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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An existing Koenig & Bauer offset customer, Grafica Veneta started its digital printing journey with covers produced first on a Fujifilm JetPress 720S, replaced by a 750S model in 2021 . The RotaJet, which was installed in the company’s Trebaseleghe facility near Venice in the autumn of 2022, has been matched by a similar unit at Lake Book Manufacturing near Chicago, Illinois, US, installed in early 2023. Lake Book was acquired by Grafica Veneta in 2021 and the investment in digital print capacity there is seen as key to expansion in the US market

Both RotaJet installations support 1/1 production on a 1300mm web, with paper handling via Koenig & Bauer’s Pastomat reel stand and Patras M reel logistics system; front-to-back register is effected via two central cylinders and fine-tuned hot air and IR dryers enable printing on light papers. They feed into automated finishing lines that produce finished books in a single workflow. The reel-to-finished book time is said to be under one minute.

‘The press has been in full production since autumn 2022 and will have a lasting impact on the book printing market,’ says company owner Fabio Franceschi. ‘Our long-standing and trustful partnership with Koenig & Bauer is now growing to include digital printing. The RotaJet offers us and our customers a whole host of new opportunities in many areas. Thanks to the digital capabilities of this press, we can also print smaller jobs more efficiently and in top quality, and that will enable us to react quickly to changing market demands.’

The RotaJet presses can handle a range of materials and weights, from tissue paper to board, with applications from leaflet to folding cartons, coffee bags and wall decor, the latter supported by a cut-off length of over 5m. Christoph Müller, CEO Segment Digital & Webfed at Koenig & Bauer, commented, ‘This project demonstrates that our high-performance RotaJet digital press is able to print a wide variety of products on almost all substrates.’

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Over the years, Hunkeler’s eponymous Innovationdays event has become an important platform for the continuous feed digital printing industry to coalesce around, attracting all the major press manufacturers as well as a variety of software developers, and providing a highly focused gathering for this part of the digital printing industry.

Almost 100 partners will also present their latest products in all areas of digital printing and processing in Halls 1 and 2 at the Messe Luzern. These partners include all the major manufacturers of printing and finishing systems, software developers and providers of finishing materials and consumables. As in previous years, many of the exhibitors will use the event to offer a European or global premiere of their latest innovations. A selection of these is listed below.

Exhibitor highlights

Mailroom automation for transactional print and direct mail will be the focus of the Bowe Systec stand, with a particular focus on the Fusion Speed inserting system, which will have its first ever live demonstration in Lucerne. The inserter can process up to 30,000 envelopes per hour and will be demonstrated in conjunction with Bowe’s Boxit system for automatic filling of postal trays. The company will also explain how upstream and downstream stages can be streamlined as part of an end-to-end automation concept.

Canon is playing its cards close to its chest but has promised two product news announcements at the event which ‘build on Canon’s expertise in inkjet’. Topics to be discussed also include the company’s strategy and how technology and business innovation can be harnessed together help ‘future-proof’ PSPs’ operations; the focus will be on publishing, promotion and business communications.

Another premiere at Innovationdays will be on HP’s stand, where the recently-launched PageWide Advantage 2200 digital web press will make it first European appearance. During the four days of the event, HP will be printing different applications such as postcards, leaflets, catalogues and books on a variety of substrates on the 150m/min press. In addition, the US company will showcase automation and services solutions.

Hybrid Software Group will feature its technologies for industrial print manufacturing processes which use inkjet and other printing techniques, showcasing all its brands covering the full stack of core technologies needed for inkjet. These include colour management, high-speed Digital Front Ends and Rips, pre-press software for labels and packaging and printhead drive electronics. All the group brands will be represented: ColorLogic; Global Graphics Software; Hybrid Software; iC3D; Meteor Inkjet and Xitron.

Converting and high quality embellishment will be the theme of the Kama stand, which will feature the Servo generation of the ProCut 76 Foil. The machine suits a range of applications from die-cutting, creasing and perforating to embellishment with hot foil, hologram and relief for commercial jobs and folding cartons. It will be shown with the AutoRegister AR3, which uses two cameras to bring each sheet into position at full speed.

Kern will present the new Kern 3200 Flash, a modular multi-format inserting system designed for flexible and complex inserting jobs in the medium- to high-output range. Different configuration options make it suitable for use in transactional and direct mail. A newly-developed inserting module is said to be the only system in this performance class that can be equipped with more than one envelope magazine, allowing the system to process different envelopes job by job, without the operator having to make a physical change. The 3200 Flash can be combined with a choice of modules, including roll and single sheet feeding. It is also possible to integrate up to 16 inserting stations.

Kodak’s Prosper Ultra 520 will get its first European showing

Another European first will be the Prosper Ultra 520 web press from Kodak. To be shown with a Hunkeler unwinder and rewinder, along with the Hunkeler WI8 web inspection system, the press will print live three versions of a ‘magalog’ (blend of magazine and catalogue) with different editorial and marketing content. The application will demonstrate the Ultra 520’s ability to print heavy ink coverage on standard offset paper at 150m/min. Other finished samples from the Ultra 520 and from the Prosper 7000 Turbo press, which runs at up to 410m/min, will also be presented, along with Kodak’s Prinergy On Demand workflow software.

Kyocera will feature its TaskAlfa Pro 15000C sheet-fed inkjet press, with a focus on its sustainability credentials, productivity, output quality and media flexibility. One-to-one demonstrations are being offered. More information may also be available about the graphic-arts focused version that is understood to be in development.

Another world first in Lucerne is the arrival of the Prinova Digital Saddle stitcher from Müller Martini. The highly automated 9000 cycles per hour unit supports both digital and hybrid print production and brings Müller’s Smart Factory concept to magazines, brochures and catalogues. Developments to the Vareo Pro perfect binding line will also be shown, including a mixed mode that allows softcover books and hardcover book blocks to be produced in the same run, complemented by a new de-stacker and sorting for subsequent InfiniTrim cutting. A variety of live jobs, including all-digital and hybrid printed products, will be featured, along with the supporting Connex workflow.

Workflow developer OneVision will explain how its software allows for ‘a complete integration of company processes’ by being configured to suit existing systems. The modular middleware can automate the production process from file input through printing and embellishment and finishing, while connecting to existing print and finishing hardware and software such as MIS or ERP.

Ricoh will be making the first public showing of its Pro VC70000e inkjet press that includes a number of hardware and software features and updates which collectively increase ease of use through automation, while providing greater media and applications flexibility via pre-coating. This will be complemented by the introduction of TotalFlow Producer, which the company describes as a ‘vendor agnostic automated job onboarding solution’. The new workflow software designed to automate job intake and consolidation from multiple sources, to run automatic pre-flighting and to support personalised job upload and status portals for print clients.

Riso will feature its newest additions to the SRA3 Valezus sheet-fed inkjet line, which are targeted at production print job demands that are difficult to handle efficiently on continuous-feed presses. The twin-engined Valezus T2200 is capable of duplex printing at 330ppm. The single-engine Valezus T1200 is aimed at both short and long-run full-colour transactional printing at 165ppm. Both are equipped with feeder/stacker units for a maximum capacity of 8000 sheets on the T2200, and half that on the T2100. Both models support uncoated papers only, from 46 to 210gsm.

The Smart High Definition technology from Scodix will appear in the premiere of the Ultra 6000 embellishment press

Also making a first European appearance will be the Ultra 6000 digital embellishment press from Scodix with SHD (smart high definition) capability. It will be used to demonstrate embellishment of B1 and B2 sheets for a variety of book covers, from paperbacks to high-end jackets and Scodix says it embodies the economics and productivity to replace analogue embellishment technology whilst offering publishers greater flexibility. Examples of the SHD technology will also be shown.

Staff from Solimar Systems will demonstrate how its workflow-enhancing post-composition solutions support production printing on both cut-sheet and continuous feed devices, finishing, mailing, e-delivery and document archiving. The company is partnering with HP to show how direct mailers can save significant sums and with Screen to demonstrate dashboard tracking of incoming work and device-level ink and media consumption reporting via Screen’s Equios workflow.

W+D will use the event to launch its new BB820+, a new flagship inserter which the company says allows for the widest range of direct mail sizes, from C6 envelopes up to B4 flat packages up to 15mm thick, and which can insert at up to 20,000 piece per hour, 25% faster than the model it replaces. The new machine comes with a new rotary feeder for consistent feeding at the higher speeds and an additional servo axis for flexible and size-dependent motion control of collating track, envelope gripper transport andinsert finger.

Short-run book printing using the Sirius dry toner technology will form a major part of the Xeikon exhibit, centred on the roll-fed duplex Xeikon SX30000 press, which is also getting its first public European showing. Three high-end applications will be shown – a coffee-table travel book, a full colour tourist guide and a highly illustrated book on architecture. The SX30000 roll-fed press will be running in line with a Hunkeler Gen8 roll-to-stack solution, producing book blocks which to be bound on an offline Muller Martini Vareo Pro with InfiniTrim.

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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 inline version of the SD-435/450 booklet-makers will be available exclusively from Konica Minolta throughout 2022. The supported formats range from A6 to A4 landscape (via long sheet printing) and the units can perform corner and edge stapling, folding, spine forming and full bleed trimming in one system that is said to be easy to use.

Further options include the RCT 3.0 Rotate Crease Trimmer which allows production of professional-standard full bleed trimmed and creased booklets on sheets up to 620mm long. Anti-static bars can be fitted if required for more reliable paper handling. As an alternative KM offers its own TU-510 four-edge trimmer and creaser.

Another option in the FM-400 finishing module that includes a news design, face trimmer and square folding mechanism in one unit, and the high capacity BST4000 book stacker for long unattended runs; the latter can be configured straight after the SD-435/450 or at right angles to it to suit available space and physical workflow.

KM says that this completes its finishing portfolio, noting the various other Plockmatic binding units that have been launched for its digital presses since the partnership began in 2016. These include the SD-500 and PowerSquare 160 and 224  models.

Konica Minolta has also announced an HD version of its B2 digital press, the KM-1e HD. Technical and other details are conspicuous by their absence but the company claims that the ‘new’ press provides higher quality specifically in skin tones, uniformity of solid tints and reproduction of textures, which it expects to increase the machine’s appeal to producers of photobooks, art books and digitally printed packaging. It is not clear whether there is any change to the KM-1e’s physical, electronic or mechanical specifications or whether these improvement have been implemented in software alone. A first customer has been announced, however, Werner Druck & Medien of Basel, Switzerland, which has also bought an MGI JetVarnish 3D embellishment press and a MotionCutter laser cutter and plans to use the devices in packaging and finishing, according to managing director Roger Kessler.

The B2+ (585 x 750mm) 3000sph (simplex) KM-1e UV inkjet press was introduced in June 2020, four years after the introduction of the original KM-1 model at drupa 2016, and offers 1200 x 1200dpi resolution in CMYK only, with a wide range of media compatibility thanks to its UV-curing inks. In 2020, worldwide installations stood at around 100 but the company had ambitions to double that. No figure for current installations has been revealed and neither is it clear whether the HD version supersedes the KM-1e or complements it, whether an upgrade path between the models is possible, when the new version will be available, nor at what price.

Digital Printer will report further on this machine when we receive responses from Konica Minolta. We will also be focusing on B2 digital presses in our May/June 2020 issue so to ensure that your receive that report, please register if you have not already done so.

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The Lucerne-based high speed digital printing and finishing event, which until 2019 had been held biennially, will now run from 27 February to 2 March 2023, resuming what would have been its normal schedule, and like drupa, missing an instalment entirely. According to Hunkeler, the 2022 space was almost fully booked, with increasing demand; all existing bookings are being transferred to the 2023 event.

‘The decision was made in close consultation with our largest exhibitors and business partners,’ stated Stefan Hunkeler, president of the Board of Directors and responsible for Innovationdays. ‘Our goal is to hold a successful event. The unclear Covid-19 developments in various countries continue to restrict travel. The rules and regulations around the pandemic are dynamic and, in some cases, locally regulated. They continue to make international passenger travel difficult. In addition, various exhibitors are confronted with the globally known supply chain problems, which make it even more difficult to hold such an event.’

The 2022 event would have coincided with the company’s hundredth anniversary.

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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.

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Exclusive to Canon, the SDD PTM7006 can be attached inline to a Canon ImagePress C910 or VarioPrint 140 Series printer, allowing production of brochures and manuals in one operation without additional handling or finishing steps. Trimming the long edge of booklets up to 6mm thick, the module also flattens the spine to give a ‘superior, professional appearance’ and makes packing and stacking for distribution easier. There are also two further options to enhance booklet quality – a two-side trimmer for full-bleed applications and a square fold module to achieve a completely square spine.

Joseph Courts, head of product marketing for Canon UK & Ireland, commented, ‘For print businesses, the pandemic has put fresh emphasis on the importance of automation and of adding value for customers. Finishing is key to both and we’re committed to offering the broadest possible choice of solutions, helping print producers to succeed by streamlining production and branching out into new application areas. With  this new option from our finishing partner SDD, PSPs and in-house print departments working with Canon digital toner printers can add a professional edge to their products, while cutting production time and costs.’

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The new machines sit between the C4080 entry-level models introduced in December 2020 and the high volume C14000 launched in October 2019, and complete the update of the company’s toner press lineup, replacing the current C6100. A number of durability improvements have been made within the print engine and associated paper handling, some taken from the C14000, while other ‘shared platform’ aspects of the design of the C7100 with its smaller sibling mean that bringing Konica Minolta’s technical support staff up to speed should be straightforward.

The use of Simitri V toner is said to lead to lower power consumption thanks to a lower fusing temperature, and reduced maintenance, while better supporting thick or textured media. It has a more matt appearance and improved electrostatic characteristics for use with plastic substrates. The colour set, as with the other toner presses, is CMYK only, with no announced plans to introduce support for clear, white or neon colours, though these are things that KM is ‘seriously considering’.

On-the-fly quality control for register, paper defects and colour consistency via the optional IQ-501 unit is offered and Konica Minolta expects a high proportion – probably over three quarters – of C7100 purchasers to take this option. The press prints at 2400 x an ‘equivalent’ 3600dpi. There is a choice of four DFEs – KM’s own IC-609, a couple of EFI Fiery options and a Creo model suitable for integration with Kodak Prinergy and other prepress workflow environments, particularly for variable data printing applications. Another optional productivity enhancement is the IM-101 Intelligent Media Sensor which detects media type and retrieves appropriate press settings automatically.

Eduardo Cotichini, senior manager Professional Print at KM Europe, emphasised the degree of automation and ease-of-use possible with the new machine, though much of this is dependent on optional modules: for example, with the PF-812 paper feeder it is possible to auto-duplex banner sheets to length of 900mm, on weights up to 300gsm, supporting eight-page A4 folded leaflets, book jackets or A4 square booklets to be produced. Up to 2300 sheets of this size can be held in the feeders or 3700 sheets of paper up to 480mm in length. It is also possible to run maximum weight stocks of any supported size with no speed reduction, Mr Cotichini noted.

The inline TU-501 four-edge trimmer / creaser introduced alongside the C4080 press last year allows for a wide variety of  finished products to be produced, or fed on into other finishing units from KM, such as a saddle-stitcher, wire binder or perfect binder.

The AccurioPress C7100 and C7090 are both immediately available across Europe.

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Known as the University Print Shop, the department serves over 20,000 university students across two sites in Luton and Bedford. It is run as a commercial business and also serves the general local community with products and services such as leaflets, flyers, business cards, copying and binding. The Konica Minolta press, which provides 80ppm printing with automatic duplexing plus scanning and copying functions, was chosen in a ‘robust testing procedure’.

David Plummer, head of Print & Document Services at the university, stated, ‘The Konica Minolta AccurioPress C3080 won on the excellent quality of the print, but what really pushed it over the finishing line was the new IQ-501 Intelligent Quality Optimizer for automated inline adjustments.’ The testing process involved assessing a number of print quality criteria including continuous tone images, graduated tints, fine line text and reversed-out type. Photo quality was a particular focus.

The unit installed at The Print Shop includes a high capacity feeder, stapling unit, punch kit and a conveyance unit for media de-curling. It has proved useful during the pandemic period in supporting a click-and-collect service that allows students and other customers to send jobs online rather than bringing memory sticks in; the turnaround is fast enough that some can even send their jobs while waiting outside in a socially-distanced queue. 

Mrt Plummer added, adds, ‘The AccurioPress C3080 has definitely accelerated growth for us. When people come in, they’re quite precise about what they want, and we know this machine can deliver, we know that we’re not going to get the job kicked back.’

‘We previously lost a client who went to a commercial printer and had the job printed offset, but they returned to test the new Konica Minolta solution with uncoated and recycled stock and I’m pleased to say we won them back because the results were just perfect – the IQ-501 unit holds it all together. It’s simply brilliant and it’s the icing on the cake.’

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