Bindery heavyweights Kolbus today stepped up an ongoing campaign to win over magazine printers with its Publica perfect binding line, a heavy-duty 13,000 books/hour line, the first of which has already been sold to Germanys biggest trade binder, Schlott-Sebaldus-Gruppe (a previously dedicated Muller Martini house).

The Publica is made up of some existing components from Kolbus bindery lines and some new units. The gatherer, the Zu 840, is a new model, now capable of producing up to 15,000 books/hour (over the previous 13,000 books/hour total of Kolbus other binders); it features a simplified, quieter section transport system using suction and air blast feed to give a single-button change of product length on its hoppers, and a more reliable feed. The Zu 840 also has an improved card gluer which allows electrostatic card placement on over 80% of the cover. The binder itself has improved spine preparation heads, using a strip cutting wheel with a redesigned profile for faster, cleaner strip cutting. The line is completed with a new de-stacker and goes online to third-party manufacturers polybagging and addressing facilities.

We are definitely targeting larger publishers and magazine printers with the Publica, said Kolbus UK managing director Robert Flather. It is a superb system for top-speed, high-quality book binding and we expect many high-profile sales in the coming year.

Story by Karen Charlesworth