Director Mark Sharman explained, ‘We had been producing all our work on a Tensor T-400BE newspaper printing press, but decided to offer much shorter print runs, and invested in our first Xeikon 9800 with a Tecnau newspaper finishing line. The recently-added second 9800 press prints to flat sheets, which will be finished on the Horizon folder. This adds to our overall digital capacity and enables us to produce a wider variety of newspaper products. The folder was chosen because it offered the best finishing flexibility for output from the Xeikon.’

Horizon was considered because of the exiting connection with IFS through Tecnau web equipment. Mr Sharman said, ‘Because our experience was of a complete inline solution we wanted something that could manage the applications we were producing today and hoping to produce in the future. It also needed to be quick to set up and easy to use. Our team needed to be confident in running it.

‘We liked the fact the system had an integrated cross-folder so that it was fully automated. The touch screen also helps with the ease of set up. It is ideal for the work we are doing now, and it will enable us to expand our applications as well.’

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Sitma was founded in 1965 and offers direct mail and transpromo packaging systems, post-press collating, inserting, addressing and wrapping systems, film packaging systems and e-logistics for book and e-commerce markets as well as parcel sorting solutions. The move allows Tecnau to strengthen its position with the addition of a well-established brand and product portfolio and to boost its diversification in the e-logistics segment, begun recently with the opening of the newTecnau Automation & Packaging division.

With head offices in Spilamberto in northern Italy near Modena, Sitma has sales and service branches in France, Japan and the United States, which now add to the established Tecnau direct presence in the United States, Germany, Belgium, Singapore and Sweden. Tecnau is distributed and supported in the UK via Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS).

‘We are very excited to welcome all Sitma employees, customers and partners to the bigger Tecnau family,’ said Stefano De Marco, chief executive officer at Tecnau. ‘Sitma has a long history in the graphics business with a very consolidated and high-performance product mix. Over the last few years Sitma was able to diversify and apply its technical expertise to the fast-growing e-commerce business, developing sustainable, pack-to-size technological solutions as well as energy saving and low-running-cost parcel sortation systems.

‘Tecnau endorses this strategy and will provide all the necessary support to retain and expand further the wide customer base in traditional segments and to broaden the portfolio and customer base in new growing areas.’

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After holding annual virtual showcases, Tecnau will stage a physical presentation of its technology. Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS), Tecnau’s UK and Ireland distribution partner, will host UK operations looking to develop their print production capabilities.

Attendees will be able to see the latest integrated options in post-press paper handling automation for digital printing that support an array of applications, including transactional printing, transpromo, direct mail, publishing, graphic arts, books on demand and short runs.

The event will host live and virtual demonstrations of many of Tecnau’s feeding and finishing products for high-speed production digital presses. They include versions of the new Revolution 50 series for high-speed cutting and stacking of web-fed inkjet output, fully automated BookReady and Stack 1212 for cutting B2/B2+ press sheets down to finished size in a single pass, and a member of Tecnau’s Libra family of book finishing systems. Attendees will be able to participate in a networking forum with colleagues from across the industry.

Eric Keane, IFS managing director, commented, ‘After a couple of years of virtual Spring Forward with Tecnau events, this in-person opportunity will enable operations to explore up close and personal what Tecnau technology can deliver. Tecnau is widely recognised for its vital product development partnerships with customers and every major printer manufacturer. Its history and background in industrial automation has also enabled the development of customised solutions to support specific requests. This approach ensures the development of responsive solutions that meet today’s market demands and, in fact, several products have been inspired by customer requests. At this event UK operations will be able to see for themselves how they can drive their successful ongoing evolution.’

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The system can change applications on-the-fly without manual intervention at full printing speed, according to Tecnau, enabling book printers to manage short runs and book on demand with exact page separation and no requirement for guillotine processing.

The new cut-sheet finishing solution may be equipped with an automatic 90-degree turning station to rotate 2-up imposed sheets from long-edge leading to short-edge leading, so that printer speed is maximised and ‘book of one’ production is possible. Book blocks are cut, stacked, offset separated and delivered to a belt conveyor ready for the next finishing process. BookReady is said also to feature a space efficient design ideal for book printers.

‘BookReady is designed to optimise production and facilitate finishing operations, building on the success of Tecnau’s Stack 1010 sheet-fed cutting/stacking system. The solution guarantees high efficiency while eliminating possible errors for customers who want to actively compete in the digital book sector for short runs and book-on-demand,’ commented Tecnau managing director Stefano De Marco.

Jason Seaber, technical sales director for Tecnau’s UK & Ireland distributor IFS,  told Digital Printer, ‘The new Tecnau BookReady addresses a very important need that most book printers have by eliminating the need to take printed sheets, imposed 2-up or 4-up, from their printer to a traditional guillotine for cutting down, with the operator then having to manually separate these stacks into separated book blocks for near-line binding.

‘With fully automatic job size changeover, book blocks large and small can be produced on demand, at full printer speed, with 100% integrity and with no manual touch points. This can save book printers up to 33% in labour and reduce the unit cost per book.’

The post Tecnau cuts out guillotines with SRA3 book block system appeared first on Digital Printer.

Reprising last year’s inaugural event, Tecnau’s Spring Forward will this year feature live presentations from customer sites in Europe and the US, ranging from highly automated solutions to mid-range production lines to meet different needs in terms of automation and investment level.

Stefano De Marco, managing director at Tecnau, stated, ‘At Spring Forward 2022 we will enter the production floor of selected customers and discover how end-to-end solutions can improve business and transform white paper to beautiful and colourful printed applications such as books, catalogues, direct mail, photos, flyers and more. We will also analyse trends and see how the digital print world is evolving and where it is heading.’

Eric Keane, managing director at UK Tecnau distributor IFS, added, ‘Last year’s Spring Forward series of live events successfully demonstrated the powerful evolution of digital print. As important as the printing engine technology is the ability for post production capabilities to be smooth, streamlined, fast and efficient. At this year’s Spring Forward manufacturers and their customers are able to demonstrate just how impactful a carefully designed combination can be.’

The schedule is

1 June – Screen and Tecnau – books (Spain, morning) and transactional mail (US, afternoon)

9 June Ricoh and Tecnau – promotional and direct mail (Germany, morning), mixed (US, afternoon)

15 June – Canon and Tecnau – direct and transactional mail (Sweden, morning), direct mail (US, afternoon)

22 June – HP and Tecnau – books (Italy, morning), direct mail (US, afternoon)

Session are at 09:00 BST mornings and 16:00 BST afternoons.

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The company employs over 500 people and installed a Ricoh VC70000 inkjet web press at its newest facility in Oeynhausen. To keep up with the press’s 150m/min maximum speed,  a Tecnau Revolution 50 cut-and-stack system and U40 splicing unwinder were selected in tandem with the press.

The zero speed splicer allows roll changeovers to be made without stopping the press, while the  Cutter C52 enables variable cutting with perpendicular and cross chip-out for full-bleed applications. The cut sheets are moved via vacuum belts to the Stacker S51L, whose delivery section can handle sheets up to B2 in size and supports formats from 1-up to 4-up, though 3-up is the maximum required in this instance. The press and finishing line are arranged in a u-shaped configuration, designed to be operated by one person.

The installation was completed with a separate Tecnau unwinding and rewinding system, allowing printed rolls to be processed on other finishing equipment or sites as well as supporting special runs.

‘We were looking for a technically and economically attractive, fully digital solution to replace hybrid production of personalised direct mail, which was previously a two-step process, namely sheetfed offset followed by digital toner printing. Of course, since switching to digital-only with inline finishing, we’ve been able to respond much faster to time-critical jobs, because the offset pre-print and platemaking processes are eliminated,’ said Arndt Wille, business development manager at Sattler.

Substrate flexibility for the digital production was an important factor in the choice. ‘We want to exploit the available range of paper types and grammages as far as possible and use both uncoated and matte or glossy coated art papers. The paper weight plays a big role, too. We’re currently still limited to 250gsm but we anticipate that 300gsm will become increasingly prevalent owing to postcard production. In the long term, we’re also considering lightweight coated papers and significantly lower grammages in readiness for products moving towards data-driven marketing,’ explained innovation and solutions manager Christian Haneke.

The post Sattler takes Tecnau kit for digital web production appeared first on Digital Printer.

Set to take place in May and June, a series of sessions will see Tecnau demonstrate various continuous feed and cut-sheet production finishing solutions in combination with one of these digital print partners, with live demonstrations from the Tecnau Experience Center and partner demo centers in Europe and the United States.

‘Digital print technology continues to evolve rapidly,’ said Tecnau managing director Stefano De Marco. ‘Digital print finishing is also evolving to keep pace with these developments, but digital print customers and prospects may be challenged to stay informed. We’ve created Spring Forward with Tecnau in conjunction with our major printing partners to enable customers to see the latest printing and finishing innovations in action.’

The Spring Forward with Tecnau events will occur weekly, beginning 18 May, the company has confirmed that multiple printing systems, as well as a range of finishing alternatives, will be demonstrated across the sessions.

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Systems available for demonstration include versions of the new Revolution 50 series for high-speed cutting and stacking of web-fed inkjet output, the recently-announced Stack 1212 for cutting B2+ press sheets down to finished size in a single pass, and a member of Tecnau’s Libra family of book finishing systems.

Tecnau will be cooperating with its various digital press vendor partners to bring in sample papers for finishing equipment demonstrations, showing a range of digital print applications from transactional to direct mail, publishing and commercial print.

Tecnau managing director Stefano De Marco commented, ‘We’re very pleased to offer customers, prospects and partners the opportunity to see a broad range of Tecnau products in action. This is even more true in this time of restricted travel, as we’re able to livestream product demos. And of course, we look forward in the future to hosting live visits to the TEC and to our hometown of Ivrea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.’

Tecnau products are distributed in the UK by IFS.

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Able to cut and stack a range of finished products from postcards to letters to books, the new Tecnau unit is specifically aimed at converting multi-up output from the ’emerging’ generation of B2+ digital presses that currently includes inkjets from Fujifilm and Konica Minolta as well as HP Indigo’s B2 models, reducing manual print handling and labour-intensive operations and consolidating them into a single-pass automated process.

The Stack 1212 supports 1-up to 21-up impositions on stocks from 70 to 350gsm, with an input capacity of 6000 B2 sheets per hour and output size down to 4 x 5-in (102 x 127mm) postcards. The unit is said to have a space-saving footprint on around 30sqm. A double cut/gutter capability allows for bleed print and the unit uses a cutter/slitter cartridge design for quick job changeovers.

Intended for offline operation to support multiple presses, the Stack 1212 has a pallet feeder option and finished jobs can be delivered to a conveyor one at a time, individually offset within a stack or when an operator-programmed stack height is reached, to facilitate easy and consistent packing, for example.

IFS managing director Eric Keane stated, ‘This cost-effective and space efficient cutting/stacking solution is ideally suited to users of B2 colour digital presses looking to automate their finishing. Its smooth and streamlined operation supports greater production efficiency and flexibility – ideal for operations looking to responsively increase their capacity.’

The post Tecnau adds cutter/stacker for B2+ digital print appeared first on Digital Printer.

The system produces short-run digital book printing jobs of varying run lengths, is available with a tack-gluing option and operates at speeds of up to 230m/min.

The 5152 is a member of Tecnau’s Revolution 50 series, a family of products featuring Internet-of-Things compatibility, and media flexibility.

The system plow-folds the web once or twice along the travel direction, enabling efficient use of a web-fed press at its maximum print width. Curl is canceled out as the web is folded back onto itself, for reliably flat books. The StreamFolder 5152 also features ‘north/south job offsetting,’ offsetting sets/book-blocks back and forth in the direction of travel to maintain full speed even for multiple consecutive small sets.

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