Digital technology is becoming increasingly important in book production. Italian printer Grafica Veneta, one of Europe's leading book printers with a turnover of 100 million euros, has invested in two RotaJet digital web presses from Koenig & Bauer in recent months.
The first press was installed last fall at the Trebaseleghe plant in Italy, alongside three Comptacta presses, six one- and two-color Timsons and several sheetfed presses, including a digital press Fujifilm Jet Press 750S used for the covers in short runs.
With a web width of 1300 mm, the RotaJet from Grafica Veneta is configured to print in black in duplex mode. This inkjet press is connected to an automated finishing line that produces books in a single pass.
And since the beginning of this year, another RotaJet 130 is in production at Lake Book Manufacturing in Melrose Park near Chicago, Illinois, acquired in 2021 . The new digital press is identical to the one in Italy. It can print and bind a book in less than a minute, from the blank roll to the ready-to-deliver pallet.
The RotaJet 130, short runs and new markets
Marco Picchi, Sales Director for France, confirms that the company is very satisfied with this investment.
"The print quality is very high and this technology offers our customers the ability to economically produce runs between 500 and 4,000 copies, using the same paper in both quality and size that we normally use on the six Timsons installed."
He adds that customers can reduce their inventory by ordering more frequently because of this flexibility provided by digital.
Moreover, with the Rotajet, the printer can also print on paper up to 40 g/m 2 which allows him to attack the legal and religious market of books from 2000 pages, but with a print run from only 300 copies.
The RotaJet "will have a lasting impact on the market" says Fabio Franceschi, the head of Grafica Veneta. This digital press "offers new perspectives in many areas". He summarizes, " With the digital technology of this machine, we are now able to produce small runs more cost-effectively and in the highest quality so we can adapt to the changing demands of the market."
