Hunkeler and Müller Martini are addressing the growing demand for efficient, automated Book-of-One production with a fully integrated system designed for today’s challenges: shrinking run lengths, labor shortages, and rising energy and space costs. From the output of a digital web press to the final trimmed book, the combined solution automates every step of the workflow while maintaining high quality and rapid throughput.

At the front end of the line, the Hunkeler Starbook Plowfolder forms the foundation of the system. The Plowfolder supports a wide range of formats and substrates and transitions between jobs in under three minutes with no manual intervention. It produces straight, flat, and square book blocks using papers from ultra-light 40 g/m² up to bulky 160 g/m² stocks, made possible by the Plowfolder PF8 and the new vacuum signature transport in the Book Delivery BD8. With output reaching 2,000 individual books or stacks per hour in continuous FIFO order, the system sets new standards for short-run and variable production.

The blocks then move seamlessly to the Müller Martini Antaro Digital perfect binder, which can also be configured for hardcover production with the addition of an end-sheet feeder. Each clamp in the binder is servo-driven for precision control, while barcode matching ensures perfect pairing of book block and cover. The line is completed by the InfiniTrim trimming robot, which provides fully variable format changes with zero setup time. InfiniTrim’s drive and cutting architecture ensures clean, precise edges ideal for Book-of-One workflows.

To ensure smooth operation across all components, the system is centrally managed through the Connex workflow platform, delivering full connectivity from prepress output to finished product.

“The key feature of this system is how quickly each sub-solution can be retooled,” said Marco Kunz, Product Manager at Hunkeler. “It offers exceptional flexibility in format and substrates, setting new standards for automation in digital book production.”

By combining high-speed automation, intelligent job changeovers, and integrated workflow control, Hunkeler and Müller Martini are providing printers with a robust, future-ready platform for profitable Book-of-One and on-demand book manufacturing.