As production moves from conventional offset to digital print the need for binding equipment that matches the qualities known is in demand. Italian vendor Meccanotecnica deliver solutions for both digital and offset. At Hunkeler Innovationdays 2019 in Luzerne, we got the chance to talk to Marketing Manager Stefano Formentini from Meccanotecnica.

The solution they showed at the event consisted of an unwinder and a cutter from Hunkeler combined with Meccanotecnica’s Universe Web solution that sections the cut sheets into a signature and delivers these for further processing. The quality is superior and the applications seamless.

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We’re presenting here fully automated line for the production of premium quality books. So, we start by feeding this, our equipment, from the roller, from the printed roller. We use the unwinder and the cutter from Hunkeler Then we go into our books and machines, automatic books and machines, where we score and fold cut-sheets, and we collate them into signatures. And then, this is a very important part of our line, we sewed every signature to the previous one, because we are fully focused on book sewing machines. That’s why I told that we produce premium quality books because the threads on the book are very resistant and they can lay flat when open. So, it has a peculiar characteristic that making stand out from other books produced in the world.

It is about lowering the price of the unitary cost of the book. In fact, the trend we see in digital printing is that the printing vendors are pushing very hard in innovating their equipment towards higher and higher speed, but also towards higher and higher quality. That’s why our fully automated line comes into fruition, comes into sense, because thanks to the book sewing technology, now we can match the higher quality printing with a higher quality finishing. And then, thanks to automation, integration of the processes and all of the automatic system of control and so on, we can also give printers and binders the opportunity to produce books in a very cost-effective way.

Yes, we see an increase in demand of quality books, especially in the digital environment, and this is due to the fact that digital printers are getting better and better in giving customers higher quality products. Here, we talk about cut-sheet digital printers but also a continuous-feed digital printer. Now, quality is getting very close to offset, and that’s why in the market we see an increase in demand in digital finishing equipment that can give binders the chance to market products with higher quality and with higher finishing. In the end, we give customers the ability to address their customers, their publishers, and give them books that can be marketed at a higher price because they have a higher quality.

Yes, yes, definitely. We want to give them a market opportunity, and also thanks to automation, the ability to be more competitive on the market. We know that the continuous-feeding jet technology brings digital printers and binders handle very strong competitiveness. They see price competitiveness, and that’s why we want them to be successful and give the possibility to create new opportunities and offer new products to their customers.

It is based on our experience in designing and producing book sewing machines. This experience is in inheritance from the success on the part of the company in the offset environment, but the company has been very innovative since the beginning of the digital industry. 20 years ago we introduced to the market the first automatic book sewing machines for the digital environment. The name of the machine was [Chrystec 00:04:36]. That was the first one in the world. And then we continued to develop that machine, then we have the Universe family of automatic book sewing machines. And so we’re gaining a success based on the fact that our knowhow was very well in the company. We exploited that knowhow and put it into the digital environment.

The key to the success of the company is also about its position. So, we are a very small company. We’re 150 employees, but our strategic positioning in the market is what gives us an advantage because we are focused on making book sewing machines and book finishing line that can produce premium quality products. So, we are addressing a demand of a niche market, and we are addressing that demand with deep knowhow on what we are proposing and what we are marketing.

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