Finishing - Material Handling

It's no secret that the U.S. print and finishing sector has been quite a challenge for vendors over the past five years, or so. Economic conditions and the continuing consolidation of the print industry have completely re-shaped the landscape they were so familiar with.

In order for printers to keep their existing magazine and catalog production contracts, they need to be able to produce such work with minimal manpower. Those in publication printing have to implement every type of automation efficiency that's possible.

As high-speed inkjet printers increasingly displace their offset cousins, roll-handling equipment manufacturers have realized that their units will have to acquire many more talents in order to maximize the digital production workflow. The newer systems can now convert the printed web into “bindery ready” work.

It’s a reality that digital print has enabled very-short-run book production. In fact, the term “book-of-one” has entered the language as a descriptor of the short-run process. Designing a system for producing books of one is no easy task.

The Magnapak system with 42 positions being installed at the Tribune Direct facility will support selective packaging of the company’s total market coverage (TMC) product and several other products for its growing list of newspaper packaging customers.

The new SmartStacker, from Horizon International, has been designed for use with the new HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press, and can be operated in-line with this press or used as a near-line system to serve multiple printing devices.

The last drupa and the upcoming one have both been characterized as the “inkjet drupa.” Rightly so, as the advance of inkjet technology continues. But a printed roll of paper is worth nothing until it's turned into a finished product.

Paper recycling lacks the sexiness of a new press. Ever get jealous about the size of your competitor's baler? Didn't think so. Sure, it is a necessary evil, but if your shop prides itself on quality and attention to detail, then you can't short-arm your paper 
handling system requirements.

Dieter Worschitz, Owner, Matti Group shares from IPEX the Paper Handling and transport solutions that include Kodak Versamark Printing Systems components for imprinting applications.

Besides the obvious quality advantages of the indexing technique, and the impressive running speeds, RIMA is offering its RS 34 indexing stacker at a very attractive price—about 25% less than other indexing stackers on the market.