NOVUS Print · From PDF to Shelf with Canon, Hunkeler and Müller Martini

With more than 120 years of history, NOVUS Print is one of South Africa’s most diversified printing companies, producing everything from newspapers, magazines, and commercial print to labels, packaging, and books. At its flagship facility in Cape Town, six printing technologies operate under one roof. But as traditional print markets change, NOVUS is making significant investments in what it believes is a growing opportunity: book production.

In this INKISH interview, we meet three key people behind the company’s latest investment: Thinus Dixon, Managing Executive; Johnny Singh, Head of Book Production; and Johnathan Rose, Operations Manager. Together, they explain why NOVUS invested in a Canon ColorStream 8200 inkjet press, combined with Hunkeler folding technology, Müller Martini binding equipment, and the Connex workflow system.

The investment represents much more than the purchase of another printing press. NOVUS has developed an integrated production environment where customer orders can enter directly from procurement systems, automatically retrieve approved artwork and agreed pricing, and move through planning, batching, printing, and finishing with minimal manual intervention.

The objective is to change the economics of book manufacturing. While offset printing remains important for larger volumes, NOVUS can now produce shorter runs of 500 to 2,500 copies efficiently, helping publishers reduce inventory, respond faster to demand, and avoid tying up capital in warehouses. According to the team, digital printing can even offer lower production costs than conventional offset in these applications.

One of the most interesting aspects of the conversation is how NOVUS approached the investment. Rather than selecting equipment independently, the company assembled an internal team of specialists, tested its own paper and artwork, evaluated operating costs, and worked closely with its technology partners to ensure that the entire production ecosystem would perform as expected.

And this is only the beginning. NOVUS is already planning its next phase, adding monochrome inkjet printing and additional finishing capacity to serve trade publishing alongside its existing educational book business.

With newspaper volumes declining and commercial printing facing increasing competition from digital media, NOVUS sees books and packaging as attractive markets for future growth. The company’s strategy demonstrates how established printing businesses can reinvent themselves by combining new technologies with intelligent automation and a clear understanding of customer needs.

An insightful conversation about the future of book production, the economics of digital inkjet, and why successful investments depend just as much on workflow, integration, and people as on the printing equipment itself.