Andrew Fetherman · President & CEO · Mülller Martini / Hunkeler North America

Nine months into 2026, the integration of Müller Martini and Hunkeler is becoming increasingly visible — not only in the organization, but in the technology being developed.

At PRINTING United in Las Vegas, Morten B. Reitoft meets Andrew Fetherman, President & CEO of Müller Martini North America, to discuss how the transition in the American market has progressed and what “Stronger Together” actually means in practice.

Andrew describes the transition as something Müller Martini spent considerable time preparing for. People, training, service, sales, infrastructure, and partnerships all had to be in place before responsibility for much of the Hunkeler business in North America was transferred. His analogy is simple: you don’t wake up one morning and decide to run a marathon. You prepare for it.

That preparation appears to have paid off.

For Müller Martini, Hunkeler has also opened doors into markets where the company previously had a smaller presence. Transactional print, direct mail and continuous-feed production are natural Hunkeler territories, while Müller Martini brings extensive experience in saddle stitching, perfect binding, hardcover production and complete book manufacturing.

Combined, the two portfolios create significantly more opportunities to approach customers with end-to-end production concepts.

But Andrew is equally clear that the acquisition doesn’t mean closing the ecosystem. Hunkeler equipment will continue working with other finishing suppliers, and partnerships with press manufacturers remain essential. In continuous-feed inkjet, an unwind and rewind are fundamental parts of the press environment, meaning Hunkeler often has a relationship with the customer before downstream finishing is even considered.

That creates opportunities for Müller Martini, but also responsibilities.

The conversation then turns to the new Separo PRO, which makes its world premiere at PRINTING United. The robotic destacking system is another component in Müller Martini’s continued development toward highly automated book production. Pre-glued or otherwise prepared book blocks can be identified, destacked, and moved into downstream production with significantly less operator intervention.

And this is where the Müller Martini/Hunkeler combination becomes particularly interesting.

Book blocks demonstrated with Separo PRO can originate from Hunkeler roll-fed production technology before moving into Müller Martini binding and trimming. Workflow, barcodes, robotics and physical production increasingly connect technologies that historically belonged to separate companies.

Morten asks whether Separo PRO should therefore be considered a product of joint engineering. Andrew’s answer illustrates how far the integration has already progressed: distinguishing between “Hunkeler engineering” and “Müller Martini engineering” is becoming less meaningful.

The teams are increasingly simply one team.

This has been a long relationship. The Müller and Hunkeler families have known each other for generations, and the companies have worked together throughout the evolution of digital print production. But combining organizations is still different from cooperating.

Now the results are becoming tangible.

Andrew points to products such as GEN8 EVO, new automation modules, Connex workflow, robotic handling and future Smart Factory developments as examples of an increasingly integrated engineering philosophy. More automation is coming — including developments in material handling, cover management, and other production steps where robotics can eliminate manual touchpoints.

The objective is not automation simply because it is technically possible.

It is about making print production more efficient, reducing dependency on manual labor and ultimately helping printers produce more profitably.

And somewhere between Swiss engineering, Smart Factory technology and Andrew’s very personal story about the Swiss watch his daughter gave him, the conversation also reminds us that technology companies are still made by people.

Stronger Together may be the trade-show message.

At Müller Martini and Hunkeler, it is increasingly becoming the reality.

Watch Morten B. Reitoft’s conversation with Andrew Fetherman from Müller Martini North America at PRINTING United 2026 in Las Vegas.