FormerLine from manroland web systems will start production in Asia

manroland web systems has successfully expanded its applied expertise in the digital print market. Using its own know-how, the company has developed digital print finishing modules such as the pin folder FoldLine und the FormerLine. It's about to get serious, now that an Asian customer is lined up to invest in FormerLine.

The FormerLine system was developed for digital book production on an industrial scale. “We will deliver the first FormerLine to a customer in Asia,” explains Paul Schnabel, Sales Project Manager at manroland web systems. “The customer is a pioneer in digital printing and will receive several FormerLine modules within the next two years.” As all offset press manufacturers are aware, moving to digital printing is not simple, and entails hard work and a steep learning curve. 

“At manroland web systems, we want to combine our decades of experience in web offset and folding systems with new digital technology,” says Alwin Stadler, Vice President Sales Digital Solutions at manroland web systems. “Intensive research programs have provided us with in-depth experience in digital printing and helped us to master the finesse of digitally printing products such as newspapers, magazines, or book blocks.” Consequently, manroland web systems focuses on the manufacturing of variable format postpress solutions to suit the specific flexibility and quality requirements of digital printers. One resulting product is the book block solution FormerLine.

FormerLine plus Collator VBC
The FormerLine offers unprecedented variability, allowing infinitely variable cut-offs from 145 to 420 mm. In conjunction with a book block stacker, for example the RS 34 from RIMA System or the VBC Collator from manroland web systems, both developed to carry the variability further, the system enables highly efficient, large-scale production of stacked signatures or an output of up to 6000 auxiliary glued book blocks per hour with a thickness of up to 100 mm. The web travels across two or three formers, as required, to allow printing of 4 to 8-page or 8 to 16-page products. Both inline production and offline processing of pre-printed reels are possible. The cutting unit for variable cut-off lengths is equipped with two cutting cylinders for extra reliability. FormerLine and the VBC Collator are designed for web speeds of up to 300 m/min. The maximum web width is currently 1067 mm in the version with three formers. The system’s high efficiency is manifested in makeready times of less than three minutes for a format change and from three to six minutes for paper changes. This translates into top productivity and thus short amortization periods. The FormerLine system and VBC Collator can also be combined with units from other manufacturers to create complete production lines for industrial-scale book production.

Connecting digital and offset
“Of course we don’t leave our customers to integrate processes and production equipment on their own,” explains Alwin Stadler. For manroland web systems, process electronics, production planning and high-end printing technology constitute a single package that ensures smooth production processes at optimum efficiency levels. This strength now also benefits users of the digital print finishing modules FoldLine and FormerLine from manroland web systems. DigiLink and printnetwork Bridge are software modules that were especially developed to bridge the gap between the formerly separate production worlds of offset and digital printing. This makes the whole process of production planning, printing, and finishing more efficient and economic.