Ferag said that at 40,000 copies an hour the UniCover 40’s rotary technology meant the cover hopper reached speeds that were twice as fast as other cover hoppers.
This is fast enough to enable the cover hopper to be connected inline to a UniDrum gatherer-stitcher, according to the company, allowing users to process unfolded sheets from a web offset press directly to the UniCover and then directly to a gatherer stitcher for the first time.
Sales director Thomas Obenauer explained that the UniCover 40 is designed to work with as many different formats as possible, with a range of between 200mm by 110mm and 340mm by 310mm. He added: "When creating the UniCover 40 we said we need to reach the speed of the UniDrum and we need to cover all of the classical formats."
"Eliminating the time consuming and costly intermediate step on a folding machine is another building block in helping customers to reduce production costs," he said.
Meanwhile, a Minisert inserting line, first discussed at Drupa and aimed predominantly at newspaper printers in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America, was also unveiled.
Ferag demonstrated how, with speeds of up to 20,000 finished copies an hour, this entry-level line would allow newspaper printers previously inserting manually to automate this process. The line’s modular design, with a hopper group, inserting module and stacker, was showcased, as was the rotary principle of the machine and its integrated missing-copy control.
Introducing both machines, Ferag CEO Jürg Möckli said: "We want to continue to surprise and astonish the market with new developments, and ensure the continuation of the print industry into the future."
