Biddles has installed a uniquely configured Xeikon VaryPress at its digital book production plant, which it estimates will be producing 10% of the firm's output by the end of the year.


The black-and-white digital web press will fill the gap between the firm's Xerox DocuTechs and its Heidelberg and Timson offset presses for high-quality, short-run print work.


"With the VaryPress we can print to order the exact quantity required at a competitive unit cost with minimal waste," said general manager Iain Hudson.


"There is instant job set-up, no platemaking costs and we have the ability to provide quick reprints to meet market demand."


"At 80m per minute the VaryPress is almost twice as fast as Oce and IBM offerings," said Bob Loader, general manager of short-run books.


"Its greater web and imaging width means we can impose pages in Royal/ Demy format head-to-head."


The cold fusion technology used in the VaryPress, which eliminates heating and curling of printed sheets, produces the quality of binding associated with conventionally printed books, Loader added.


Story by Eloise Seddon