Sandy, Bedfordshire UK – Watkiss Automation, the leading UK finishing equipment manufacturer, has added the new PowerSquare™ 160 booklet maker to its range.  Aimed at mid-volume digital printers, it meets the need for productive high quality booklet production.  It will be exhibited at Drupa 2016 on the Watkiss stand (Hall 6 C41).

The PowerSquare™ 160 is an open-architecture, complete booklet making system that staples, folds, forms and trims in a single pass to produce added value SquareBack™ books.  It builds on the established PowerSquare brand and uses Watkiss’ patented fold-and-form technology to produce the square spine at the same time as folding – which results in a sharper, better quality finish. According to Watkiss sales director Paul Attew “There are numerous advantages to the way that we make booklets, and with the PowerSquare 160 we can make this technology accessible for lower volume customers.”

Featuring JDF/JMF compatibility, the PowerSquare 160 will be available as an inline, nearline or offline solution. The modular system can include two suction-fed sheet feeders and, in inline configurations, features dual-mode functionality for flexible workflows. 

The PowerSquare 160 includes a face trimmer as standard, with optional full bleed trimming for colour booklets.  By trimming the book as the final process, Watkiss claims to produce a neater and more accurate result than the more common pre-slitting.

“The PowerSquare 160 complements our existing range.” explains Attew “While the PowerSquare 224 may be the best solution for high volume production booklet making, we recognise that it is a bit more than some customers need.  It was natural to develop the PowerSquare 160 as a sister product that utilises the same technology, but which is more suited to mid-volume applications.”