McCormick Place, Chicago — Muller Martini is showing printers and finishing professionals how to make the most of computer integrated manufacturing in their binderies and pressrooms. Under the theme “Integration — Solutions from A to Z,” the company is introducing a host of new interoperable stitching, binding, printing and on-demand products to the North American market at Graph Expo 2004. The Muller Martini exhibit is designated as #1447. However, the company’s innovations are working at locations throughout the show, as a way to highlight their ability to integrate into a variety of workflows. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a multimedia presentation that takes viewers on a tour of solutions introduced at drupa, demonstrates several new advancements live, and points out other Graph Expo exhibits showcasing Muller Martini advancements. Frontero for One-Pass Production of Gatefold Covers Frontero, a new face-cut trimmer for efficient production of brochures or books with gatefold covers, makes its North American debut. Travel guides, paperback books and even annual reports are increasingly produced with six- or eight-page covers or flaps that can be used as bookmarks. Until now that required two separate production steps: The first involved creation of the book block with face trim, while in the second pass the cover was applied and the head and foot was then trimmed. With the new Frontero face trimmer both these operations can be integrated to shorten processing time considerably, because the system has the ability to pull back the cover before it makes the face trim. On perfect binding lines that are equipped with a gatefolding station, books with gatefold covers can be produced in a single operation, in-line, cost-effectively, and with the best quality. In addition, thanks to a performance rate of up to 6,000 cycles per hour, the Frontero ensures a high net output. A Merit three-knife trimmer will be working in conjunction with Frontero at Graph Expo to complete head and foot trimming in-line. Esprit three-knife trimmer handles the short runs Muller Martini has developed a new three-knife trimmer designed to make short-run perfect binders perform more cost-effectively, while also offering affordable off-line trimming at the highest trim quality. Called Esprit, the innovation integrates perfectly with the binder to provide a single-pass, soft-cover production line. Esprit is priced to be the entry-level choice for printers and binderies purchasing their first trimmers. The system is also ideal for facilities seeking to streamline their existing bindery workflow. The new trimmer comes with a set of 14 cutting bed cassettes that simplify changing product size between jobs. All the operator has to do is lock in the appropriate cassette, confirm the change on the touch screen and Esprit is ready to roll. As to run speed, Esprit puts the final cuts on soft cover books just as fast as the perfect binder can assemble them, at the top speed of 2,000 cycles per hour. The system has the capability to trim several books per cutting cycle at a maximum thickness in excess of 3 inches. That means the job is out of the bindery and into the customer’s hands just that much sooner. Alprinta adds speed & versatility to the pressroom Muller Martini is setting a new benchmark in pressroom versatility at Graph Expo with the North American premiere of Alprinta. This high-end variable-size web offset press is designed to help commercial printers grow their businesses by equipping them to produce a broader variety of products. Muller Martini’s newest press combines format versatility, in-line productivity, and superior print quality. That lets printers compete in more markets than they can with their current equipment. Alprinta’s list of capabilities is an extensive one. It includes sophisticated direct mail projects, flexible packaging applications, label jobs and other specialty types of commercial printing. In operation, Alprinta’s integrated automatic makeready system (MRS) can preset such essentials as register and ink fountain profiles without prompting. That lets press operators complete other tasks, while Alprinta’s artificial intelligence takes care of the basics and handles both new and repeat jobs automatically. Alprinta is fully JDF/CIP4 compliant, which opens the door to a variety of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) efficiencies. An actual printing unit from Alprinta is on static display at Muller Martini’s exhibit. Concepta Goes Variable Concepta — another new addition by Muller Martini to its variable size web offset press family— is designed to provide printers with the quickest makeready and highest print quality in its class. A two-color version of Concepta is running continuously at the Nipson exhibit at Graph Expo — #3360. It’s working in-line with the Nipson VaryPress 400 to produce variable data, direct mail pieces. Concepta is designed to help printers differentiate themselves from their competition, so they can win more work. Among the factors that make Concepta unique in that regard: • Prints on a variety of substrates. • Broad format range — from 14" to 28 1/ 3". • Highly modular design can be configured with up to 12 offset printing units, as well as a wide range of in-line options. • High level of automation including an integrated automatic makeready system (MRS) that can preset such essentials as register and ink fountain profiles without prompting. • Fully JDF/CIP4 compliant, which opens the door to a variety of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) efficiencies. BravoPlus AMRYS Demonstrates CIM Connectivity As its name indicates, BravoPlus Amrys (Automatic Makeready System) automates one of the most time-consuming jobs in the bindery — setting up saddle stitching systems between jobs. Job parameters can be entered on the system’s console, retrieved from the system’s built-in hard disk or captured directly from a company’s MIS or prepress system, via JDF. At Muller Martini’s Graph Expo exhibit, everything the saddle stitcher needs to know about the project will be supplied directly from a JDF digital job ticket. That saves additional time and virtually eliminates the possibility of input errors. A second BravoPlus Amrys will be an integral part of MAN Roland’s CIMcity workflow — exhibit #1017. SigmaLine Components Team with AmigoDigital In their North American premiere, the next generation AmigoDigital perfect binder is joining with the new SigmaTower and SigmaTrimmer to produce commercial quality perfect bound books on-demand. The combination is in production at the Océ pavilion at Graph Expo — booth #3000. An Océ VarioStream 7650cx Twin continuous feed print engine handles the imaging to create an integrated book-on-demand system that will be producing soft cover volumes throughout the show. The new AmigoDigital is equipped with a newly designed infeed that handles book blocks more effectively to improve the overall efficiency of the system, which can cover and bind as many as 1,000 fully variable size books per hour. Makereadies on the AmigoDigital have been enhanced as well. Serving as an in-line buffer between AmigoDigital and SigmaTrimmer is the new SigmaTower. It provides a dynamic cool-down zone for bound volumes, allowing their glue to set so their structural integrity is ensured before they arrive at the trimmer. Also making its North American debut is Muller Martini’s SigmaTrimmer. The system is the first trimmer designed exclusively to out-pace any on-demand printing system, while producing commercial quality results. It can trim books that have a different length, width and thickness — one right after another — at the rate of 1,500 variable copies an hour. At that speed, not even a second can be spared for manual adjustments, which is why SigmaTrimmer is the industry’s first zero makeready trimmer. The system automatically sets itself from upstream data, so it is fully integrated into the on-demand workflow. AmigoDigital Makes ‘Books for Schools’ Muller Martini’s AmigoDigital perfect binding system will be producing classic works of literature for donation to the Chicago Public Schools at Graph Expo 2004. The demonstration will be conducted continuously at the Delphax exhibit — #2682 — to document AmigoDigital’s short-run, zero-makeready production capabilities. The Chicago Public Schools will be the recipients of books finished on an AmigoDigital at the show. Six classic works of literature will be produced in soft cover, with 6,000 copies of the assorted titles donated to CPS as part of the ongoing “Books for Schools” Program. Another 2,500 copies will be provided to the GASC Education Program; they will be distributed among 25 schools in a four-state area. Muller Martini’s partners at this year’s Graph Expo include Glatfelter Paper, Delphax, Stralfors, MBO/Palamides, Shuttleworth, and Xeikon. Compacto Rotary Trimmer Another innovation that’s new to the North American market is the Compacto rotary trimmer. It features the patented “VibroTec” shingle centering aligner, which loosens the incoming queue of signatures from the bottom, while supporting them across their full width. That results in a floating effect, equipping Compacto with the ability to more accurately process different size formats, and is the basis for precise square trimming. In addition, the Compacto is designed for fast changeover. All set-up axes are motorized and can be adjusted in increments of 0.1 mm by conveniently arranged rocker switches and digital displays. Since format adjustments evolve from the center position, the Compacto can easily be operated from either side. JDF Compliant Muller Martini is also a participant in Graph Expo’s JDF Pavilion. The company’s integrated workflow solution will demonstrate how it makes the bindery a fully active participant in the efficiencies of computer integrated manufacturing. “This year’s Graph Expo is about more than bringing our drupa advancements to North America,” Naegeli says. “We’re connecting the dots with working applications, so printers and bindery professionals can see how the new integrated workflows can benefit them and their customers.”