Book block solution will speed up calendar production at the Polish printer
Appointments are their main business: The printer LEGRA has become the biggest Polish producer of notebooks, pocket diaries and bound calendars. From summer 2015, these products will be more and more produced by a digital printing workflow solution. The highly flexible book block solution FormerLine from manroland web systems will be responsible for an efficient finishing.
Calendar production at a digital rush: „In the future, LEGRA will be able to produce directly from the paper reel to the glued calendar. We are very happy that the book block solution FormerLine and its integration via "WorkflowBridge" can do its part now", Alwin Stadler, Vice President Digital Printing at manroland web systems, shortly explains the main benefit of the digital workflow the printer from Krakow has chosen. Since 1997, LEGRA has become a constant at the Polish printing industry that delivers products like books, wall calendars, notebooks, diaries and desk pads – inland and abroad. With a systematic expansion of the machinery, as well at the sheetfed sector as at the digital sector, LEGRA Sales Director Tomasz Kostecki can reply to customer requirements more flexibly and with more quality now: „We always keep an eye on what is happening at the market. According to this we make investments. We want to offer our customers high quality, fast production and finishing and, at the same time, a good price. The digital workflow with the FormerLine is a great added value for these requirements. We do not only expand our capacities and our creativity. For the first time we can produce to the glued product in one step. This is what I call efficient and economic production."
Great team: FormerLine and LiftCollator
At LEGRA, the manroland web systems FormerLine and the RIMA LiftCollator will be integrated to a Kodak Prosper Press 1000 for the first time. The folding quality of the products is convincing, they will be printed in black and white with the Inkjet technology "Continues stream" from Kodak and then they will be finished as book blocks or calendar blocks. The printed reel runs over two formers of the FormerLine and single signatures at a 8-, 6- or 4-page-jump can be produced. The complete calendar book will be collected at the RIMA LiftCollator. Afterwards LEGRA produces individual calendar covers for the final products.
The finishing machinery of LEGRA enables a perfect book binding. Folders, binding machines, a thread sealing machine, a book cover machine, a collect stitcher and a blanking machine are only a few examples for how the different digital and offset products can be finished.
Digital production more important for book printers
What rules at LEGRA are not only calendars – by investing in digital printing, LEGRA also wants to strengthen its position at the book printing market. At this industry sector digital printing besides sheetfed printing becomes more and more important. Also text books are printed more and more digitally. Telling arguments are a flexible and cost-effective production of short runs and print-on-demand. Further production will be printed on demand, the storage will be switched more and more to the digital workflow of the printing house. For assuring low cost-per-copy and highest efficiency, the process needs a good workflow.
Matching Workflow
How will the digital production at LEGRA look like? The proven workflows from Heidelberg and Kodak generate the printing data for the digital press. The software solution „WorkflowBridge" from manroland web systems adjusts the finishing device „FormerLine" automatically. The device checks and verifies the job regarding errors and approves automation via open interfaces and JDF. Orders can be saved, job batches can be created and special processing batches can be saved for a further usage.
The new FormerLine helps to enable a more flexible production and, at the same time, faces the changing market requirements. "This investment really is an investment in the future and we are very happy that LEGRA decided to realize this with manroland web systems", says Business Director Jaroslaw Kotfis from manroland web systems.
