Binding On Demand

Printing equipment wasn't the only thing on display at the AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition. There was plenty of bindery gear, as well.

By Bob Neubauer

For more than a decade now the On Demand trade show has been giving the world a look at the latest in digital printing. But an equally important part of the show has been the bindery equipment on display.

Last month, IPG joined the 21,000 people who attended On Demand. As part of our mission, we sought out the latest bindery gear—a task made much more convenient by the show's relocation from New York to IPG's home town of Philadelphia.

From in-line equipment, designed to hook up to high-speed digital printers, to desktop folding and binding gear, the show had it all. Here's a look at the bindery vendors that were there and what they had on display. (Watch for our report next month on the digital printing equipment we saw at On Demand.)

High-volume Bookletmaker

Böwe Bell + Howell showed its line of DemandWorks high-volume document finishing systems, including the DemandWorks Booklet Maker, which creates personalized, individual booklets containing different content and varying page counts within the same job run. Also, the Intelligent Multi-Bin Feeder collation system was on display. With a flexible document-reading and control system, it is ideal for short-run or fulfillment applications and can collate up to 10,000 sets per hour.

www.bowebellhowell.com

New and Improved Slitting

Building on the success of the DC-545HC slitter/cutter/creaser, Duplo showed its second-generation DC-645. The heavy-duty machine can read printed images and automatically adjust and compensate for image shift. It slits, cuts and creases in one pass, reducing waste and ensuring optimum productivity. Improving on the DC-545HC, this model can manage heavier substrates (up to 310 gsm) and larger sheet sizes. It uses an ultrasonic double-detection sensor, and also features a reject tray and the ability to cut full-bleed, 20-up business cards on a 12x18˝ size sheet. The DC-645 has been specifically developed to support the JDF industry standard.

www.duplousa.com

Cutting and Stacking

Lasermax Roll Systems, formed from the recent merger between Stralfors' Lasermax division and Roll Systems, showed the LX501 Stack - Lightweight, which cuts and stacks three-up book blocks. This system can handle paper basis weights as light as 40 gsm. The ThreeUp System cuts, slits and stacks three-up printing, and also provides slit/merge capability for two-up printing. The ThreeUp is equipped with a number of in-line converting options, including three-hole punch for ring-binding applications and a strip cut/gutter cut combination to create full bleed sheets from pre-printed forms.

www.lasermaxroll.com

New Three-side Trimmer

Standard Finishing Systems showed the new Standard Horizon HT-30 three-side trimmer, featuring automated job setups and quick changeovers for the short run print-on-demand book market. It operates offline to trim perfect bound books at 200 cycles per hour. A touch screen operator console allows all setups to be performed with full automation. Precision stepper motors accurately position all guides and clamps to ensure professional quality cutting. Up to 12˝ of books can be loaded into the in-feed hopper, where books are automatically fed for unattended operation.

www.sdmc.com

Die-score System

Rollem showed its TR die-score system. Able to process up to 15,000 sheets per hour, the system perforates, scores and slits.The rollaway right angle allows for two-directional maneuvers in one pass. Single-pass processing allows you to confirm exact placement of score and slits. The Double Head model uses a two-stage process that lays a second deeper score over a first, eliminating cracking and achieving sharper creases on difficult stocks.

www.rollemusa.com

Folding, Stitching and Trimming

At the MBO America booth, the new DIGI-Finisher for customized brochure finishing was operating. The DIGI-Finisher is ideal for saddle-stitched brochures with variable or generic data and for just-in-time, short-run, variable, personalized or targeted brochures. Intelligent electronics for bar code control, content monitoring and automatic thickness adjustment complement the folding, accumulating, signature and cover feeding, stitching, three-side trimming and delivery.

www.mboamerica.com

New Folding Method

Morgana Systems brought its DigiFold creasing and folding machine to the show. It combines the company's proven creasing technology with a new folding method that reduces the possibility of marking or scratching even sensitive materials. It performs creasing and folding in one pass and can also act as a creaser alone when folding is not required. It handles sheet sizes up to 13x25-1⁄2˝.

www.morgana.co.uk

Many Types of Folds

The Graphic Whizard FoldMaster 250 folds up to 25,000 sheets an hour. Fold types include single, gate, letter, Z and double parallel. Users can perforate, score and slit using individually adjustable accessory holders before and after the fold rollers.

www.graphicwhizard.com

Perfect Binding Made Easy

At the Spiel Associates booth, the company featured the Sterling Digibinder, which can bind books at the touch of a button. Book thickness is self adjusting: place the book in the clamp and the Digibinder sets the clamp thickness automatically. The blade roughs the backbone of the book and notches the spine. Twin glue rollers apply an even coat of glue and the nipper is adjusted automatically. It can bind books up to 2˝ thick and 121⁄2˝ long.

www.spielassociates.com

Perfect Binding with Speed Adjustment

C.P. Bourg was showing the Bourg Binder BB3001. This perfect binder features Bourg Automatic Speed Optimization, which adjusts the speed of the carriage according to the thickness of the book. This maximizes productivity (up to 500 cycles per hour) while ensuring a quality bind. It also has a milling/notching unit and can bind from just two sheets up to 1.77˝ books.

www.cpbourg.com

Wire-O Binding with Automation

James Burn International showed its new Semi-Automatic Wire-O binder, which can produce up to 1,000 Wire-O bound books per hour. All size and format setups are adjustable with a user-friendly touch screen. The automatic functions cut, feed and position the wire for insertion. The closing unit accurately positions the document, without the need for stops or paper guides. A deep pile reception unit completes the operation.

www.wire-o.com

Laminating with Extra Pressure

Banner American Products was at On Demand with its Foliant Gemini 400A laminator, featuring a reinforced hydropneumatic pressure system to provide maximum pressure and thus better lamination. It accepts standard polypropylene film for offset and digital prints. Sheet sizes up to 15x23˝ can be laminated. The fully modular construction easily accommodates an optional separator and feeder.

www.banam.com

Ink-jet Addressing

For mailers, Buskro was showing its Apollo 760 ink-jet printing system. Users can specify from 1˝ to 4˝ of print in a number of configurations, with up to 3˝ in a single array. Compose SI control software lets users manage graphic images and also produce bar codes and fixed/variable text. The Apollo 760 comes with a document feeder, transport table, controller, software, extension table, dryer cradle and conveyor.

www.buskro.com

Designed to Bind In-line

The print-on-demand process can hit a serious bottleneck if sheets have to be moved to an off-line binder. Several vendors showed bindery equipment that was designed to work in-line with today's most popular digital printing devices.

Standard Finishing Systems (www.sdmc.com) launched the Standard Horizon ColorWorks 8000 at On Demand. Designed exclusively for in-line operation with the Xerox DocuColor 6060, 7000 and 8000 production color printers, ColorWorks 8000 performs bookletmaking, scoring, bleed trimming, folding, stitching and stacking. New features include a faster production rate of 80 pages per minute and the ability to apply up to four score lines per sheet for the production of perfect bound book covers and tri-panel brochures. A bright color touch screen allows simplified setups and changeovers.

Another in-line product was the Xerox Manual + Book Factory. Already available with the iGen3 and DocuTech 6180, this C.P. Bourg (www.cpbourg.com) device was introduced at On Demand for the Nuvera digital production systems. Available in mid-July, it will allow documents to be printed, collated, bound and trimmed in a seamless production process.

At its booth, GBR (www.gbr.com) showed the Mathias Bäuerle Multimaster CAS 52 TI90 turning station folder for Xerox and Océ printers. The folder is designed to connect directly to single sheet printers and turn sheets 90 degrees during transport to change the direction without use of a roller table. The TI90 portion of the system processes sheet sizes from 8-1⁄2x11˝ (and A4) to 12-1⁄2x18-1⁄4˝. The system memorizes 60 individual fold jobs.

The FusionPunch II in-line punch from GBC (www.gbc.com) recently completed validation testing for the Xerox Nuvera 100 and 120, as well as the DocuColor 7000 and 8000. The FusionPunch II connects in-line with these devices, combining printing and punching. Its long-life punching dies can be changed in minutes without tools. They include CombBind, WireBind, VeloBind, three-hole and ColorCoil. For applications that don't require punching, the FusionPunch II has optional touch-button bypass capabilities.

Riso previewed its HC5000 Finisher. Designed to work in-line with its HC5000 printer, the Finisher offers folding, stapling, booklet making and punching (two and three holes). The cover sheet tray has a 200-sheet capacity. The booklet tray can hold 20 sets, with each set having 15 sheets. The top tray holds 500 sheets while the stacking tray holds 2,000 letter-size pages or 1,500 ledge-size sheets.

Binding Books for Kids

Several manufacturers teamed up for the Declaration of Education program, which donated 10,000 books to students of the School District of Philadelphia. After being printed on roll paper by the Océ VarioStream 9210 continuous-feed system at 852 ppm, the text pages were converted to sheets with an LX560 cutter from Lasermax Roll Systems (www.lasermaxroll.com).

Then B21 eight- and 16-page folding units from MBO America (www.mboamerica.com) were used to fold 12-page signatures. The B21 runs at 8,000 inches per minute, using a prelubricated and sealed ball bearing system to reduce noise and spiral rollers that provide mark-free folding. The Palamides alpha500 stacker stacked signatures for delivery.

Then the Muller Martini (www.mullermartiniusa.com) SigmaBinder took over, binding all 10,000 books. The SigmaBinder produces perfect bound books at up to 1,000 variable-sized copies an hour. A built-in measuring station uses laser technology to acquire the dimensions of the incoming book block, which is used to adjust the length, width and thickness settings of the binder. The SigmaTower ensures proper cooling of books and optimal curing of adhesives.

Tabletop Units

Desktop Folding

New from Baum at On Demand was the B12 AutoBaum tabletop folder. Designed for short runs, it is preprogrammed for six popular folds and stores up to nine custom jobs. Sensors detect the sheet size and a fault detector automatically stops operation. A telescoping outfeed stacker holds up to 500 folded signatures. The B12 AutoBaum handles paper sizes from 3-1⁄2x5˝ to 12-1⁄4x17˝.

www.baumfolder.com

Automatic Collator

MBM was at the show with its FC 10 automatic tabletop collator. With a 275-sheet bin capacity, it collates a variety of stocks and weights at speeds up to 3,600 sets per hour. Its touch-button control panel simplifies setup and operation and a "bin empty" sensor prevents bad sets. Programming modes include preset batch, insertion and an alternate bin mode for continuous production. It also has self-centering feed try guides and adjustable feed and separator pressures on each bin.

www.mbmcorp.com

Desktop Binding

Powis Parker demonstrated its Fastback Model 15xs, a desktop binding machine. It binds from three to 350 sheets. With Smart Strip technology, the binder reads the pattern on the back of the binding strip, then optimizes the cycle for the type of book being bound. The strong thermoplastic adhesive grips between each page can withstand 50 lbs. of pull.

www.powis.com