Finishing First
I’ve been in the print finishing industry my entire life, with some of my earliest memories dating back to when I was just five years old. Over the years, I’ve witnessed significant changes in engineering, technology, production processes, and the overall approach to achieving a high-quality finished printed product.
Today, the industry’s focus is increasingly centered on adaptability for the end consumer, with much of that evolution being digitally driven. However, offset printing remains very much alive and continues to play an important role in the marketplace. For decades, Müller Martini has been recognized as one of the leaders in book and magazine finishing. Throughout its history, the company has consistently demonstrated the vision and adaptability required to meet changing market demands. Today, Müller Martini offers digital, hybrid, and offset finishing solutions, along with software platforms for imposition, job management, and line control through the Connex Workflow System. These solutions are designed to manage all three production environments seamlessly, allowing manufacturers to remain flexible and responsive to customer needs.
In January of this year, we officially entered the market as Müller Martini Hunkeler, directly selling and supporting Hunkeler solutions. As Müller Martini Hunkeler, we now offer one of the industry’s most comprehensive print finishing portfolios from a single original equipment manufacturer. Our partnerships with many leading digital and offset press manufacturers have long been established, and for more than a decade we have delivered both inline and nearline finishing solutions. With the addition of the Hunkeler portfolio, we now provide an even broader range of solutions to meet the evolving needs of the market.
As the industry continues to evolve in real time, the demand for greater efficiency, automation, and reduced production costs has never been more important. Along with these changes comes the growing need to rethink how the finishing process is designed, integrated, and optimized within the overall production workflow.
The future of print finishing will belong to companies that can combine automation, flexibility, and intelligent workflow integration while continuing to deliver the quality and reliability customers expect. Finishing is no longer simply the final step in production — it has become a critical component in driving efficiency, profitability, and competitiveness across the entire print operation.
This is why “Finishing First” has become more important than ever. Over the years, while working with some of the largest printing companies in the world, I’ve noticed a common
theme among the market leaders: they paid just as much attention to the finishing department as they did to the pressroom. They understood that the quality, efficiency, and profitability of the finished product are ultimately determined in the finishing process just as much as during printing itself.
Today, printing technology has become incredibly advanced across nearly every platform. Press manufacturers continue to improve speed, automation, and print quality at an impressive pace. But once ink is placed on paper, the real challenge begins — transforming that printed sheet or roll into a finished product efficiently, consistently, and profitably.
If you were building a state-of-the-art printing facility today, I would argue that determining how you are going to finish the work is just as important — if not more important — than determining how you are going to print it. The finishing strategy influences workflow design, labor requirements, turnaround times, automation capabilities, inventory management, and ultimately the customer experience.
A press may create the printed image, but finishing is what delivers the final product to the customer. In many ways, finishing has become the true driver of productivity within modern print manufacturing.
That is why “Finishing First” is no longer simply a philosophy — it is becoming a competitive advantage.
