In addition to two soft cover production systems, from February 24 to 27, at the Hunkeler Innovationdays in Lucerne, Müller Martini, Heidelberg, and Hunkeler will demonstrate a unique all-in-one solution for digital saddle stitching according to the motto “A broad spectrum of different applications from the printed roll to stitched product.” Several jobs with different content and variable thicknesses will be produced very efficiently by a printed roll – from a small run to individualized one-up products. With this, we will be demonstrating our unique workflow expertise – in line with our maxim “PDF in – magazine out.”
 
As we learned in many conversations at drupa in Düsseldorf and at PRINTING United in Las Vegas last year, our customers are relying increasingly on digital saddle stitching. This is first and foremost due to great progress in digital printing technology, progress that provides far more possibilities than ever before. Now, graphics companies can produce not just classic magazines but a broad spectrum of other products such as business reports; bank, insurance, and health documents; and documents for education and elections. These often feature different content and in some cases are also personalized.
 
Complete workflow integration with extremely short setup times
We will demonstrate live in our HID booth how these complex products can be produced in an industrial environment. Our comprehensive end-to-end solution will win you over with complete workflow integration for the job data transfer and great variability with regard to content and scope – and this with extremely short setup times. The line consists of:

• A Hunkeler UW8 unwinder,
• A Hunkeler CS8 sheeter,
• A Heidelberg buckle-plate folding unit,
• A Prinova Digital saddle stitcher
• And a Perfetto PRO compensating stacker.

 
The rolls unwound on the high-powered UW 8 unwinder module, which has proven itself a thousand times over – which features easy, quick, and intuitive operation and whose constant error diagnosis guarantees efficient and productive processing – will also be printed live at the booth of our partner Canon in the hall next door. Here, our Connex LineControl PRO workflow system, which can communicate with Canon's PRISMAproduction workflow system and thus with the printing press, handles job management. It creates job tickets and a printable PDF and is also responsible for the imposition. With the Connex Info Cloud, our booth visitors can track the production data live on the screen.
 
Nine different demo products
The Prinova Digital processes the rolls printed at the Canon booth to create nine different end products. These differ in their print run – between ten and 30 copies – as well as in their content and number of pages – between 16 and 48 pages. Thanks to its great flexibility, the Prinova Digital produces all of these jobs seamlessly one after another and without any user intervention.
 
For three of the nine jobs, we will also demonstrate how, precisely tailored to the product, offset sheets and covers can be added to the digital content. Thus, the Prinova Digital is also predestined for the processing of so-called hybrid products – which consist of digitally printed and offset printed signatures. Of course, during the demonstration, we will also produce our popular coloring book with individualized content and the appropriate cover.
 
Any number of pages without empty pages is possible for these products for two reasons. Firstly, Hunkeler’s CS8 sheeter can produce different signature lengths thanks to its DynaCut function. And secondly, the Heidelberg buckle-plate folding unit allows dynamic folding of single sheets, which are then saddle-stitched in length fold. For example, a product with 28 pages is produced with three signatures with 8+8+12 pages.
 
Have I sparked your interest in digital saddle stitching? Then I look forward to seeing you in our HID booth in Lucerne!
 
Yours,
Adrian Mayr, Director Product Management at Müller Martini