One-Off Book Production Easier With Stacker

Ultimate Technographics will release its Impostrip Book Stacker at the Graph Expo exhibition.

Ultimate Technographics will release its Impostrip Book Stacker at the Graph Expo exhibition.

The system automates the process of creating cut and stack jobs for customers doing one-off books of varying lengths and photograph albums and book-on-demand production.

Ultimate Technographics said that Impostrip Book Stacker will be shown on the HP, IBM and Ultimate standss at Graph Expo in Chicago (USA).

Impostrip Book Stacker is Windows based software that will be available in the fourth quarter of 2006.

It is hot folder driven and can be placed on a network to service all workstations.

Based on the Impostrip core technology and the Ultimate page pairing automation intelligence, Impostrip Book Stacker is claimed to prepare and send to print imposed books as each set of two, three or n-up gets ready for printing.

The system is said to eliminate the need for operators to attend each job to add blanks and allows a faster and non-interrupted imposition process going to the RIP, whilst it ensures optimisation of digital presses by feeding imposed books non-stop.

Ultimate Technolographics added that Impostrip Book Stacker also reduces paper waist by optimising imposition.

Ultimate Technogarphics said that the system is designed to allow customers to put multiple books in to a single hot folder to reach a high level of automation.

Once the Book Stacker hot folder is configured with specific n-ups (n-stacks) and other preferences, it automatically imposes the pages accordingly, supplying blank pages for each book to complete all stacks of the first set, to move to the next one, and so on.

Impostrip Book Stacker will automatically fill all stacks and complete the imposition for all the books in the folder without any supervision.

Joanne David, executive vice president of Ultimate Technographics, said: "Digital printing and, more specifically, web-to-print processes require a new breed of imposition tools that automate production for digital presses.

When you are producing one copy of a book from an on-line order, you don't have a lot of time for pre-press and you must simplify your process for binding one book at a time.

This is even more important for books produced with variable content.

It is also the case for production optimisation to print as many pages as possible per impression." Impostrip Book Stacker features PDF, over 150 Mac and Win Postscript applications, EPS and Tiff, as well as dynamic job calculation and the automatic calculation of the number of sheets needed every time a new book arrives in the queue.

For input files, the system automatically add blank pages to refill the signatures, automatically creates job sets as new books arrive and, its priority options for file order include options to determine how to sort and place books files - whether alphanumeric, or first in.

All standard cut marks, folding marks are included, as well a colour bar and the system's print output formats include PDF, PS and JDF as duplex, manual duplex, last to first, back first and groups of signatures The job progress preview window provides a colour preview and an information panel that displays job information, such as the number of blanks used.

The system also highlights the active set, displays the queue type (single or multiple) and displays file order settings, such as alpha, first in and optimise .

There is an option for 'force print' to allow printing of a job, even when the job set is not 100 per cent completed said Ultimate Technographics.

In this case, the Book Stacker will add the needed blanks to allow printing.

The company added that there is also an option to manually add a job file or to replace an existing one, together with the option to allow jobs reprints without processing files again.

Built-in templates on the system, include portrait, landscape and repeat stack.

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