Hunkeler highlights paper handling in Switzerland

Paper handling technology manufacturer, Hunkeler, hosted the largest yet of its biannual Innovation days in Lucerne. Print21 European correspondent, Nessan Cleary, sent his report.

The tightly focused paper processing and digital printing show, first held in 1996, attracted some 5000 visitors from all around the world, including 30 industry professionals 30 from Australia.
It is a measure of the event’s growing importance on the calendar that all the major digital equipment manufacturers were there, some using the show to launch new technology.
The advent of high-speed digital inkjet is changing the requirements of paper processing and handling. The changing face of book production is creating the need for complex, flexible on-demand production technologies. With all the major digital press manufacturers releasing high-speed inkjets it is little wonder that this year’s Hunkeler Innovation show was of prime importance.

Xerox used the show to announce its Production Inkjet Printer, first shown last year at Ipex as a technology-only demonstration. Xerox now has at least one beta site running and is expecting to have the machine commercially available later this year. It’s being promoted as a waterless solution as, unlike the other inkjet devices, it uses solid inks that are heated to liquid form before being jetted to the paper. It works with uncoated 50-160gsm paper, and the image quality appears more than adequate for the transactional markets that it’s primarily aimed at.
Muller Martini showed off its Primera Digital Saddle Stitching system, which can be fed from multiple sources, including an inline printer, roll-feeder, and inserting machines. It takes multiple page sizes up to A3+ and runs at speeds up to 14000 copies per hour. Muller Martini claims that it will work with both traditional and digital equipment, reducing the need for multiple lines.
Hunkeler itself demonstrated a book production line, with a double plow folder and a new non-stop Stacker unit. This can run at up to 200 metres per minute and can stack book blocks from 10 to 50mm. It features integrated signature gluing, making it easy for an operator to pick up the individual book blocks from a stack.

Digital presses everywhere

Digital press manufacturers lined up to show their presence in the high-speed production space.
Ricoh Infoprint showed its continuous feed production inkjet 5000 engine while parent company Ricoh demonstrated the new production printing system - Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition, with 90 pages/minute the fastest in its class.
Screen showed its top of the range, Screen Truepress Jet520ZZ inkjet printer for high-volume, variable data books, transpromo, manuals, and newspapers.
Also shown was the management software package Barr-EOM, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Web-to-Print Solution NowPrint and the Business Driver Programm.
Kodak, HP, Xeikon, Canon and Heidelberg all had production solutions on display at the event.

Read Nessan Cleary’s full report on the Hunkeler Innovation Days in the next issue of Print21 magazine.