"The fact that it's fully integrated is what's important for us," said Bell and Bain managing director Ian Walker. "We wanted paper in, book or journal out."

The SigmaLine, launched at Drupa, is made up of a SigmaPress print engine, based on the Delphax CR2000, a folder, gatherer, binder or stitcher, and a three-knife trimmer.

The Glasgow-based firm, which opted for the binding configuration, has bought the line in response to customers' demands for shorter runs, particularly with reprints. "We envisage typically using it for runs of somewhere between 50 and 500 copies," said Walker.

The firm had been looking at investing in digital for the last three or four years, but the quality wasn't "quite there". "We believe now, with the sophistication of the print engine and more importantly at the finishing end, the Sigma can produce an extremely high quality product," said Walker.

The three-knife trimmer particularly impressed as it allows the book size to be changed on-the-run, effectively meaning that no two books need be the same size.

Walker looked at a number of other digital book production systems but "they're not genuinely integrated inline systems," he said. "You print and you fold and then you take the sections off and bind them the next day."

The fact that the print engine on the SigmaLine uses cold-fusion means that there's no need to remoisten the paper prior to binding. "With the SigmaLine, once you have a print ready PDF, you hit the start button and there's a finished book five seconds later," said Walker.

The fact that Bell & Bain specialises in black and white books and journals makes it an ideal European debut for the Sigma. "If there's a perfect profile of a firm to take the SigmaLine, they are it," said Muller Martini technical sales representative and product manager for hard cover division David McGinlay.

Installation is set to begin in April 2005.

Story by Darryl Danielli