Bookfactory, which specializes in digital production, allows Bubu to consistently follow its corporate philosophy – which is based on offset production: “It is not the book itself, but rather its finishing that makes the difference” (Thomas Freitag). That’s why, for example, Bubu prints black and white photos using duplex technology, frequently uses special paper and is known for its unique book covers.
A majority of the revenues earned by Bubu, which employs some 90 people, come from industrial bookbinding orders for printers, mainly in Switzerland. Bubu uses an Acoro A5 perfect binder, a Diamant 60 bookline with an endsheet feeder and a Collibri backgluing machine from Muller Martini for these orders. Bubu also produces photobooks for the company’s photobook portal bookfactory.ch, which has made a name for itself with its high-quality and diverse photobooks. And Bubu has once again ventured into new technological territory for these products – at least in the hardcover area.
As part of a field test, the family company is using a new integrated inline system with an endsheet feeder, a Vareo perfect binder and an InfiniTrim three-knife trimmer for the production of hardcover book blocks in runs of one. Muller Martini presented this inline solution to the wider public at the Hunkeler Innovationdays in Lucerne last February as a world premiere (see “Panorama” 1/19).
“We were looking for an all-in-one solution for hardcover books with runs of one and we didn’t make things easy on ourselves by looking closely at five different solutions,” says Raphael Kacimi. The CTO of Bubu said there were four main points in favor of Muller Martini’s equipment:
- The robust machine construction
- The proximity to the plant in Zofingen
- Their good experiences with the other machines
- The option of using them as a hybrid solution
The biggest challenge with photobook production is the variable product thickness of the books and the automated pre-gluing of the endsheets along with very short setup times. “This machine is like a chameleon – it can really do a lot,” says Raphael Kacimi. “It’s barcode-controlled, highly reliable and, thanks to its flexibility and broad range of formats, it allows us to produce a wide variety of creative book formats – from perfect-bound and thread-sewn softcover and hardcover books to special brochures, such as Swiss and layflat brochures."