Special Advertising Section: Digital Printing: The Burgeoning Business of Books

BookMasters has broader printing requirements due to a mix of machines that includes a Heidelberg offset press, an Océ JetStream 1000 full-color inkjet press, and an Océ DemandStream 8090 monochrome press. A Konica Minolta C6501 sheet feed color press is used for covers on offset and digitally printed books.

"We have a selection of offset sheets from 50- to 80-lb, mostly white and some natural shades," says Sevin. "They all work well on both toner and offset and are mostly good enough on inkjet. When we need to bump up the quality on the JetStream, we just use a different stock because with inkjet the substrate is the key when increasing quality."

"The paper companies are scrambling to offer more and more substrates," he continues. "We find that some [inkjet] papers are capable of delivering higher quality, especially for color. With the right paper on the JetStream, we can match the color of toner output. And the costs are competitive."

Finishing Touches

Books coming off an offset press typically move offline for binding, whether it be mechanical, saddle-stitching, perfect binding or case bound. This is still the norm in many digital printing operations, despite the growth of inline capabilities on many digital presses. BookMasters takes it up a few notches.

There, the big Océ JetStream 1000 is directly connected to equipment from Shuttleworth, LasermaxRoll Systems and a Muller Martini to create an inline binding system capable of churning out up to 800 perfect-bound books an hour. A 5-mile long roll of blank paper goes into the JetStream and perfect bound books come out the other end. Because the JetStream can print pages three-up across the web it's possible for individual titles—even single copies—to be printed simultaneously and bound with almost no human intervention. BookMasters worked with Océ, Shuttleworth, LasermaxRoll Systems and Muller Martini to customize the system to meet their requirements and customize the equipment and software.