Hauppauge, New York – More than 200 enthusiastic visitors from around the world took advantage of an exciting Open House at Muller Martini in Oftringen, each with the common goal to learn about new standards and trends in finishing. Muller Martini invited informative speakers and made nearly its entire print finishing product line available for individual demonstrations. This year’s Open House was themed “Muller Martini, One Year after Drupa” and the event highlighted new innovations since the graphics trade show in Dusseldorf in May, 2004. The Open House also focused on new and evolving trends in the finishing industry. A full agenda of speakers offering their expertise Visitors to the Open House received specialized invitations to attend presentations given by industry experts in various subject areas. First, the internationally recognized PDF and JDF expert Stephan Jaeggi, from Binningen, illustrated the possibilities of the Job Definition Format (JDF) with a specific workflow example. JDF is currently developing into a global standard for exchanging information on print jobs and is supported by nearly all manufacturers. As an ultimate goal of JDF, Mr. Jaeggi envisions compatibility of systems and the communication of all people and processes involved in printing production...even beyond “company borders.” Muller Martini also invited one of the most respected specialists in the field to Zofingen – Matthias Will, the Editor in Chief of the renowned German trade magazine, “bindereport.” In his presentation, Mr. Will offered his expertise with regard to several prognoses made at Drupa that have already become reality. He also provided his insights about which trends he sees being most noteworthy, or not, in the future. Mr. Will expects that the number of companies in the marketplace will continue to shrink, and that the “market shake-out” already begun in the printing sector will also continue in the finishing industry. Book binderies will be under international pressure to reduce costs and, according to Mr. Will, it will be important that companies not only meet the challenges of the market passively, but approach them actively, head-on. In this context, he places the greatest possible emphasis on having the most modern technology. “We need to be able to produce efficiently,” stated Mr. Will. “Employees must have a high degree of flexibility and be ready and able – a question of training, which must also be included in the calculus – to meet every deadline and customer request.” In their impressive presentations, Gerhard Tschan (Director of Marketing, Saddle Stitching), Felix Stirnimann (Director of Marketing, Press Delivery Systems), Rolf Peter (Director of Sales, Saddle Stitching) and Dragan Volic (Director of Marketing, OnDemand Solutions) clearly illustrated what Muller Martini’s current strategies are, one year after Drupa. They also discussed the possibilities that the Zofingen world market leader in print finishing sees for helping its customers increase efficiency and productivity. Practical applications are still important Along with the theories about the industry and where it’s headed, practical applications were also on the minds of just about everyone in attendance at the Open House. An interactive format gave visitors many opportunities to test what they learned in practice and discuss various topics with the speakers. Almost every saddle stitcher in the Muller Martini line was also demonstrated in production...from Presto, the efficient, entry-level model...all the way up to the high-performance Supra. In addition, visitors were able to take a close look at the Apollo, Perfetto and Robusto compensating stackers, as well as the Onyx/Rubin inserting and film wrapping machine, along with the new Integro inserting machine. Demonstrations of bundle stackers and rotary trimmers rounded out the successful program.