Duplo had taken the largest stand in Hall 9 of the NEC and had filled it will examples of existing machinery as well as three new products and a return of the DuSense which received its formal launch at the same event 12 months ago.
“We have exciting new products to share and wanted to raise awareness,” says Duplo International managing director Andy Benson. The DC516 is a new unit for the multifinisher range, taking a slightly different approach. While the new machine can crease, perforate and slit like the larger machines in the range, it is limited in functions and is intended to be used for a limited number of product types. Typical would be a company producing large volumes of business cards where the artwork changes rather than the fundamental product. This will take this sort of standard application away from a larger multi finisher which can then focus on its flexibility.
The DC516 includes interchangeable cassettes for the different functions, switching to creasing where it will be twice as fast as the more sophisticated machines. “It is more affordable because there is less automation,” says Benson. “It suits a customer with volumes of three or four product types. It is a semi-automated dedicated product type machine.”
The same simplicity is applied to the PFI2100 PUR perfect binder, a replacement for the PFI2000. It uses the same closed tank PUR unit where the glue is applied through a circular opening which closes to prevent air ingress immediately the glue is applied. This minimises maintenance and cleaning. Glue is supplied in blocks which are melted on the top of the binder.
It is intended as an entry level machine for PUR that any business can adopt. “We supplied one to Birmingham University where the operators had no experience of working with PUR. It has now become a core part of products that they can offer staff and students,” he says.
The book is measured and this used to calculate clamp pressure and how much glue of apply and at which point. An operator should be capable of producing up to 170 books an hour. “PUR has previously been restricted to larger printers,” says Benson. “This democratises PUR binding.”
The most significant introduction is the iSaddle X, an upgraded version of the saddle stitcher that offers greater agility in terms of switching between formats. It will switch quickly between A4 portrait and landscape formats, down to A6 and across the paper types.
The focus will be to help commercial printers take on the online printers who are able to offer low prices on standard format products thanks to the volume of jobs they can attract. A commercial printer will need to offer something a little different to customers to maintain his appeal.
“We can also run five different paper stocks in a single product and different page sixes in the same booklet,” Benson says. The new machine will use barcodes to record every page that it handles to provide an audit trial for clients where such integrity is an essential part of the offering.
“This is also a robust machine capable to standing up to commercial print work, hence we are offering a three-year parts warranty,” he adds.
The ability to deliver a product with value added impact lies behind the DuSense. “We have learned a lot in the last year about the relationship between paper, ink and our coating and the quality we can produce is showing the impact of that experience and accumulated knowledge. We think it’s now the best total quality of any sensory coating machine.”
Gareth Ward
The new iSaddle X booklet making saddle stitcher aims to enable users to offer a greater versatility in format and substrates than can be provided by the major online print operations which use their muscle to offer competitive prices.
