February 24th-27th sees the Hunkeler Innovations Days at Lucerne in Switzerland. This biennial event focuses specifically on paper processing, something that Hunkeler has been exelling at for 100 years. Digital print at its fastest requires precision reel feed and post-print finishing and all the major suppliers join with Hunkeler every 2 years to stage a 'mini exhibition' of the trends and technologies. Several ANZ attendees will be there.
Approximately 100 partner exhibitors will join Hunkeler for the February Innovation Days
If you've ever bought a book-on-demand from Amazon, chances are it was finished on a Hunkeler line. The Swiss company, a part of Muller Martini since 2023, has a fine history of processing fast-moving webs of printed material including book blocks, transactional document, direct marketing and even coilour brochure and magazine work.
There are many installations of Hunkeler lines in Australia and New Zealand, most of them linked to high-volume digital web presses in both toner and inkjet versions. Some are reel-to-reel with finishing offline while there is an increasing trend towards complete in-line systems where white paper is fed in and completed book blocks are outputted, ready for limp or hardcover binding on a variety of equipment including Kolbus (also owned by Muller Martini), Horizon, IBIS and others.
The Hunkeler & Muller Martini families pictured with the Starbook Plowfolder at the joining of the two companies
Sheetfed also features for book and DM applications and Heidelberg will be there with its new JetFire 50, a cooperation with Canon, announced at drupa last May.
It's a growth market sector as print runs get shorter - even the 'book of one' - and go digital. A more recent trend, driven by ink and drying advances by the likes of Screen, Canon, HP, Fujifilm and Ricoh, is full offset-quality colour printed on standard offset paper stocks. Kodak is also there with its Prosper reel-to-reel solution.
In all, approximately 100 Hunkeler partner exhibitors will be there at The Lucerne exhibition center, covering 4 halls. As always, Swiss hospitality will be top-notch and the event closes on the same day as the Lucerne Carnival starts in the Old Town area - a chance for well-deserved relaxation and networking.
If high-volume web and sheet fed advanced paper processing for Books, Magazines, DM, Transactional, Pharma, Security print and documentation is your present or planned business, there will be no better place to be than Lucerne from February 24th - 27th. The specific focus on high volume digital print processing makes this event a high-value venue in both time away and financial terms. There is nothing quite like it elsewhere, anywhere in the world.
It will be two years until the next Hunkeler Innovation Days - and much will happen in this dynamic market during that time.
A helpdesk at Hunkeler AG is available by contacting:
Isabelle Niggli: Direct Phone: +41 62 745 64 59, E: i.niggli@hunkeler.ch
or
Anita Bader: Direct Phone: +41 62 745 62 26, E: a.bader@hunkeler.ch
