December 2, 2003 -- U.S. printers and bindery specialists got a chance to preview advanced finishing technology in action at the MBO America/Muller Martini Open House last month. The two bindery leaders were joined by 21 other exhibitors who also demonstrated their latest advancement. MBO America’s main warehouse in Westampton, New Jersey (on the outskirts of Philadelphia) was transformed into an exhibit hall, complete with banners and signage, multi-media displays and of course the latest in prepress, press and finishing equipment. An elite group of over 500 graphic arts decision makers attended the by-invitation-only event. “With the economy improving, printing and finishing facilities are looking for a competitive edge to secure more market share,” said Werner Naegeli, CEO and President of Muller Martini Inc. “This Open House gave them the opportunity to experience first-hand the systems that will make their workflows more productive so they can win more business.” “Each of our Open House partners demonstrated equipment designed to cope with the realities of the marketplace — shorter runs, narrower margins, tighter deadlines,” noted Hans Max, President of MBO America. “And there were experts on hand at all of the demonstrations to answer questions and show visitors how they can apply what they learned to their own operations.” Muller Martini took center stage at the Open House, with a quartet of innovations. In fact, a continuous BravoPlus AMRYS demonstration made graphic arts history at the event. It positioned Muller Martini as the first postpress equipment manufacturer to utilize JDF files live for machine makeready. The combination of AMRYS servo motors strategically positioned throughout the machine and JDF commands automates one of the most time-consuming jobs in the bindery — setting up pocket, stitching unit and trimmer specifications between jobs. By fully integrating CIP3/4 and JDF files into real world applications, Muller Martini showed Open House participants how they could profit right now by investing in the technology that takes full advantage of the efficiencies of the digital workflow. Muller Martini’s short-run on-demand perfect binder, AmigoDigital, worked at the product end of a soft cover book production line. For the first time in North America, the binder was connected to an IBM digital printing system. The IBM Infoprint 4100 printed at the rate of 280 feet per minute. Its output was fed into a Stalfors LX500 for cutting, then to an MBO system where it was folded into signatures. A Palamides Alpha 500 gathered the signatures into bookblocks, and the AmigoDigital did the rest, turning the blocks and their colorful covers into durable books. As the product producer on the digital workflow line, AmigoDigital demonstrated its ability to makeready itself from job specification data supplied upstream from a digital press. Its integrated network of AMRYS servo motors powers the process.