The Tornado Autopunch EX will be launched at Drupa, on the Rhin-O-Tuff stand, the biggest it has ever had at 96sqm.
Rhin-O-Tuff vice-president of business development John Lugviel said: “For several years we have been working on this, trying to find the automated punch side of it. We looked all over the place for a partner and we were recommended to BDT by a mutual friend at the HP inner research group.”
The system combines BDT’s patented Tornado technology, with Rhin-O-Tuff’s own autopunch technology, delivering books ready for binding in a single platform.
Lugviel added: “We reached out to BDT and said that we did not know a lot about their paper-handling technology but that it looked very interesting. So we got together and talked about what they could do, how they could handle paper and move substrates that are very difficult to handle.”
The two businesses have been working on the punch system for approximately two years. After it debuts at Drupa, it will become available on the market for an as-yet unconfirmed price. A number of units will be shown at Drupa.
Lugviel said that in a printing market where production printers spend 63% of their time finishing, the autopunch system will save printers 40% of time in the binding process, by merging the feeding, collating, punching and offset stacking processes all into one step.
The Autopunch EX can handle media from weights of 60-312gsm, including speciality binding media, such as plastics and vinyl textures. It can punch up to 10,800sph and the main bin holds up to 2,500 sheets.
Rhin-O-Tuff will also be showing at Drupa its range of desktop thermal products, as well as the world’s first all-in-one electric coil binder, the Coil Binding System 3000, the first to have a punch with a coil insertion and electric crumper built into one unit.
Last September, it opened up a new sales office in London. It sells its products through representatives in the UK, such as Morgana Systems and PDC. Its premises in the US are in Boise, Idaho and Spokane, Washington. Founded in 1996, it ships to over 20,000 commercial companies worldwide.
BDT Print Media develops and manufactures print and packaging media-handling products. It is based in Rottweil, Germany, with production and service locations in the US, Mexico, China, Singapore, the Netherlands and Israel. It employs 420 staff.
