Rayne Simpson, general manager print finishing at Ferrostaal Australia’s says, “We are seeing an increased focus on productivity and efficiency. The near-zero makeready times help the operator to focus on other parts of the business.”

The machine, which runs at 5,000 copies per hour, around five times faster than traditional four-clamp binders, adjusts on the fly to handle different thicknesses of books, so the operator can put through a run of several hundred differently sized books, of the same format.

It automatically measures each product on the infeed and senses the difference in thickness between it and the previous book. Guides on the infeed and delivery are automatically adjusted and, depending on the difference in thickness, it calculates how many clamps to leave empty to allow sufficient time for the motors to automatically adjust all the rest of the machine settings.

Clamp length is 420mm and the machine can produce books from 2mm to 60mm in thickness. Simpson states that the machine is already attractive to a wide variety of printers.

He says, “With the rapid onset of digital printing, the largest book printers are facing decreasing run lengths. This machine meets the needs of offset and digital printers.”

The KM200 uses standard Kolbus spine preparation stations as required, while spine glue is applied through a roller tank, which is applied through a nozzle system.

It also features a Kolbus HD130 three-knife trimmer.

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