ÖzBaran is a market leader in Turkey in transitioning from offset to digital by installing an inkjet printing & finishing system with a Tecnau Stack 2020 cut & stack solution nearline to an HP PageWide Web Press T240 for short-run book production.
Özbaran has been a family-owned printing business for over 45 years, with a large fleet of sheet-fed and web-fed offset systems. It has always been dedicated to the publishing industry, with a special focus on school-book applications.
After a close evaluation of different technologies on the market, in 2021 Özbaran became the first printing house in Turkey installing an inkjet print & finishing system with a Tecnau Stack 2020 cut & stack solution nearline to a HP PageWide Web Press T240 fed by a Tecnau Roll 9 Roll-to-Roll.
“This investment constitutes an important milestone for the company transition from offset to digital printing; it’s basically an entry-level system that users really appreciate, especially when transitioning from offset to digital technologies,” commented Laurent Menozzi, Area Manager at Tecnau. “It’s a first step in the new digital environment with a lower investment and a quick learning curve, offering a straightforward workflow that goes from a blank paper roll to finished book-blocks ready for binding. It’s a high-speed high-revenue technology on a budget, working effortlessly with minimum maintenance requirements and basic training.”
Founded in 1976, Özbaran has grown over the years by moving through different technologies ranging from sheetfed presses to roll-fed high volume offset machines to fulfill expectations and customer needs. The company is servicing five of Turkey’s largest book publishers, and the interest in new digital inkjet printing came as a follow-up on specific requests for short-run production.
“Our customers were looking at digital technologies as a way to reduce inventory costs and make personalized small-quantity orders possible. We took their advice and after a two-year research we selected the Tecnau roll-to-roll and Stack 2020 cut & stack finishing systems in conjunction with the HP PageWide Web Press T240 and we hit the right spot,” explained Bekir Baran Owner at Özbaran. “Now we can print small-volume books for private schools and publishing houses, customized and with personal student names on them. The next step will be to collect orders directly from the publishers through an online system, print them by order without any in-house stock, and deliver them directly to the final customers.”
The complete installation was performed by the Turkish distributor MatSet, while the technical training on the finishing lines was virtually managed from the Tecnau headquarters via live webinars and pre-recorded sessions due to the covid pandemic affecting travels. Can Babatas, Sales Director at MatSet, describes the install process as follows: “We have great experience in digital printing equipment and installing the Tecnau systems inline and nearline to the HP press has been easier than expected. The installation process was completed in record time and with no issues thanks to the great support we received from Tecnau. Once the first extensive training was finished, all the systems went in production right away. Later, when the worldwide situation improved, we went back to the customer to give a second session of reinforcement training”.
The system at Özbaran is mainly focused on two book formats: a 19.5 x 27.5 cm job printed in 2-up from 40 cm wide rolls, and a 16 x 24 cm job 3-up printed on 50 cm web widths. Both applications are single slit and cut with offset separation to ease manual handling and binding processes. The solution is also running 1-up jobs for newspapers and magazines printed on lightweight paper and ready for folding or stitching.
“With our Roll 9 and Stack 2020 finishing solutions we can really help Özbaran to be competitive where offset solutions are not. Running 500 copies can be very expensive with offset systems and not worth the cost. Orders are more and more common in these short-run ranges, and this is where our solution makes the real difference. It can easily handle small to medium variable volumes in multiple batches without effort and at high-speed and quality. The system is extremely manageable and can be self-maintained by the customer with little to no effort,” added Harm Jan Hulleman, Sales Director EMEA at Tecnau.
“The solution installed at Özbaran offers another positive aspect: if volumes should further increase, it could always be upgraded with a second cut & stack twin line on a budget. This dual configuration would not only increase productivity but also function as an in-house backup ensuring non-stop capabilities. The cost of a second line would be much less compared to high-budget single complex systems,” concluded Harm Jan.
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