the benefits of the high degree of availability of all three Tempo machines, in particular the 220: “We have virtually no downtime and can run all jobs at the same speed, which makes it far easier for us to plan.” Comprehensive Line The new Tempo 220 line at H+B features six feeders (which can be loaded using stream feeders), a merchandise tipper, automatic signature image recognition Asir 3 signature control, an Integro inserting machine with a Twinfeeder as well as suction and sword opening, a Sitma addressing unit, a Robusto compensating stacker equipped with Amrys and a bundle blocking unit. In-between the saddle stitcher and the Integro , a NewsGrip with an adjacent turnover belt to turn the products

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

24-25_panorama.indd 25

ensures a higher level of flexibility during addressing. A large split run edition of the highest circulation, monthly customer magazine in Germany is among the products stitched using the line. The magazine has at least 100 pages and features up to four inserts – which is one of the reasons why H+B decided in favor of a tandem feeder for its Integro. 

www.hbfinishing.de

19.03.14 07:08

Saddle Stitching Systems

“Congratulations on This Bold Investment in the Future” Tipolito Moderna Industria Grafica’s first Primera from Muller Martini was commissioned three years ago, and is now joined by its second on the company’s 35th anniversary.

E Located in Due Carrare in the northern Italian province of Padua, Tipolito Moderna has doubled its volume of saddle stitching jobs within just three years – no mean feat especially in the current climate! So what is it that makes Tipolito Moderna stand apart? Franco Volpin, who founded the company in 1979 together with Pierluigi Nucibella, speaks with reserve despite the highly pleasing business figures: “We have a 26

26-27_panorama.indd 26

good name in the industry, offer an excellent service to our customers all across Northern Italy and are known for our top quality and timely delivery.” A Second Primera On the back of the strong increase in jobs in all areas of saddle stitching (“We cover a large product range, with runs of 50 to several million copies,” says Volpin), Tipolito Moderna has allowed itself a gift for its

35th anniversary. In addition to a new MBO joint forming machine with Palamides delivery and a new trimming line, the company has installed a new Primera with six flat pile feeders, a cover feeder and a Pratico compensating stacker to replace an older Presto. This is the first Primera of the latest Muller Martini saddle stitcher generation in Italy, but not Tipolito Moderna’s first Primera – in 2011 the company commissioned Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:09

a Primera C130 with four flat pile feeders, a cover feeder and a Pratico. High Net Output In addition to its positive experience of the first model and the improved energy ratings and lower noise level of the new Primera – the company has also shown its commitment to the environment by installing a PIAFF venting system, which means that air pumps are no longer necessary in any of the machines – Volpin also underlines other key reasons for investing in a second

saddle stitcher from Muller Martini: “We’re impressed by the quick job changeover times (we have more than seven changeovers per shift), the high net output and the wide range of paper types and sizes that we can process. We can also exchange the feeders between the two Primera machines depending on the job in question, and the machine operators benefit from synergy effects.” The co-owner and Managing Director also emphasizes the excellent quality of the end products. That was something that

many customers could experience for themselves during an event at Tipolito Moderna (whose name sums up the company’s approach). “They included some major customers, who were particularly impressed by our state-of-the-art print finishing lineup and congratulated us on our bold investment in the future,” says Volpin. The two Primera machines, which run in two shifts, are used both to wire-stitch products that are printed in house and, increasingly, to perform jobs for printing plants that do not have their own print finishing facilities. Thanks to its greater machine capacity, the company has further strengthened its position as a reliable partner of printshops, stresses Volpin. 

www.tipolitomoderna.com

1 Franco Volpin, co-founder, co-owner and Managing Director of Tipolito Moderna (center): “We’re impressed by the short job changeover times, the high net output and the wide range of paper types and sizes that we can process using the Primera.” Left: Francesco Bertuzzo. Right: Fabio Casale (both Sales Managers at Muller Martini Italy). 2 Tipolito Moderna exchanges the feeders between the two Primera machines depending on the job in question. 3 Tipolito Moderna covers a large product range in saddle stitching with the two Primeras.

3 Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

26-27_panorama.indd 27

19.03.14 07:09

Saddle Stitching Systems

DAZ’s New Saddle Stitcher Is Digital Ready Druckerei Albisrieden Zürich (DAZ) has installed a new Presto II from Muller Martini to replace a saddle stitcher 221, which was built in 1978 and ran flawlessly throughout. “Now we not only have greater flexibility, but have also enhanced the quality of our print products thanks to the tWinScore scoring wheel in the cover folder feeder,” says Managing Director Wendelin Lipp.

E “The saddle stitcher still ran impressively, but extensive reconditioning of the machine wouldn’t have made sense economically.” When Lipp, who is the Managing Director and owner of DAZ along with Caroline Hüsler and Reto Hauri, talks about Muller Martini’s saddle stitcher 221, his enthusiasm becomes clear. Installed in 1997 as a second-hand machine with six feeders and 19 years of service under its belt, it was high on the list at DAZ in terms of return on investment. “We made good

money with that saddle stitcher for many years,” says Lipp. Scoring Is Key The company, which was founded in 1947 and employs 30 people across the printing spectrum with pre-press, four printing presses (three sheet-fed offset printing presses and one HP Indigo Digital printing press) and print finishing, parted with its “old timer” with a heavy heart. Apart from its age, there were two important technical

reasons for the switch. First, the saddle stitcher 221, which was regularly maintained over the years, did not have a cover folder feeder. Second, the separate folding of the covers that became necessary as a result was unable to fully satisfy increasing demands of scoring quality. That was a particular challenge for DAZ, because A4 and A5 brochures in the highquality segment for SMEs, financial services providers and agencies, mainly with runs of 1,000 to 1,500 copies, are a key fo-

1 28

28-29_panorama.indd 28

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:10

1 From left: Reto Hauri (Managing Director), Sven Aregger (Print Finishing), Antonia Mancini (Print Finishing) and Wendelin Lipp (Managing Director) in front of the new Presto II saddle stitcher at DAZ in Zurich.

2 DAZ stitches digital and offset print products using the Presto II. 3 The cover folder feeder of the new Presto II provides maximum scoring quality thanks to the integrated tWinScore. 4 The saddle stitcher 221, which was built in 1978 and installed at Druckerei Albisrieden Zürich in 1997, made way for its successor after 35 years in service.

cus of its production, which otherwise covers the entire printing range. tWinScore for Optimal Scoring Quality For that reason, the saddle stitcher 221 made way for a new Presto II from Muller Martini in spring 2012. In addition to three twin feeders and a hand station, the new Presto II features a cover folder feeder with an integrated tWinScore, making it the ideal tool for maximum scoring quality. Its design features a scoring wheel with a groove forming a W shape, so that covers receive two scores extremely close to each other. Even when processing a wide range of cover types and grammages, the paper fibers are barely damaged, and it also keeps the fibers from tearing. “We’ve become much more flexible and can produce more efficiently and faster,” says Lipp. “We don’t need to process the same sizes together like before, and can instead switch between different sizes without time-consuming offline scoring of the covers. The saving in time compared to the predecessor model is more than 50 percent during changeovers, which is massive.” Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

28-29_panorama.indd 29

Equipped for the Future According to Lipp, the Presto II also brings another advantage, which spoke in favor of investing in a brand-new machine despite a good offer for a second-hand Presto: “We have also offered digital printing in the high-end segment for almost ten years, so it naturally makes sense for our new print finishing systems to be digital ready. I’m convinced that the proportion of digitally printed products will also increase in the brochure segment in the coming years.” DAZ gathers digitally printed signatures using the Presto II if the number of copies exceeds 150. “We gather the signatures manually for up to 150 copies," says Wendelin Lipp. "But once the number is higher than that, we turn to our new saddle stitcher, because it’s so quick to set up.” Golden Age Is Over, But ... Though Wendelin Lipp is convinced that the golden age of the graphic arts industry is over and is not set to return, he believes that “the new circumstances also offer good opportunities if you focus on customers and make the right investments”.

espite extensive optimization of the D means of production, it is clear to Lipp, who holds a degree in economics and has been with DAZ since 1996, “that we primarily have to control our internal workflows in order for our production to be profitable.” 

www.daz.ch 29

19.03.14 07:10

News from M uller Martini

Muller Martini at Druckforum (Printing Forum) in Filderstadt: Fit for the Future with Modular Systems

Adrian Mayr, Muller Martini Product Management Director at the Druckforum (Printing Forum) in Filderstadt: “Modular systems from Muller Martini, which are digital ready, provide customers with a particularly high degree of investment protection.”

From structural change through industry crisis to media revolution, the media industry is in flux, just as it has always been. With an exciting presentation, Muller Martini showed at Druckforum (Printing Forum) in Filderstadt, Germany, how graphic arts businesses can position themselves

optimally for the future in times of great change. “The first media crisis dates back some 500 years,” pointed out Jürgen Bender, Managing Director of Muller Martini Germany, in his introductory remarks. “At that time Johannes Gutenberg began the mass production of the

New High-Performance Saddle Stitcher: HeiRa Continues to Gather Pace Its first Tempo, commissioned in spring 1997, served HeiRa GmbH, which is located in the German town of Gernsheim and specializes in the print finishing of consumer magazines, company catalogs and inserts, reliably for almost 17 years in three-shift op-

HeiRa owner Klaus Heist (second from right), with the three Muller Martini representatives Hans Leuenberger, Sales Manager for Switzerland, Daniel Langenegger, Member of the Corporate Management, and Reinhold Achtner, Sales Manager for Germany (from left), in front of the Tempo 220.

30-31_panorama.indd 30

eration. It stitched over a billion magazines with an average annual output of 65 million copies, operating with an output of 400,000 copies on peak days. Yet even the most reliable machine begins to show signs of aging over time, so HeiRa has replaced the Tempo, which company owner Klaus Heist has dubbed a “do-it-all machine” owing to its ideal compromise between speed and flexibility, with a Tempo 220. Heist has three objectives in mind with the new high-performance saddle stitcher from Muller Martini: “First, it will enable us to increase our net output. Second, we will optimize the end quality of our products thanks to the numerous quality checks. Third, we will increase our competitiveness in a market where value creation has fallen in recent years.”

Bible using moveable type and countless copyists in the cloisters feared for their future. Nevertheless, the handwritten book remained a popular product and status symbol for centuries.” Similar fears have been associated with newspapers, whose death was forecast in the early 20th century when radio came on the scene, and it was thought that radio, in turn, would be shown the door by television. The fact is that these media all still exist, but in changed forms. “The Internet is not supplanting print products, though the existence of major changes cannot be denied,” said Bender. This forces the graphic arts industry to reinvent itself.” He said with conviction: “Those who adapt to the changes and react and take appropriate action have a future”. Adrian Mayr, Product Management Director at Muller Martini, addressed this topic in his presentation titled “Fit for the Digital Future with Modular Systems” at

the Druckforum. Muller Martini places great importance on modularity when developing its print finishing solutions, i.e. on systems enabling print finishing of both conventionally and digitally printed products. “That’s why modular systems from Muller Martini, which are digital ready, provide customers with a particularly high degree of investment protection,” stressed Mayr.

Order our white paper on “Print Finishing of Offset and Digitally Printed Signatures” (in German or English) by contacting presse@mullermartini.com.

Oberndorfer Druckerei (Austria) Invests in New Corona C15 Perfect Binder Oberndorfer Druckerei GmbH, located near Salzburg (Austria), will strengthen its position in the market by investing in a Corona C15 perfect binding line from Muller Martini. The printing plant is a member of the CirclePrinters Group, Europe’s largest independent printing and media enterprise. Oberndorfer Druckerei chiefly prints magazines and catalogs. According to a press release on its website, it anticipates the new equipment to provide a double-digit increase in its productivity. In addition to the Corona C15 with a 12-station gathering machine and an Orbit three-knife trimmer, the company will also commission two Sitma components this summer for inserting inserts, personalized labeling, shrink wrapping and welding at 15,000 cycles per hour. Two state-of-the-art Segbert palletiz-

Oberndorfer Druckerei anticipates the new Corona C15 perfect binding line to provide a double-digit increase in its productivity. ers with mail sorting capabilities will complete the new line. “This equipment allows any finished product from 4 to 88 pages and therefore represents one of the most complete offerings in the industry,” says CirclePrinters. “Additionally, CirclePrinters operates a complete binding and finishing unit including perfect binding, saddle stitching, shrink wrapping, inserting, inkjet personalization. Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:11

Representatives of Singapore’s graphic arts industry take a keen interest in the demonstration of the Presto II Digital saddle stitcher at Muller Martini’s Print Finishing Center in Zofingen.

Singaporean Printers Take a Glimpse Behind the (Digital Printing) Scenes in Europe Eleven representatives of Singapore’s graphic arts industry saw for themselves in Switzerland, Germany and England how offset and digitally printed products can be finished efficiently and cost-effectively. Those present included Dean Chong, Vice President of the Print Media Association Singapore (PMAS), Jason Ong, Executive Director of PMAS, two representatives of SPRING Singapore (Singapore Government Agency) and top managers from a number of leading Singaporean printing plants. The delegation from the Asian city-state visited several graphic arts companies to talk with the owners about attractive business models and current challenges in combined offset and digital printing, including one of Muller Mar-

tini’s Swiss customers, Publikation Digital, which has a unique complete system for the fully automated production of softcover books, i.e. the SigmaLine. The three Muller Martini experts Enrico Farinacci, Hans Fehr and Michael Starford presented in-factory demos of the Presto II Digital saddle stitcher, the Pantera and Alegro perfect binders and the Diamant MC bookline how Muller Martini’s digital ready systems enable offset and digitally printed products to be finished using the same machine.

Delegation from South African Distance Learning University UNISA Visits Muller Martini After attending the EDUCA e-learning conference in Berlin, Trudy Forbay and Carl Pretorius from the in-plant printing operation of the South African distance learning university UNISA took a look behind the scenes of several graphic arts businesses in Europe, including Muller Martini in Switzerland. UNISA prints and stitches books and brochures for its students (using its 301, 321 and 1509 saddle stitchers from Muller Martini) and binds them (using an Acoro A5 and a Pantera perfect binder from Muller Martini) in its in-house printing plant and bookbindery. “We’ve invested a lot in our printing presses at our graphic arts business in recent years,” says Trudy Forbay, Quality Assurance Manager, and Carl Pretorius, Acting Director of Print Production. “Now, however, we also need to improve our capacity and production processes in print finishing.”

With over 350,000 students, UNISA is the largest distance learning university on the African continent. It was founded in 1873 in Cape Town as the University of the Cape of Good Hope and in 1946 became the world’s first public distance learning university. Jules Dietz (right), Sales Manager at Muller Martini, showed Trudy Forbay and Carl Pretorius from the distance learning university UNISA solutions for the finishing of offset and digitally printed products at Muller Martini’s Print Finishing Center in Zofingen. Second from right: Dane van der Walt, Product Manager at the South African Muller Martini agency Thunderbolt Solutions.

The New Granit Three-Knife Trimmer: Full Automation, Three-Minute Changeovers and Diverse Applications The new Granit three-knife trimmer from Muller Martini impresses with innovative SmartPress technology, resulting in consistent, first-class trim quality. The equipment, which is fully automated, has a wide range of applications in both softcover and hardcover lines. The Granit uses patented SmartPress technology, which has proven its worth in the higher performance range, to provide optimal, consistently high trim quality. It ensures a gentle and controlled pressing procedure in which all air between the sheets of paper completely escapes, even if the product is bulky, allowing for the product to be trimmed perfectly, which is key to consistently high product quality. SmartPress technology is adaptive. In other words, pressing automatically adjusts during Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

30-31_panorama.indd 31

production to fluctuations in product thickness, ensuring consistent book quality. The Granit ensures cost-effective production in a wide range of applications. The Granit can take full advantage of seamless automation in a fully networked perfect binding line, such as the Pantera or Alegro. The operator can perform the necessary finetuning directly on the central screen of the perfect binder during production. In addition, the trimming cassette and pressing pad can be exchanged in just a few steps, which shortens job changeover times considerably. If used in existing perfect binding lines, the Granit increases efficiency enormously. Production runs can be planned and performed efficiently with a job changeover time of just three minutes. The productivity of an older line can be vastly increased,

especially for relatively small runs, while the required investment volume remains limited. The Granit also provides topclass trim quality in hardcover lines. The SmartPress technology meets all the requirements in this area too. In order to achieve short setup times, the three-knife trimmer is easily connected to the commander of the casing-in machine, which enables size data to be transferred quickly.

The new Granit three-knife trimmer has an extremely wide range of applications. Cost-effective production is ensured thanks to SmartPress technology and full automation.

19.03.14 07:11

Hardcover Production

“We Benefit from the High Level of Automation of the Diamant MC 60” China’s leading art book producer, Artron Enterprises (Group) Limited, operates a Diamant MC 60 bookline at all its three plants. The great benefit is that the machine operators can exchange experiences and benefit from synergies. E With its three production sites in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, Artron is not only China’s leading producer of high-quality art books, but also maintains a database for customers and the public of over 10,000 Chinese artists. “China’s social changes and opening-up to the West has sparked a renewed, broad interest in the eventful history of our country,” said Wan Jie, founder, board chairman and co-owner of Artron Enterprises (Group) Limited, which was established in 1993 and employs a total of 2,800 people, in a “Panorama” interview two years ago (see “Panorama” 3/11). We consider this market to be at least as big as for art books, since, in addition to ed32

32-33_panorama.indd 32

ucation, many Chinese also have begun to place more importance on culture. And if you consider that ten times fewer books are read in China than in Europe and the United States, you can only imagine the huge potential that lies in the local book industry.” Digital Ready – Equipped for the Future Artron, which was a partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the production of a number of high-gloss brochures for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, has invested in numerous Muller Martini systems in recent years. Moreover, Artron signed an agreement on a long-

term strategic partnership with Muller Martini at a ceremony at drupa in 2012 (see box). According to Song Qiang, General Manager of Artron Enterprises (Group) Limited in Beijing, there were three main reasons why Artron opted for a Diamant MC 60 bookline at all three of its sites. “First, all our plants are brand new, so we also want to have state-of-the-art machinery. Second, we can benefit from synergies, because our machine operators can exchange experiences. That’s particularly easy, since the native language of Mandarin is displayed on the Commander. Third, the booklines are digital ready, which Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:12

Strategic Partnership Between Artron and Muller Martini Artron and Muller Martini have been strategic partners since drupa 2012. Besides the installation of new machines, the partnership includes Muller Martini providing support to Artron in maintenance of the machines (in line with the MMServices pack-

age) and the recruitment and training of machine operators. “Finishing, in particular the high binding quality of books, is gaining in importance,” says company founder Wan Jie. “That’s why I expect a manufacturer to supply not only a ma-

means that we’re optimally equipped for the future.”

binders. “I consider the Alegro the best perfect binder in the market in that respect,” says Song Qiang. 

Eleven Printing Presses – One Bookline At the plant in Beijing, Artron, which employs 900 people (in addition to another 500 people employed in the culture department that belongs to the business empire), operates eleven printing presses, but just one bookline. “You can infer from that how important high availability and perfectly functioning after-sale services are to us,” says Qiang. “Those two factors also spoke in favor of the Diamant and Muller Martini when we made our latest investment decision.” In addition, 90 percent of the hardcover books produced by Artron for publishing houses and artists in a wide range of sizes have print runs of 2,000 to 3,000 copies. “That means that we need to change over our bookline several times daily, so we naturally benefit from the Diamant MC 60 with its high degree of automation and simple operating concept.” Two New Alegros According to the Vice President General Manager, the same applies to the three Ventura MC book sewing machines already installed at Artron and to the Alegro perfect binders, which Artron will install in Shanghai this year and in Beijing in 2015. Hardcover and softcover volumes are evenly balanced at Artron, with 80 percent of the softcover books having runs of 2,000 to 3,000 copies, so the perfect binding line needs to be changed over frequently. Artron decided for that reason on two additional Alegros, whose innovative motion control technology with unit drives for all stations provides a high degree of flexibility, to supplement two Acoro perfect Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

32-33_panorama.indd 33

chine, but a complete solution and indepth know-how concerning production processes.”

1 Song Qiang (right), Vice President General Manager of Artron Enterprises (Group) Limited in Beijing: “Our factories are brand new, so we also want to have state-of-the-art machinery.” Left: David Chen, Sales Manager at Muller Martini China. 2 With eleven printing presses, it is especially important that the Diamant MC 60 bookline at Artron in Beijing is constantly available. 3 Artron relies on three Ventura MCs for thread sewing.

www.artron.com.cn

3 33

19.03.14 07:12

Hardcover Production

High Level of Automation Absorbs Declining Unit Prices Over 60 million books in eight years: the Diamant 60 bookline from Muller Martini ensures that Prosperous Printing Co. Ltd., Hong Kong/Shenzhen (China), can produce high-quality products cost-effectively.

1 K. H. Leung (right), President of Prosperous Printing, Tommy's Li (center), COO of Prosperous Printing, and Paul Ho, Sales Manager at Muller Martini Hong Kong, in front of the Diamant 60 bookline, which has produced over 60 million hardcover books since being commissioned in 2006. 2 Together with the modular binder, the Acoro A7 at Prosperous Printing produces some 25 million softcover books a year. 3 Prosperous Printing provides an excellent overview of hardcover and softcover products in its showroom.

manuals and encyclopedias in a wide range of sizes, Prosperous Printing also produces a large number of children’s books.

E With 20 systems at present – a Diamant 60 bookline, twelve (!) book sewing machines, two book case makers, an Acoro A7 and a modular binder perfect binding line, two Solo gathering machines and a 1509 saddle stitcher – Prosperous Printing is Muller Martini Hong Kong’s largest customer by far. At its two factories in Hong Kong (where the company was established in 1983) and in neighboring Shenzhen (where it opened a second production site in 1996 for capacity reasons), the company produces 25 million softcover books 34

34-35_panorama.indd 34

and 8 million hardcover books annually with a workforce of 1,100 people. Children’s Books Prove Popular All of these products are exported, mainly to Europe (the proportion of exports to the US has fallen slightly in recent years). The customers are mainly printing plants, but in some cases orders are made directly by publishing houses. Many of them are regular Prosperous Printing customers and have had their books produced in China for over 20 years. In addition to cookery books,

60 Million Books in Eight Years K. H. Leung has also identified the increasing quality expectations of his customers as a second trend. “That’s why we place great emphasis on a long-term partnership with our systems suppliers and invest exclusively in state-of-the-art machines.” For instance, the company has invested in the Diamant 60 bookline from Muller Martini, which it uses for the production of books with runs of between 2,000 and 100,000 copies, with an average of 4,000 to 5,000 copies per title. The counter of the bookline, which was commissioned in 2006, now shows that over 60 million books have been produced. “Thanks to their high degree of automation, we can reduce labor costs and produce more cost-effectively despite declining unit prices,” says Leung, underscoring this with an example: “Twenty-five people worked at our earlier bookline, whereas now, with our new inline solution, including feeding of signatures, changing sizes, brick stacking products and quality conMuller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:13

trol, we have a maximum of ten people. If you consider that wages are rising by 10 percent annually in our country, you can imagine what effect that has on our profitability.” Mainly Offset, Joined by Digital The same also applies to the two perfect binding lines from Muller Martini, says the Company President. Even the modular binder, which has been in operation since 1982 meets the required quality criteria daily. In addition, Prosperous Printing now prints digitally as well as using the offset technique. The signatures from the two printing modes are finished using the bookline and the perfect binders “without any problems at all”, Leung stresses.

Although offset remains dominant with a total of 19 sheet-fed presses, digital printing is catching up. For instance, Prosperous Printing recently produced 5,000 books, split into 200 different versions. “We printed them digitally using our Canon,” says Leung. According to the Company President, it is not digital printing alone, however, that is causing the decline in runs per title. “The third trend we’ve observed is that our customers are increasingly ordering smaller unit numbers. Today, they often order five lots of 7,000 copies, rather than 35,000 copies, so userfriendly print finishing systems with quick changeovers are crucial for us.” www.prosperous-group-inc.com.cn

Despite stronger competition from electronic media, Prosperous Printing has produced considerably more children’s books over the past two years.

Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

34-35_panorama.indd 35

19.03.14 07:13

Digital Solutions

From right: Karen Baillie (Operations Director), Stephen Docherty (Managing Director), Ian Walker (Chairman and CEO) and David McGinlay (Sales Manager at Muller Martini Great Britain) in front of Bell & Bain’s new Alegro perfect binder.

Bell & Bain SigmaLine Proves its Flexibility: Fuji Already Third Printing Partner In the Scottish city of Glasgow, Bell & Bain has commissioned its third digital printing press within eight years, a FujiFilm Jetpress 540W, the first of its type worldwide. It is connected inline to the SigmaLine, which was installed in 2005. “Absolutely no problem!” says company owner, Chairman and CEO Ian Walker when asked about the integration of the new inkjet printing press with the book production system from Muller Martini. E Six years ago Walker spoke cautiously about digital printing when “Panorama” visited the company, which has a long tradition dating back to 1831, when it was established by James Bell and Andrew Bain in Scotland. “I don’t believe that a complete system for digital color printing will be ready for the market any time soon. The color quality of digital printing today is still no match for that of traditional offset printing.” 36

36-38_panorama.indd 36

Double Premiere That is a thing of the past. “Today’s color systems show significant improvements and provide excellent printing quality, satisfying the high expectations of our customers,” says Walker. For that reason, Bell & Bain, which exclusively produces books, academic journals and reprints in short runs using digital technology, rather than being active in the book-on-demand segment, invested last September for the first

time in a full-color digital printing press. The FujiFilm Jetpress 540W was installed as a world first. It is now the third model to be connected inline with the SigmaLine, which was commissioned in 2005. It is also the world’s first SigmaLine/Fuji equipment. Bell & Bain has not only changed its printing press manufacturer, but has also switched from one-color toner printing to four-color highspeed inkjet – here the open design of the Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:14

SigmaLine comes into its own and demonstrates that the promised investment protection in print finishing outlasts the shorter life cycles of digital printing presses. “Perfect Partnership” According to company co-owner and Managing Director Stephen Docherty, connecting the digital book production system from Muller Martini worked smoothly: “It was a perfect partnership between Fuji, Muller Martini and Bell & Bain.” Another key component of the technological advance was the integration of the Connex data and process management system. “We also overcame that challenge without problems,” says Operations Director Karen Baillie. “Connex, which is vital to us because of our complex job structure, is running flawlessly.” SigmaLine Relocated Muller Martini not only played a key role in the commissioning of the whole digital system in the framework of its MMServices portfolio, but also in the relocation of the SigmaLine to another location within the production hall for space reasons. “The Muller Martini technicians are professionals with great expertise,” says Docherty. “The three of them disassembled the equipment from all sides and reinstalled it within a week thanks to perfect planning. It was immediately running smoothly again. We could never have done that alone.” Only One Machine Operator Needed Bell & Bain, with its 85 employees, prints some 10 to 20 percent of its digital volume in color. Scientific, technical and medical journals, with which the company has made a name for itself in Great Britain, remain the specialty of the company. Runs of five to ten copies are occasionally produced using the SigmaLine, which is operated in two shifts, but the lower limit is usually 50 copies. The upper limit for production using the digital system can be some 1,500 copies. “Since the SigmaLine can be operated by just one machine operator, production is naturally very cost-effective,” stresses Baillie, with an eye to increasingly tight deMuller Martini Panorama April 2014

36-38_panorama.indd 37

livery deadlines as well. However, Bell & Bain, which operates an eight-color sheetfed offset printing press, three four-color sheet-fed offset printing presses and a 321 saddle stitcher from Muller Martini in addition to the FujiFilm Jetpress 540W, also uses offset printing for runs of 500 copies and above. Offset accounts for over 90 percent of Bell & Bain’s turnover. Alegro: 40 Changeovers Per Day Journals and books not produced with the SigmaLine have been bound using an Alegro perfect binder, which replaced an Acoro A5 from 2004, since late 2012. According to Walker, there were four main reasons for investing in the new Muller Martini line with a Book Data Center (BDC), 18-station 3694 gathering machine, Solit three-knife trimmer, Universo packer box delivery and CB 12 book stacker. “First, we change over the perfect binder some 20 times per shift, i.e. 40 times a day, so the high degree of automation of the Alegro with Motion Control Technology benefits us. Second, the production speed is now higher by 2,000 cycles per hour compared to the Acoro A5, so we can avoid overtime, which used to be common. Third, we can also use the Alegro for digitally printed products. And, fourth, the Solit, which can be easily set via the BDC,

The FujiFilm Jetpress 540W is already the third digital printing press that Bell & Bain has linked with the SigmaLine digital book production system from Muller Martini.

ensures that the very first book of a new job is perfect.” MM Remote and MMInspect Docherty is perfectly satisfied with the new perfect binding line after 15 months in operation: “Since all our machine operators are young (the youngest is 22 and the oldest is 27), they naturally appreciate the computer control. The books' binding quality is excellent. As the servo technology was new to us, the remote system with the online connection to the Muller Martini factory provided valuable support during commissioning.” Based on his positive experiences of MM Remote, Bell & Bain concluded a service contract with Muller Martini Great Britain (MMInspect). The Alegro and the SigmaLine are submitted to a thorough inspection twice a year. “That gives us even greater security regarding the availability of our equipment,” says Baillie, who is responsible for smooth production processes. Docherty explains that Bell & Bain also looked around at the competition during

19.03.14 07:15

Digital Solutions

the evaluation phase. “But the Alegro is light years ahead.” Plus a New Diamant MC 60 The Managing Director also gives similar reasons for the company’s newest investment. This year, Bell & Bain will commission a Diamant MC bookline from Muller Martini, in addition to a casemaker from Hörauf. “Until now we outsourced the production of hardcover books. However, we recently noticed a dip in terms of both quality and service. We would like to have our

own bookline so that we can offer our customers the very best quality with short turnaround times and attractive prices in this segment too. The new bookline with its space-age make-ready technology gives us the flexibility we need for that. The Diamant is one of the most exciting machine purchases that we’ve made in many years – Muller Martini has made a dream come true for us.” 

www.bell-bain.com

36-38_panorama.indd 38

established applications from 42 to 60 inches. The optimal solution in each case is determined by the web width of the printing system and the print product sizes to be processed, as well as the required finishing style. That provides digital printing companies with the most cost-effective solution for their current needs and maximum flexibility for their print products. Thanks to its scalability the system can be extended at any time in the future as market requirements change, which means that the customer always has full investment protection. Furthermore, the SigmaLine can also tap into new market segments of digital printing presses with smaller web widths. “Reduce to the max” – whether a very wide web with up to ten printed pages across the web, or a narrow web with just two pages across, the modular Sigma

60"

The world of digital printing is experiencing a constant increase in printing systems, offered by a variety of manufacturers. That is a major advantage for digital printing companies, since it provides them with an enormous selection of digital printing presses featuring a wide range of technologies, web widths and speeds. Muller Martini's variable SigmaFolder II signature folder is the flexible link between digital printing and print finishing. Thanks to its modular design, it is possible to choose from a range of elements such as split & merge, various former folds, cross cutting, cross fold and chop fold modules. That makes the fully automated SigmaFolder II even more flexible. Moreover, it can now also be configured optimally for web widths from 20 to 30 inches (and every increment in between), in addition to the

20"

SigmaLine: Now From 20- to 60-Inch Web Width

The fully automated SigmaFolder II can now also be configured optimally for web widths from 20 to 30 inches, in addition to the established applications from 42 to 60 inches.

Folder II meets the technical and economical needs of every customer segment.

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:15

39-41

Hobbs’ Fifth Saddle Stitcher from Muller Martini Is Fit for Offset and Digital Hobbs the Printers Ltd. is the first graphic arts business worldwide to invest in a Presto II Digital saddle stitcher from Muller Martini. This means the family business, which specializes in short runs and is based in Totton in the county of Hampshire in Southern England, can provide its customers with digitally printed products that are finished to the same standard as offset printed products.

E The majority of the products that are saddle-stitched, perfect-bound and threadsewn at Hobbs will continue to be printed using the offset technique. However, the digital printing presses in the impressive production hall in Totton, which is arranged according to the strict layout of the graphic arts workflow, already outnumber offset printing presses by 6 to 5. Hobbs the Printers Ltd. showed great vision in recognizing early on that digital printing opens up new market opportunities, prompting it to invest in its first digital printing system 22 years ago. The result is that the family business, founded by William Hobbs in 1884 and now run by David Hobbs in the fifth generation, today has numerous customers that place orders for both printing techniques. Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

39-41_panorama.indd 39

Saddle Stitching Enjoys Renaissance In order to supply digitally printed products of perfect quality to its customers, Hobbs naturally needs to have the relevant print finishing systems at its disposal, which it has sourced from Muller Martini for over five decades. That applies both to perfect binding and to thread sewing (for which an Acoro A5 and an Inventa Plus are used respectively), and, increasingly, also to saddle stitching. Graham Bromley, Deputy Managing & Operations Director at Hobbs, has observed a renaissance of saddle-stitched print products recently: “We are seeing major growth in saddle stitching. The pendulum has swung back from softcover – first, because we are producing a large volume of low pagination products, and,

Graham Bromley (center), Deputy Managing & Operations Director at Hobbs the Printers Ltd.: “The key benefit of the Presto II Digital is the ability to provide our customers with digitally printed products that are finished to the same standard as offset printed products.” Right: machine operator David Grassie. Left: Richard Dance, Sales Manager at Muller Martini Great Britain

second, because short-run and ultra-jobs run jobs are increasing.” That in turn is related very directly to digital printing. Long-Standing Partnership In order to handle the increased saddle stitching volume, to reduce interruptions to long-run jobs and to optimize the print finishing process, Hobbs, which employs 170 people in three shifts, commissioned a 39

19.03.14 07:15

Digital Solutions

Presto II Digital last December to complement its Bravo Plus. It is the fifth saddle stitcher from Muller Martini at Hobbs since the early 1960s (Bromley: “We value the partnership with a supplier that has many years of experience”) and also the first saddle stitcher of this type from Muller Martini installed worldwide. Tailored to Hobbs’ product range, it comprises four flat pile feeders, a cover folder feeder, a Bograma punching machine and an Apollo compensating stacker in addition to the components for feeding digitally printed signatures.

land) and was immediately impressed: “The key benefit of this system is the ability to provide our customers with digitally printed products that are finished to the same standard as offset printed products. Each signature of every digitally printed product has an individual barcode printed on it. Scanning this barcode with integrated quality checks enables us to ensure that the product is complete and all pages are in the correct sequence. We have absolute certainty that the pages and sequence are correct even in the case of personalized products and products with varying content.”

High Quality Assurance Bromley saw the Presto II Digital live in action at the Muller Martini booth at the Hunkeler Innovationdays in Lucerne (Switzer-

Each Signature Individually Scored The signatures printed on the digital sheetfed or digital web-fed presses are fed to a single-sheet flat pile feeder from MBO and

39-41_panorama.indd 40

go from there to the pocket fold unit, which is also from MBO. Then in the processing folder, every signature is individually scored and folded, resulting in considerably higher fold quality. The barcode scanner with the automatic signature image recognition Asir 3 scanning head ensures that the products are tipped onto the saddle stitcher chain with the correct make-up. The solution includes a four plate buckle fold unit – small sheet sizes with fourpage signatures can also be moved directly from the flat pile feeder to the processing folder – allows greater flexibility with re-

In the early 1960s, Hobbs invested for the first time in a Muller Martini saddle stitcher, the JGV.

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:16

gard to both signatures (4/8/12 pages) and sizes. It also enables higher production speeds. The Presto II Digital produces at a maximum of 9,000 cycles per hour, processing up to 30,000 incoming signatures. Short-Run Specialist The high degree of flexibility of the Presto II Digital, which the machine operators quickly got the hang of thanks to their experience using the Bravo Plus and the “excellent training on site” (as Bromley says) benefits Hobbs not only when it comes to sizes ranging from A6 to a little bit bigger than A4, but also highly fluctuating runs. Although these can be tens of thousands, “we’ve really been a short-run specialist for years, including in offset printing,” explains Bromley. Loyal Customer Base Hobbs produces books, manuals, journals, magazines and brochures, some of which have a complex configuration, for a wide range of customers. The majority are publishing companies, though Hobbs’ customer base also includes other (manufacturing and transport) companies – mainly from Great Britain. “We place great importance on supporting our customers through the production process, from the creative phase in pre-press to distribution. Everything is from a single source and provided under one roof,” emphasizes Bromley. He adds: “That’s particularly important today, since production deadlines are increasingly tight.” That is hardly surprising given that Hobbs has regular customers of many years standing thanks to its successful business model, which includes an online store. “Our most loyal customer has been with us for over 60 years,” says Bromley with pride. “We print, finish and fulfil weekly products for that customer and have never been late with a single delivery.”

Digital Ready Provides High Degree of Investment Protection “Thanks to its modular design, the Presto II Digital saddle stitcher is the perfect hybrid solution for conventional offset printing and digital printing,” says Volker Leonhardt, Director of Sales and Marketing at Muller Martini Print Finishing Systems AG. “That makes it the ideal saddle stitcher for graphic arts companies that plan to enter digital printing in the near future or are already printing digitally.” A company that currently still prints exclusively using the offset method can extend its existing saddle stitcher at any

time in the future to include the digital option and use it either for digital sheetfed printing (along the lines of the Hobbs solution using a flat pile feeder, pocket fold unit and processing folder), for digital web printing (using an unwinding system, cross cutting and processing folder) or even for combined sheetfed/web printing applications. “That’s why the modular saddle stitchers from Muller Martini provide customers with a particularly high degree of investment protection,” says Leonhardt.

The Presto II Digital is the perfect hybrid solution for conventional offset printing and digital printing.

Please scan the QR code above to see the complete Presto II Digital line, which is available for demos at Muller Martini’s Print Finishing Center in Zofingen (Switzerland), in operation on Muller Martini's YouTube channel. www.hobbs.uk.com Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

39-41_panorama.indd 41

19.03.14 07:16

Newspaper Mailroom Systems

“We Believe in Printed Newspapers” The state-of-the-art Druckzentrum Penzberg GmbH & Co. KG printing center, which belongs to the Münchner Merkur media group, not only produces 23 weekly and twice-weekly advertising papers with a total circulation of over one million copies, but also several regional editions of the Münchner Merkur daily newspaper. A complete system from Muller Martini with two ProLiner newspaper inserting lines, each coupled with a CoLiner pre-gathering unit, ensures optimal processes in the mailroom at the center.

From left: Managing Director Uwe Günther, Operations Director Christian Kasdorf and Reinhold Achtner (Sales Manager at Muller Martini Germany) in front of one of the two ProLiner newspaper inserting systems at the new Penzberg printing plant.

42-44_panorama.indd 42

Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:17

The 23 editions of the advertising paper “Kreisbote”, which has a total circulation of over a million copies, contain between six and 15 inserts.

The Penzberg printing plant processes over 300 million inserts annually – for the 23 editions of the Kreisbote advertising paper with a total circulation of over one million copies, and, since the first quarter of this year, for a number of the editions printed in Penzberg of Münchner Merkur, a leading daily newspaper in the Munich region with a total of 24 regional versions. New Greenfield Factory Before the commissioning of the state-ofthe-art Penzberg printing center on a greenfield site just over a year ago, the Münchner Merkur media group produced its advertisement papers at its plant in Weilheim around 30 kilometers away, which has since closed. It did so under considerably more difficult technical conditions than today thanks to the new solution. A maximum of two inserts could be inserted by machine in Weilheim. Since the individual editions of the Kreisbote contain over 15 inserts in some cases, the carriers had to insert these by hand. “Naturally, that was not cost-effective in the long term, so it was time for new technology for printing and print finishing,” says Managing Director Uwe Günther. That was prompted, in particular, by the sharp rise in the total number of inserts in 2011, since some of the 23 Kreisbote editions with runs of between 15,000 and 70,000 copies now appear on Saturday in Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

42-44_panorama.indd 43

addition to Wednesday, as well as because of the increasing importance of fine zoning. “Our customers want to advertise increasingly in small units, so we have up to 60 zones today,” says Günther. Ideal ProLiner/CoLiner Combination The Münchner Merkur media group decided on an entirely new plant not least because “we believe in the future of printed newspapers, especially at the local level,” says Günther. According to Operations Manager Christian Kasdorf, there were three main reasons why Muller Martini was chosen for the comprehensive mailroom

(see list of the individual systems in the box) at the Penzberg printing plant. “First, we’ve had positive experiences using Muller Martini solutions at our Dessauerstraße printing plant in Munich, and are particularly impressed by the FlexiRoll buffer. Second, we like the new feeder technology of the ProLiner inserting system. Third, the combination of the ProLiner with the CoLiner pre-gathering unit, which we use for virtually every production run, is optimal for us, because the inserting line isn’t too long and is much more manageable for the machine operators thanks to the shorter distances to walk.” The promo feed station for special inserts is one of the special features of the mailroom solution at the Penzberg printing plant, which employs 30 permanent employees and 120 temporary workers at peak inserting times. “We regularly have saddle-stitched voucher booklets that are smaller than A6 in size,” says Kasdorf. They stand in contrast to thick inserts in the form of 240-page perfect-bound magazines, which the ProLiner likewise processes with ease. All advertising inserts are delivered to the Penzberg printing plant, because it does not have a heatset press. However, editorial preprinted sections, which the

Inserts as far as the eye can see: the Penzberg printing plant processes over 300 million inserts yearly.

19.03.14 07:18

Newspaper Mailroom Systems

Münchner Merkur features almost daily, are naturally printed in-house.

1 A complete system from Muller Martini ensures optimal processes in the mailroom of the new, greenfield Penzberg printing plant. 2 Machine operator Florian Dege has a complete overview of the Mailroom Production Control MPC system at the control desk.

Mailroom Production Control … The Muller Martini Mailroom Production Control MPC system ensures that all mailroom components are optimally networked with one another. “Since we have routespecific production with many different zones, smoothly functioning software is crucial for us,” stresses Kasdorf. “In addition, the easy operation of the MPC is another key advantage.” ... and Bundle Building as Part of the Chain Bundles are already formed in the conveyor chain, which is also controlled by MPC. That solution speeds up the production

process markedly (see also “Panorama” 1/13). “Given the diversity of our production, bundle building as part of the chain played a key part in our decision in favor of Muller Martini,” stresses Managing Director Günther. 

www.dz-penzberg.de

A Complete System from ProLiner to MM Remote Online The mailroom in the new Penzberg printing center consists of numerous systems from Muller Martini:

E  First ProLiner newspaper inserting system with three-up, automatic preprinted section feeding from a twin unwind station, six insert feeders, a CoLiner for pregathering of six inserts, a promo feed station and stream feeders for the various feeders. E  Second ProLiner newspaper inserting system with one-up, automatic preprinted section feeding from a twin unwind station, six insert feeders, a CoLiner for pre-gathering of four inserts, a promo feed station and stream feeders for the various feeders. E  NewsGrip-A conveyors with two pick-up stations. E  FlexiRoll buffer for main product /preprinted section handling (50 base). E Six NewsStack compensating stackers. E  Six TABA-F top sheet feeders. E NewsSorter ramp system. E  Mailroom Production Control MPC system. E  MMRemote Online with direct connection to the Muller Martini factory.

2 44

42-44_panorama.indd 44

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:18

45-47

Athesia: A New Printing Press and a New NewsGrip-A to Mark its 125th Anniversary As the new newspaper rotary press at Athesia Druck in Bolzano in South Tyrol, Italy, is installed in an adjoining building, a new NewsGrip-A conveyor chain from Muller Martini ensures optimal connection with the NewsLiner and Biliner newspaper inserting systems located in another production hall.

E Athesia, which was established 125 years ago as a Catholic-political press association, publishes Dolomiten (Dolomites), the leading daily newspaper in the German-speaking region of Italy. It is read by 93 percent of South Tyrol’s residents and has a print run of between 52,500 and 73,000 copies (the circulation on Fridays is large). With not only Dolomiten, but also the Sunday newspaper Z - Die Zeitung am Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

45-47_panorama.indd 45

Sonntag (with a print run of almost 40,000 copies), several free newspapers written in Italian, over 40 magazine titles (seven of which are Athesia’s own) and each year some 3.5 million (wall) calendars, 500,000 softcover and hardcover books, some published by Athesia itself, and commercial work of all kinds, Athesia Druck in Bolzano is the clear leader among South Tyrol’s printing houses.

Athesia Sales Director Dr. Eugen Untertri faller (right): “We believe in the future of print media and have further strengthened our market position by investing in the new press.” Left Sigmund Pernter (Newspaper Rotary Press Director), in the center Roberto Rossetti (Sales Manager at Muller Martini Italy).

19.03.14 07:18

Newspaper Mailroom Systems

1 The NewsGrip-A conveyor chain combines Athesia’s new newspaper rotary press with the newspaper inserting systems in the adjoining building – right along a stairwell. 2 The NewsGrip-A pick-up station channels the products from the new Colorman XXL toward the mailroom.

3 In addition to its flagship Dolomiten (Dolomites), Athesia prints numerous other newspapers and magazines. 4 Athesia Druck uses a PrimaPlus Tandem from Muller Martini for saddle stitching.

mercials for external customers, with the newspaper inserting systems in the adjoining building.

Route-Specific Mailing Athesia has used Muller Martini mailroom solutions for labeling and packaging its own media products as well as for the publications that it prints for external customers for years. In addition to two newspaper inserting systems, i.e. a NewsLiner (for a maximum of seven preprinted sections or advertising inserts) and a Biliner (for a maximum of three preprinted sections or advertising inserts), it also operates five stacking and packaging lines. Subscriptions account for four-fifths of the circulation of Dolomiten, which won three European Newspaper Awards in 2013 in the “front pages” and “inside pages” categories for its exemplary concept and design. Of those subscriptions, 90 percent are 46

45-47_panorama.indd 46

mailed to readers. “That’s why it’s important for us to deliver the newspapers in a route-specific way, broken down to the route of each individual mailman.” Update Offers the Solution The commissioning of a six-plate-wide Colorman XXL last year in a specially designed printing press hall (“We believe in the future of print media and have further strengthened our market position,” says Pernter) presented Athesia Druck, which employs 126 people in three shifts, with new challenges for the mailroom. These were solved by investing in a new NewsGrip-A conveyor chain connecting the printing press, which now enables Athesia to produce attractive semi-com-

Inspection and Training “Together with our reliable partner Muller Martini we’ve been very successful in combining existing technology with new technology and extending it. As a result, we remain well positioned and have even greater production reliability,” says Sigmund Pernter, Newspaper Rotary Press Director. “Everything had to happen very quickly after the commissioning of the new press.” For the update to the existing systems, Athesia decided to work together with Muller Martini Italy under the MMServices label MMUptodate. In addition to the extension, the MM Uptodate service package from Muller Martini included an inspection of Athesia’s older mailroom system and regular training of its machine operators. “After all, the smooth functioning of a complex mailroom stands and falls by the know-how of the personnel. That’s why we invest consistently not only in our print products and equipment, but also in employee training.” PrimaPlus Tandem Saddle Stitcher – Individual and Separate Production Athesia Druck in Bolzano relies on Muller Martini not only in the mailroom, but also Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:19

for press delivery, for which it uses a rotary trimmer that can be loaded both inline and offline and for saddle stitching with a PrimaPlus Tandem respectively. The company regularly requires the Tandem, which was installed as the first of its type in Italy in 2008, as a complete line for jobs with several signature components. Otherwise, it runs the two individual assemblies separately. Calendars, magazines, softcover books, flyers and other commercial work delivered to numerous large customers, including some abroad, are printed at Athesia using an eight-page web printing press and three sheet-fed offset printing presses (five and ten colors). In addition to the print business, the Athesia Group, which operates four other smaller printing plants in Bolzano and Innsbruck, Austria and nine shops for its print products in South Tyrol has also made a name for itself in the fields of Internet/online media, tourism (travel agency/tour operator/hotel business) and energy (Athesia Energy operates its own photovoltaic and î &#x2020; bio-energy systems).

www.athesiadruck.it Muller Martiniâ&#x20AC;&#x192; Panorama April 2014

45-47_panorama.indd 47

4 47

19.03.14 07:19

Interview

“Now We Can Produce a Wide Range of Print Products Under One Roof” Kuwait-based British Industries Printing & Packaging Co. relies on state-of-the-art systems from Muller Martini in all areas of print finishing, from saddle stitching, perfect binding and hardcover production to mailroom and press delivery systems, and benefits from being able to direct all machine-related questions to a single contact person.

E “Panorama“ spoke with Reyad M. Abu Daqer, General Manager of British Industries, about the company’s latest investments and the graphic arts industry in Kuwait. British Industries, which employs some 210 people, is a 100% Kuwaitiowned share-holding company that has been a subsidiary of the Tamdeen Group, one of Kuwait’s leading real estate businesses, since 2005. “Panorama”: British Industries recently commissioned a contemporary production site with two buildings. Why did

1 48

48-51_panorama.indd 48

you decide on a new build 20 years after your company was founded? Reyad M. Abu Daqer: When we started out, we had but a handful of machines that filled a few hundred square meters of production space. However, we kept on making investments and we continued growing, so more room was needed for larger machines with their multiple options. The new production site is the logical progression of that development. Moreover, we had rented the previous premises. Now we have our own purpose-built, state-of-theart production units; built-up area of 14,400

square meters for sheet-fed division and 4,800 square meters for the web division which satisfies both our current needs and our plans for the future. You mentioned the early years of your company. British Industries has focused for years on saddle stitching and perfect binding in print finishing. In tandem with commissioning your new buildings, you also entered the newspaper production business. What were your reasons for doing so? Fifteen daily newspaper titles are printed in Kuwait. Our target is to print at least two of those. We currently print Aljarida, a fullcolor broadsheet newspaper that comes out seven days a week and has a daily run of 42,000 copies. We’re also engaged in the negotiations for printing a second daily newspaper title. Our latest investments in a CROMOMAN hybrid printing press and a mailroom were aimed not just at newspaper production, but also at printing advertising material, which is a field where I see great potential. Speed and high quality are our declared aims in producing all these print products. Entering the web offset business enables us to produce a wide range of print products under one roof.

“Our latest investments were aimed not just at newspaper production but also at printing advertising materials.” Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:20

1 Reyad M. Abu Daqer (left): “We were impressed by the ProLiner, not only because of its high performance, but also because of its straightforward operation and compact design.” Right: Samer M. Hachicho, General Manager of the Kuwaiti Muller Martini agency Al-Jawad Photo & Trading Co. 2 The Aljarida daily newspaper has at the most two inserts, but the firm aim is to encourage customers to make increased use of this form of advertising.

How many inserts does Aljarida have? Usually one insert, at the most two. Our firm aim is to encourage customers to make increased use of this form of advertising. What type of inserts do readers find in Aljarida? Editorial preprinted sections and advertising in the form of magazines, brochures or catalogs with 8 to 16 pages. How high is the added value that you generate thanks to your new mailroom? Running a state-of-the-art newspaper rotary press without a corresponding mailroom simply doesn’t make any sense. The mailroom is an important link between the printing press and the loading dock. That’s true not only for inserting, but also for trimming, conveying, buffering, stacking, palletizing, sorting and the whole logistics process. Speedy delivery is the hallmark of efficient newspaper production, so the new Muller Martini mailroom generates considerable added value for us. Do you also print quarter folds on the printing press? Yes, increasingly so, because of their growing popularity in Kuwait. However, they are usually stand-alone products, rather than newspaper supplements. Do you also print the inserts that are inserted into Aljarida in house? Yes, some 20 percent of them. Here, too, our intention is to increase the quantity we print. I’m confident that we’ll soon manage Muller Martini

Panorama April 2014

48-51_panorama.indd 49

that because we’re ideally positioned in the market thanks to our heatset printing press. So do you benefit from now being able to print both newspaper products and semi-commercial products, thereby increasing your added value? Yes, certainly. During our 20 years of experience in sheet-fed offset printing, we’ve gained the trust of our customers. Now we’ve combined newspaper and commercial printing, using the best printing and print finishing machines from both categories. The inserts are inserted in your new mailroom using a ProLiner. What were your reasons for opting for this inserting solution from Muller Martini? We were impressed by the ProLiner, not only because of its high performance, but also because of its straightforward operation and compact design, which allows us to make optimal use of the space in our new mailroom. Our good relations with Muller Martini and the Kuwaiti agency AlJawad Photo & Trading Co. with its General Manager Samer M. Hachicho also contributed to our decision to invest in the ProLiner and the NewsStack compensating stacker. It made implementing the project considerably easier. What are the advantages for you of the press-to-hopper process, whereby newspapers are fed directly to the ProLiner from the printing press? British Industries now has the only fully automated mailroom solution in Kuwait. I’d sum up its four key benefits as high production speed, minimal error rate, punctual delivery of newspapers and lower costs. Some of our competitors in Kuwait do the work of inserting inserts in newspapers manually.

“Before our investment in the Diamant MC 35, there was no fully automated bookline in Kuwait.”

British Industries prints solely for other publishers. Can you imagine publishing your own newspaper one day? No, because we’re convinced that we do better as an independent printer on neutral ground. Newspaper publishers that want to outsource printing don’t need to feel intimidated. That’s why we continue to see our future role as that of a service provider to external parties. The print runs of daily newspapers are in decline in Europe and the USA. What is the situation in Kuwait? In the Middle East daily newspapers are still experiencing an upward trend, such as in Brazil, India, China and other Asian countries, where the printing industry is reportedly recording annual growth rates of up to 10 percent. Kuwait has a vibrant newspaper culture. Economic impacts, such as the financial crisis, have a far greater influence on the success of newspaper than the use of new media, such as tablets or smartphones. In several Arab countries newspapers are playing an important role in the context of social opening. What social and political significance do newspapers have in Kuwait? In Kuwait the situation is somewhat special since we have had a robust parliamentary system since 1962 and people living here have a high degree of personal freedom. There is open political debate in our country, and newspapers, which are not subject to any restrictions, naturally play an important part in forming public opinion. Besides 49

19.03.14 07:20

Interview

news on politics, the economy and the society, our daily newspapers have several pages of sports coverage, in particular on football. Many Kuwaitis follow the top leagues in Europe as well as the Arab leagues. In addition to the newspaper business, British Industries has recently also entered hardcover production. What prompted you to start producing hardcover books? Before our investment there was no fully automated bookline in Kuwait. All hardcover books were either produced manually or by bookbinders abroad. Now we’re the only graphic arts company in our country to be able to offer customers cost-effective production of hardcover books. How would you describe the current hardcover market in Kuwait? I would say that at British Industries we’re in the process of creating a market for hardcover books and diaries. More and more customers are realizing that our investment means they can now have hardcover products produced cost-effectively in their own country, so we’re in a unique position. Why did you choose a Diamant MC 35 from Muller Martini for the bookline? Our reasons were that the Diamant MC 35 is digital ready, i.e. equipped for digital printing, keeps production waste to a minimum, allows for very quick changeovers and provides maximum book quality. In addition, if the Kuwaiti market develops in line with our expectations, the Diamant MC 35 can be made into a complete bookline from backgluing to palletizing and be extended to 60 cycles. In saddle stitching and perfect binding you are also relying for the first time on Muller Martini in the form of the Presto II and Alegro, which were also commissioned as a first for the Middle East. Why did you choose these two systems? The Alegro and the Presto II are fully automated, flexible systems with maximum production speed, so they are absolutely state of the art. In addition, like the Diamant MC 50

48-51_panorama.indd 50

35, both are equipped for digital printing. We’re proud to be the first company in the Middle East to commission these two machines. From a technical point of view, the Alegro not only brings us new market opportunities in terms of PUR binding, but also means that we have an inline side stitching unit. That’s important for us because the Kuwaiti state stipulates side stitching for many perfect-bound products. The fast make ready of the Presto II benefits us, because we have wide-ranging runs of between 500 and 500,000 copies in saddle stitching. What kind of products do you stitch using the Presto II? Mainly 8 to 32 page brochures and flyers for our numerous retail customers, as well as a number of periodicals. What kind of softcover products (and in what runs) do you bind using the Alegro? In addition to books (in particular textbooks), we also produce magazines, brochures and catalogs, with print runs of between 500 and 120,000 copies. How has the market for softcover books developed in your country in recent years? I would say fairly well. We’re satisfied, since the Alegro is in daily use. You rely exclusively on Muller Martini solutions at your new production site in saddle stitching, press delivery systems, perfect binding, hardcover production and in the mailroom. What are the advantages for you of all print finishing systems coming from the same manufacturer? There are plenty of benefits for us. If all machines come from the same manufacturer, there’s a single contact person in the event of machine faults and for training, servicing and spare parts. I appreciate the strong after-sales service and close contact between the manufacturer and customer at Muller

“The new Muller Martini mailroom generates considerable added value for us.”

4 3 The Alegro perfect binder at British Industries is a first for Kuwait, just like the... 4 ...Presto II Saddle Stitcher.

Martini. The local Muller Martini representative, Samer M. Hachicho, from Al-Jawad Photo & Trading Co. is always on hand promptly if we need to discuss anything. I see such personal contacts, which build trust and respect, as essential for a longlasting business partnership. There’s also another advantage: I’m aware that Muller Martini systems have a high resale value – although currently nothing is further from our mind than selling our machines! Do you switch your machine operators from system to system, or does each machine have its own operating team? Generally each machine has a dedicated team. However, the in-house work culture is pro-active, so the senior machine operators are trained to operate more than one system. On the topic of machine operators, how difficult was it for British Industries to find qualified personnel to operate the new systems? Since we’ve been in the market for 20 years, we’ve been able to build up a great Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

19.03.14 07:20

deal of expertise at our company. We place great emphasis on the ongoing training of our employees. Of course sound training in the basics by Muller Martini experts is especially important in the case of new machines, even if Muller Martini equipment is highly user friendly.

“Having a single contact person for machine-related questions has a lot of advantages benefits.”

Your new Presto II saddle stitcher, the Alegro perfect binder and the Diamant MC 35 bookline are ready for the processing of digital print products too. Is digital printing an option for you? Yes, definitely, and we already have a digital printing press in operation. Currently, digital printing in Kuwait is still a niche market that’s growing slowly, but I’m confident that growth will soon pick up.

Looking to the future, what is your prediction for the graphic arts business in Kuwait in general and for British Industries in particular in the coming years? In the near future the various media forms, i.e. print and electronic, will certainly coexist at our company. However, print will continue to play an important role in the foreseeable future, with British Industries being a key player in Kuwait’s graphic arts industry. 

Your full company name of British Industries Printing & Packaging Co. suggests that you are already involved in packaging. In light of the food industry’s growing need for suitable packaging, are you also thinking of entering the flexible packaging business? Package printing in general, and food packaging printing in particular, is a massive market here too with immense growth opportunities. Electronic media do not have any influence on packaging. Technological advances have given rise to the use of new materials and new processes at our company, and we always keep an eye out for new possibilities.

www.britishindustries.net www.tamdeen.com

Machines from Muller Martini at British Industries in Kuwait E Mailroom: 2 NewsGrip conveyor lines inline with delivery stations to the ProLiner newspaper inserting system, to the Preciso trimming line or directly to both the NewsStack and Listo compensating stacker lines. The ProLiner is fed directly from the printing press using the PTH (press-to-hopper) system, is equipped with six insert feeders (two of which feature stream feeders) and feeds the finished products to a further NewsStack compensating

Muller Martini Panorama April 2014

48-51_panorama.indd 51

stacker. The entire system is linked online to MMRemote. E Saddle stitching: Presto II (first in the Middle East) with four feeders, a cover feeder, an Apollo compensating stacker, digital ready, MMRemote online. E Perfect binding: Alegro (first in the Middle East) with an 18-station gathering machine, Solit three-knife trim-

mer, CB 18 book stacker, feeding with Sliptorq for digital production (preglued book blocks), digital ready, MM Remote online. E Bookline: Diamant MC 35, digitalready, MMRemote online. E The Press Delivery System: Preciso rotary trimmer with Listo compensating stacker.

19.03.14 07:20

Fit for future markets. Stand out from the competition and gain access to new markets. The digital printing market is developing at a rapid pace and is opening up new vistas. With the finishing systems for offset and digital printing from Muller Martini you can stand out in your market and be provided with new business models. Our hybrid systems prepare you for tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s markets and impress your current clients with their efficiency and flexibility. Muller Martini â&#x20AC;&#x201C; your strong partner.

www.mullermartini.com, Phone +41 (0)62 745 45 75

52-01_panorama.indd 52 Unbenannt-2 1

19.03.14 04.03.14 07:21 15:37