The PowerSquare 160 bookletmaker staples, folds, forms and trims in a single pass and is an open-architecture, complete bookletmaking system for producing square-backed books.
It builds on the established PowerSquare brand and uses Watkiss’ patented fold-and-form technology to produce the square spine at the same time as folding.
This results in a sharper, better quality finish, according to Watkiss sales director Paul Attew. With JDF/JMF compatibility, the machine will be available as an inline, nearline or offline system.
“The PowerSquare 160 complements our existing range. The PowerSquare 224 may be the best solution for high-volume production bookletmaking but is a bit more than some customers need,” he said.
“It was natural to develop the PowerSquare 160 as a sister product that utilises the same technology, but which is more suited to mid-volume applications.”
The machine is being shown for the first time at Drupa and is due to be available in the fourth quarter of this year. Specifications and cost have not been released.
Communications director Jo Watkiss said the price would be “substantially lower than the 224 machine”.
“The 224 machine is too productive and expensive for some customers looking for a lower entry-point into the booklet market.
“We sell into the in-plant sector for commercial organisations as well as education and local government. But quite a few of these don't need as capable a machine as the 224.”
She added: “We envisage the machine will be used inline and offline; it is open architecture so can be connected inline to a digital printer with or without additional feeders.
“But you can also run it separately on an offline machine and this dual-purpose functionality is becoming more in demand.”
Watkiss said while the PowerSquare 224 typically worked with printers running at 100 to 150ppm, the PowerSquare 160 was more suited to those running at around 70ppm.
The modular device can include two suction-fed sheet feeders and inline configurations as well as the dual-mode functionality for flexible workflows.
The PowerSquare 160 includes a face trimmer as standard, with optional full-bleed trimming for colour booklets.
Trimming the book as the final process produced a neater, more accurate result than the more common pre-slitting, said Attew.
