Finishing leader to demonstrate live at drupa how variable magazines and books consisting of sheet-fed offset, web offset and digital printing elements can be produced using a fully connected, highly automated machine line-up.

Offset and digital printing of magazines and books is one thing; the efficient print finishing of hybrid products is another. Under its drupa theme, Finishing 4.0, Muller Martini will demonstrate at its booth in Hall 2 how signatures from both printing methods can be processed according to a smart workflow on a day-to-day basis. Hundreds of copies of over twenty different print products will be produced live each day using no fewer than nine connected systems that demonstrate smart automation and touchless workflow. 

To enable hybrid products, the print finishing systems must be digital ready. Muller’s systems have met that requirement for many years. At drupa, they’ll present numerous new developments in all finishing segments (i.e., saddle stitchers, perfect binders, thread sewing machines and booklines), including an all-new solution for the three-sided trimming of softcover books in ultra-short runs. These innovations not only underscore Muller Martini’s position as a market leader, but also provide booth visitors a glimpse of the future of print finishing.

The complex hybrid products at the Muller Martini booth will include a bilingual “in-flight magazine,” which will be produced sequentially in sets of four copies, with varying page counts, in A4 size using the Presto II Digital saddle stitcher. Since hybrid products are not limited to saddle stitching and are gaining in importance in the softcover segment, especially when it comes to high-quality customized business reports and school materials in the B2B segment, Muller will also present perfect binding solutions. For instance, a digitally printed book block will be produced using the SigmaLine and fed using the book block feeder to the Alegro perfect binder, which will be showcased in a new digital version. The hybrid softcover product will be finished with offset signatures that are fed via the gathering machine.

During drupa, Muller Martini will also be represented at the partner booths of two digital printing press manufacturers, Canon Océ and Xerox. Two identically configured Presto II Digital saddle stitchers, each with an unwinding system, cross cutting unit (both from Hunkeler) and pocket fold unit (from Heidelberg), will be used to stitch several products live.

Massachusetts-based DS Graphics, a Muller Martini customer specializing in Variable Data Print (VDP), uses a Primera Digital saddle stitcher for that same purpose, further proof that customized and personalized magazines, brochures and catalogs have win-win-win appeal. “The publishers save money because they can save distribution losses by using targeted print products, the end customers save time because they only receive products that they are genuinely interested in, and it’s an attractive business model for our company,” says DS Graphics President and CEO Jeff Pallis.