The UK's favourite print show - MacMate

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BOOKS Berforts: an exception to the rule An ambitious printer has taken a struggling digital print business and used it to step boldly into the world of books. Book printing is proving attractive to an increasing number of printers to judge by those installing small single and four-clamp perfect binders. The attraction is in handling short run titles to a plethora of micropublishers, organisations and self published authors at the bottom of an eco system that has global publishing brands at its top. Easy to use software has made page creation and design straightforward; the internet and a growing inclination towards localism helps on the marketing side; while for print, these short run publications provide fodder for digital presses. It has also spurred development of automatic book creation machines, the best known of which is the Expresso. It is supposed to be the ultimate expression of this, a means of pressing a button and having a vending machine disgorge a printed and bound book a few minutes later. It has never caught on in the way that its inventor Jacob Epstein still hopes that it will. The number of titles available is limited, the problem of locating them remains, and the quality is no match for professional printing and binding. Printers are still needed. At the industrial end of the scale, just as there are megapublishers, there are international printers that are highly invested in presses and bindery to meet the needs of printing books by the thousands, tens of thousands or more. The CPI group is the leader in production of mono books in Europe and has been one of the most avid supporters of HP’s inkjet web press, installing a T300 at Firmin Didot in France and now with plans to install a T400 and another T series machine at Anthony Rowe in the UK. However, while these machines are catching the attention, CPI has also bought a KBA Commander to print books in the sort of volumes that are beyond the sweet spot for the inkjet press. In the UK, MPG Books has confirmed it will install Kodak’s Prosper 1000 mono press for book printing while St Ives Clays already has a Versamark for book printing alongside its Timsons in Bungay and is considering expansion of digital production. Elsewhere Océ has achieved an almost clean sweep of electrophotographic book webs with presses at TJ International, CPI Anthony Rowe and Printondemand in Peterborough. An exception is Berforts, a 20 May 2011 www.printbusinessmagazine.co.uk relative newcomer to book printing following its acquisition of a digital print operation in Stevenage. Prior to this deal Berforts was a commercial printer in Hastings. This remains its litho plant while investment in digital production has improved capacity to print and bind books. The company took space at the London Book Fair alongside Kodak which had supplied Berforts with a Nexpress. The company is also a recent customer for Kolbus buying a casemaker and casing in line. “We are aiming at print runs from one to 1,000 books, below the Mackays, Cox & Wyman or Clays, but alongside MPG, TJ International and Anthony Rowe,” says managing director Gerald White. He has faith that this sector of the market will be resilient to the growth of ereaders and tablet computers. “The big problems are coming for the printers of trade books because their market is going to be decimated by ebooks easily,” he says. “And there will be problems with high speed inkjet because one machine has the potential to take out the production of three companies.” Berforts has also spread its work load. On the one hand are highly specialised volumes of legal reference books, each coming in at 2,500pp or so. On the other it uses the Nexpress to print children’s books and variable data technology to print guides for VW Campervan owners, for example. At the LBF the company was launching BookSelect, a means for publishers to order short volumes of titles at agreed rates dependent on overall volume. It is not a new concept, MPG’s precursor in Kings Lynn had tried a similar approach and Printondemand’s Book Vault has a pricing system based on volume and on a menu of other services that can be offered to new publishers and authors. For Berforts the decision is very much about catching the wave that is cutting average production runs from 1,500 books currently, to around 400-500 inside ten years according to White. The company’s binding is located in Stevenage where it has Xerox and Nipson as well as Kodak digital presses. Litho press work is folded and shipped to Stevenage for binding. One of the specialities is printing on lightweight papers, needed for the high pagination reference books. It is now looking at the potential for personalised children’s books.
www.morgana.co.uk Tel: 01908 608888 DigiFold Pro Quality high speed creasing/folding with the NEW SmartScreen touch screen technology. Finishing solutions that are “Out of this World” • SmartScreen touch screen operation • 6000 sph • Intuitive and easy to use • Takes stock up to 0.4mm (approx 400gsm) • Creasing matrix guaranteed for life • Unlimited alpha-numeric memory • PosiFeed feed system • Highly versatile • 900mm x 385mm with optional extension • Crease & fold without cracking Only £99 per week* The DigiFold Pro is an automatic creasing/folding machine designed specifically for the professional digital or litho printer who has a need to crease and fold digitally printed, heavy weight or cross grained stock. All settings and adjustments are made using the New SmartScreen and as only symbols are used, operation couldn’t be simpler. *Full details available upon request Digital Finishing for Digital Printers
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The UK's favourite print show - MacMate

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