The Schmedt product range is focused on small- to medium-run length production, which Kolbus said “dovetails perfectly” with its own range. 

The Hamburg-based manufacturer makes machines for specialist book and photobook production tasks including edge printing, embossing, casing in, and the attachment of head bands and bookmarks. 

Kolbus will provide full technical support via its UK team and will hold spare parts at its Houghton Regis facility. 

UK managing director Greg Bird said he was proud to be able to formalise the new agency agreement. 

“For some time we have referred Kolbus UK customers to Schmedt if they were looking for smaller equipment. We’ve done this with confidence because we were impressed with the high quality of their German made machines, very much reflecting the standards we know from Kolbus GmbH,” he stated. 

“Now that we are Schmedt’s machinery agent we can offer a full technical and spare parts service to our Kolbus UK customers.”

Book printer CPI Group has invested in additional Schmedt device at its CPI Antony Rowe site in Eastbourne. 

The group already runs Schmedt kit at its new Bognor Regis on-demand production site, which went live last year.

Antony Rowe Eastbourne has installed a Schmedt Cover One automated casemaking system that can run at more than 250 copies/hour, and cuts the book cover material and board components on-demand. 

General manager Glenn Hylands described it as a simple, high-quality device that was “the perfect machine for our work mix”.

“The Schmedt Cover One system enables a bar code on the cover material to not only make ready the casemaker in seconds, but to cut the boards and spine strip to the exact size for each case and deliver ergonomically to the operator,” he said.