Printing all three edges of a book directly on a finishing line, without any additional steps: that?s what Swiss manufacturer Matti Technology offers with ChromoEdge. This digital edge-printing system, capable of reproducing illustrations, patterns, and text, can reach a production rate of 4,000 books per hour.
This equipment was unveiled on October 14 and 15 at the Screen Inkjet Book Production Forum, held in the Netherlands. The Swiss company Matti, which has specialized in industrial inkjet solutions since 1995, has designed this technology for book printers producing large volumes.
ChromoEdge is positioned directly after the three-sided trimmer and before the palletizer. The books thus move from trimming to edge printing and then to palletizing, without any intermediate handling.
Printing is based on a four-color inkjet system featuring 12- and 18-head Aquinox inkjet printheads from the British manufacturer Xaar, to which two additional colors can be added. ChromoEdge achieves a resolution of 720 DPI.
It uses highly pigmented, high-viscosity inks designed to limit their penetration into the paper fibers and the spreading of the ink dots.
Three cameras measure the curvature of the book spines and adjust the printing in real time. The system also has separate color profiles for long and short edges. Format changes are automated.
According to Matti Technology, initial results from its customers show a reduction in ink consumption of at least 25% compared to other systems. The manufacturer also reports a more than tenfold increase in productivity and order processing times reduced from five weeks to five days or even three.
