At the Hunkeler Innovation Days in Lucerne Heidelberg will show solutions for the production of digitally printed softcover brochures. Themed HEI Flexibility, this is an answer to the trend to smaller runs and higher flexibility for the finishing of digitally and conventionally printed jobs.
Together with its partners Hunkeler, ATS, Müller Martini, and Polar, Heidelberg will demonstrate a flexible machine network where a complete brochure is produced live.
The system consists of a Hunkeler UW6-unwinding module and CS6-I cross cutter directly connected to an inline Heidelberg Stahlfolder TH 56. The sheets are unwound from a reel digitally printed by Ricoh, crosscut and folded in one workstep. They are then transferred as a collected pile to an ATS FAB A 820 bundler. All units involved use the same barcode system in order to ensure that the product is compiled and produced correctly.
The folded signatures are then brought together with the cover on the latest Müller Martini perfect binder and bound with hot melt glue to a completed brochure. The final three-side trim is done automatically in the Polar three-side trimmer BC-330, where the production barcode is read again.
The solution shown allows for the production of a large variety of products in small runs without having to do elaborate retrofitting. It is also possible to process both, digitally printed and conventionally printed jobs according to requirements.
Heidelberg and Hunkeler have worked together as partners for integrated finishing solutions in digital printing for several years. The Stahlfolder folding units of Heidelberg are used in many Hunkeler installations worldwide, both in rotary printing as well as in digital sheetfed printing.