In order to meet the demand for ever shorter delivery times, the Swiss digital printer Edubook decided to automate part of its production. The 20-employee company, which specializes in short-run educational books, turned to the German software company OneVision Software to install the Book Automation Suite.
This software suite from OneVision comes into play after order entry, and handles PDF verification, file imposition, as well as printing and finishing.
"The biggest problem was the files we received: often, they were not of the right quality for printing. With the OneVision solution, we check these files easily." explains André Biéri, Edubook's projects and processes manager.
Missing fonts or bleeds for example are automatically added. "If we were still doing these file checks and corrections manually, we would need 10 employees. Today, one person oversees this entire process."
The other issue was the automation of the file transfer to the appropriate machine. In addition to Ricoh digital sheet-fed presses and Canon inkjet rotary presses, Edubook is equipped with finishing and converting equipment from Tecnau and Hunkeler. In addition, Edubook receives orders via its online store, manual salesperson entry, and print portal where the customer orders predefined items.
With OneVision, these print files arriving from three different inputs are transferred directly to the Book Automation Suite where they are checked and imposed. A barcode (datamatrix) containing all the information needed for production, such as production number, page number, print run and format, is integrated into each print, cover and interior of the books and magazines. The individual machines are adjusted according to this information. OneVision checks whether the right cover is paired with the right content, whether the number of pages and the print run correspond to the order.
"As a result of using OneVision and all of this automation that Edubook has done over the past few years, we have been able to increase our order intake." says Sergio Nobile, general manager of Edubook. As a result, the printer has increased its order volume by 50% without changing its workforce.
"OneVision makes it easy for us to prepare files and simply streamlines processes through automation, bringing us more benefits." summarizes the printer.
Today, Edubook, with its 20 employees, produces each year about 600,000 square-glued backs with an average of 300 copies.
The OneVision Software team will be exhibiting at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023, Booth 501, at the Lucerne Exhibition Center in Switzerland from Monday, February 27 to Thursday, March 2.
