Muller Martini is challenging Hunkeler and Tecnau with a single-width finishing line for books. The SigmaLine Compact is a development of the SigmaLine III wide web and high speed finishing line which dominates the wide web space for book printing.
It now aims to achieve the same impact for narrower web users, those operating 520mm width presses. This is a sector that is frequently using Muller Martini’s Vareo perfect binder and the Infinitrim robot arm trimmer, but connected to Hunkeler folding and trimming lines. The SigmaLine Compact will target this space.
The SigmaLine Compact takes a 520mm digitally printed reel and delivers book blocks for perfect binding, for thread sewn, hard cover and saddle stitched products. The machine sits on an area of 40m2, opening the market to printers that are space constrained.
It has been designed for ease of set up and for minimal waste when switching between signature formats. The concept remains the same from previous generations of the SigmaLine through driving the workflow from the finishing end.
Muller Martini enables this completely automated operation through its Connex workflow. Connex controls the imposition of book products according to the requirements of the finishing stage. It can be connected inline to the press at one end and to a binder at the other.
When switching job to job the system wastes ten metres of paper during the process. The folding unit uses the air knife technology that Muller Martini has developed and uses on the SigmaLine III which works with a web up to 1m wide.
“We have continuously improved air fold technology in recent years and use the same technology in the 22.5-inch line as in the high speed area,” says Ingolf Fritzsche. The product manager for digital solutions at Muller Martini has maintained close contact with partners in the digital printing industry for years and is convinced “that companies operating in the digital sector have been waiting for this new solution.”
The first generation of the SigmaLine was introduced at Drupa 2004 ahead of the generation of inkjet web presses which have been adopted by the majority of book printers. The binding and trimming station developed for the first generation has changed radically.
The second generation was introduced in 2014 and with the development of the air knife rather than a plow or sword folder, the company is able to run at up to 300 metres a minute on the SigmaLine III.
