April 13, 2004 -- Javits Center, New York City — An integrated digital production line, featuring input from eight leading industry suppliers, produced over 7,000 books that were donated to the New York City Department of Education at the ON DEMAND show. Dr. Askia Davis, Superintendent of the Department’s Office of Strategic Partnerships, accepted the contribution during a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Books for Schools exhibit. Joining Dr. Davis were students from the city’s High School of Graphic Communications Arts. The titles produced throughout the show were the classics: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Homer’s The Odyssey, and A Short Collection of Sherlock Holmes Mysteries by Arthur Conan Doyle. “The graphic arts have embarked on several efforts to make sure printing retains its place as the world’s number one media as our new century progresses,” said Andrew J. Fetherman, Manager of Muller Martini’s OnDemand Solutions Division. “Books for Schools is an active part of that movement by promoting literacy through the introduction of attractive, affordable books at a critical educational development point.” The exhibit’s workflow began with Dakota Digital Book paper from Boise Paper Solutions. An LS Series Automatic Web Splicer from KTI fed the stock into the digital printer — Delphax Technologies’ CR1300 Digital Web Press. It printed each book block at a rate of 2,400 six-by-nine-inch pages per minute. A Stralfors LASERMAX LX560 cutter and LX565 stacker worked in-line to create the cut-sheet book blocks from the continuous web. Then a Shuttleworth Slip-Torque Star Roller conveyor transported, accumulated, and indexed the results. Finally, the Muller Martini AmigoDigital perfect binder seamlessly combined the book blocks with color covers produced on a Xeikon digital press and laminated by a D&K system. The 7,000 soft cover books were produced at speeds of up to 1,000 fully variable size books per hour. Finally, the books were trimmed at a rate of up to 2,000 books per hour on a near-line Esprit three knife trimmer that made its debut for the digital market at ON DEMAND.