Rochester, N.Y. - With a KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press already in use and producing as many as 1.7 million book pages per day in its Laflin, Penn. facility, Offset Paperback Mfrs. (OPM), an arvato US Bertelsmann Company, has added a KODAK PROSPER 5000XL Press to its book publishing operations. OPM is one of the largest manufacturers of mass-market paperback books in the world. Its clients include many of the most recognized brands in publishing.

The PROSPER 5000XL Press adds full color offset class output to OPM's digital capabilities, with roll-fed speeds identical to the PROSPER 1000 Press: up to 650 feet (or 200 meters) per minute. This combination of speed and superior quality make the PROSPER 5000XL Press the most productive inkjet web press for 8-, 12-, and 16-page signatures. The PROSPER 5000XL Press matches the PROSPER 1000 Press's productivity of up to 120 million A4 impressions per duty cycle, with print widths up to 24.5 inches.

OPM combines both the PROSPER 1000 and 5000XL Presses with the MULLER MARTINI SIGMALINE In-line Finishing System. The two interconnected systems bring together digital printing and finishing in a fully automated production line, providing OPM with a complete solution-from PDF to finished book in a single operation, managed by the end-to-end workflow system CONNEX.

Using the PROSPER 1000 Press in July and August 2010, OPM shipped a total of 140,000 finished books to retail without a single rejected copy. The PROSPER 1000 Press has demonstrated a proven capacity to produce 6,000 books in a shift at OPM. This level of productivity led directly to business growth for OPM, making the decision to add a PROSPER 5000XL Press an easy choice.

"We're seeing print runs and cycle times getting smaller and shorter, and publishers are asking for more and more reprints of the same job," said David Liess, OPM President and CEO. "Customers now expect turn times of two days, half of what they were before. The single biggest advantage of the PROSPER Presses is our ability to deliver to our customers offset-quality four-color printing in short runs. PROSPER Presses really represent a game-changer, one that is already helping us grow our business."

Automating the production line from prepress to finishing provides significant advantages for OPM, noted Mitch Weiss, OPM's Vice President of Sales and Operations. "Digital printing with PROSPER Presses offers us cost savings as well as productivity," he said. "Inkjet technology is more economical than laser overall, and automation allows us to reduce or even eliminate the costs of expensive make-readies, as well as the need for manual intervention in binding and finishing the books."

This combination of faster time to market, offset print quality and automated inventory replenishment positions OPM to increase business from the largest book publishers, especially those in the high-volume textbook market.

"As book publishers look to maintain less inventory and choose shorter run lengths while maintaining their standards for high quality printing, PROSPER Presses provide OPM with the ability to reinvent its offerings to customers," said Ronen Cohen, Vice President of Marketing, Digital Printing Solutions, Kodak. "OPM and other printers in the book publishing industry can use PROSPER Presses to complement their offset operations and remain competitive in a rapidly changing marketplace."