HP has become the latest major brand to commit to The Print Show this year and is set to bring a large cross section of its printing press technology. The show takes place from October 11th to 13th. This follows news that major finishing technology player Industria Meccanica Lombarda (IML) has partnered with Perfect Bindery Solutions to quadruple the size of the latter’s presence and take one of the biggest stands at the exhibition. HP and IML join the likes of Epson, KBA, Morgana, Kluge International, Premier Paper, B&R Moll, Intec, AXYZ International, Vivid Laminating Systems, and Grafityp as leading manufacturing names that have thrown their backing behind the show. HP caters for high-end commercial print applications with its Indigo presses, while also having a large market share in the wide-format inkjet technology sector with its Page Wide, Scitex, Latex, and Design Jet presses, so it will have an extensive array of equipment at the show. Steve Giddins, operations partner at Perfect Bindery Solutions, says that new systems from IML, which will be showcased at The Print Show, are going to change the way the short-run book production market works. The first new IML system is an automated single clamp, on-demand binding line that Giddins describes as “totally flexible”, adding, “Feeding can be by hand or in-line, glue application can be wheel-and-pot or nozzle, PUR or hot-melt, and, of course, it has milling, side-gluing and cover feeding for standard paperbacks, too. The system will be the ‘Holy Grail’ for commercial printers that want to produce as much as possible in-house – at the flick of a switch it can change over from conventional softback book production to perform end-papering and back-lining for book block production.”
