Elanders Print & Packaging, the publishing and packaging division of the Swedish digital printing group Elanders, announced in a press release an investment plan worth tens of millions of euros at two German sites. The capacities of the Waiblingen and Donauwörth sites specialized in the book segment will be "considerably" increased thanks to two new production units.
Elanders Print & Packaging has four of its 13 plants in Germany. The installation of the machines and the expansion of the workshops began in March and should be completed by the end of September.
HP Indigo, Horizon... a long list of new machines
The two units will include three additional HP Indigo 100K B2 digital presses, two fully automated gluers for Layflat book blocks (Layflat: double pages are printed on a single sheet), two fully automated hardcover inserters from Swiss manufacturer Digibook Technology, a book production line from Müller Martini, two SmartStacker intelligent sheet handling systems from Horizon, and a variety of other equipment for producing books in various formats.
"Technologically, we will now be able to respond in a very individualized way to our customers' needs, from small to large series, says Ulrich Schätzl, director of mass customization at Elanders Print & Packaging. Especially in times of material scarcity, custom printing becomes a valuable product for the customer in the true sense of the word. In addition, we will be able to produce even more sustainably, as the customer determines the run of their printed product based on their needs - while reducing waste, unnecessary packaging costs and logistical efforts."
"Competing with offset printing both in terms of quality and quantity"
"With the additional machines, we can compete with offset printing both in quality and quantity and serve new market segments." adds Sven Burkhard, Director of Print & Packaging Group at Elanders. "In addition, our B2B customers will have the opportunity to implement their own new business models, such as true on-demand printing or mass customization, with us as a reliable partner."
Headquartered in Sweden, the Elanders Group operates in two business areas - supply chain solutions and printing and packaging solutions - with approximately 7,000 employees in 20 countries on four continents and sales of approximately ?1.3 billion.
