Deceuninck, who is managing director of Muller Martini’s Northern Europe business, including the UK, said the manufacturer’s Finishing 4.0 message at Drupa would include a focus on “the interactivity of things” for slicker workflows and improved productivity.
“This interactivity of things plays on the key aspects of productivity, quality and the reduction of downtime,” he said.
Muller Martini’s 1,550sqm booth in Hall 2 at Drupa will include a raft of new and enhanced products, with nine systems using the firm’s Connex system, demonstrating the benefits of connectivity and “touchless workflow”.
“People often think about investments in terms of pre-press, press and post-press but this is the wrong way around. They should focus on post-press first because this has the highest value,” Deceuninck stated.
“I do believe people should start with the backend, because at the end of the production chain you want to have a sellable product – that’s where the money is coming from. You have to make sure the backend can swallow and process the whole thing.”
The Swiss manufacturer has moved to Hall 2 due to its strategic partnership with Heidelberg, which saw Muller Martini take over Heidelberg’s saddlestitching and perfect binding business in 2014.
New products include the Vareo small three-clamp binder with “3D makeready” for variable format and thickness. Further new product developments will be revealed at the show itself.
Sales manager David McGinlay said that Muller Martini’s wizard systems meant the firm could guarantee the first book produced would be of saleable quality, vital for digital printing environments producing print runs of one.
“We’re in a position where we can say to customers, rather than talk about it let’s prove it. We can now produce books of one with variable pagination, one behind another, which was impossible in the past,” he said.
The company is talking to users of Xerox iGen and HP Indigo digital presses about the capabilities of its latest finishing lines, as well about its hybrid capability to mix digital and offset sections.
“With the Presto II Digital saddlestitcher you can produce products with differing pagination, from signatures of varying pagination so you can build 16pp, 32pp and 48pp products from 4pp, 8pp and 12pps,” McGinlay explained.
“At Drupa we want to highlight that the way of production in the past has moved to something completely different, it’s now completely automated.”
The Presto Digital II will also be running on the Canon Oce and Xerox booths.
Waste management will also be key theme for the manufacturer at the show. “If you do that well it can be the difference between profit and loss,” Deceuninck added.
