Extended technical documentation and books on demand with Océ technology
Hofmann Druck + Medien invests in an Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex
Venlo, The Netherlands, 18 May 2011 – Océ, an international leader in digital document management and delivery, today announced that the German printing business Hofmann Druck + Medien has recently installed an Océ ColorStream® 10000 Flex and three Océ VarioPrint® 6250 Ultra printing systems with integrated postprocessing. Hofmann Druck + Medien specializes in the printing of low-volume manuals and books that are sent out with manufactured products.
Just-in-time, ship-to-line, worldwide distribution
“In Print on Demand for production-related printing and books on demand, our most important future growth market, we developed expertise that puts us successfully ahead of competitors,” says Georg Lindner, CEO of Hofmann Druck + Medien. “Just-in-time, ship-to-line and worldwide distribution using our own logistics center form part of our company strategy – as is this powerful digital printing solution from Océ.”
The main client of Hofmann Druck + Medien in the digital printing field is the Traunreut company Bosch-Siemens-Hausgerätewerk (BSH), which produces daily around 10,000 kitchen ovens, cooking hobs and microwave ovens. Hofmann produce is the assembly and operating instructions that accompany every BSH unit shipped – in A4, with double spine stitching and ranging in length from 12 to 120 pages.
Language version printing as part of the production process
Hofmann prints around 150 million A4 pages a year for BSH. In spite of the huge volume, the manuals are mainly produced digitally. One reason for this is that numerous model variants are sold in different countries and these must be delivered with brochures in the specific language of that country. Another reason for this digital workflow is that updates to the manuals can be implemented very quickly.
“We decided in favor of the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex because we can print up to 1,425 b/w pages a minute on the new system,” explains Lindner. “This enormous production speed ensures not only reliable printing of the BSH manuals but also gives us enough capacity to handle our publishing house business.” A further criterion for the investment in the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex named by Lindner are the maintenance of registration when perfecting printing, all in a single system, and the outstanding print quality.
“Digital printing offers significant cost advantages over conventional methods for printing short runs,” observes Sebastian Landesberger, Executive Vice President, Océ Production Printing. “This is due to the relatively low fixed costs. It permits last-minute changes and permits short production times. We are happy to see how Hofmann Druck + Medien manages to melt all these advantages effectively into their production process.”
Recipes, reprints and personalized books
This digital print solution is supplemented by three Océ VarioPrint 6250 Ultram systems, two of which are equipped with integrated postprocessing for online stapling and perfect binding. On these Hoffman prints, for example, recipe books for BSH in the various languages using the high degree of flexibility of the cutsheet systems in a combination of offset and digital printing: Envelopes and colored inside pages are inserted from the paper drawers and stapled or glued online together with the digitally printed b/w pages.
Books on demand is the most important strategic growth area of Hofmann Druck + Medien. Lindner sees in this one of the largest potential markets of the future: “The publishing business is changing rapidly. The number of titles increases almost continuously, while the size of the print runs gets smaller and smaller. This challenge cannot be met through traditional book production in offset alone.”
Potential enough to meet future challenges
Hofmann aims to offer publishing houses and authors new perspectives and freedom from the “diktat of the print run”. Lindner notes, “Whether preprinting, special editions, reprints or personalized books – the Océ digital printing solutions combined with classic offset printing permits us to produce even the smallest runs inexpensively, in high quality and quickly. This opens new and profitable outlet markets for both the publishing houses and ourselves.” With digital printing, efficient and economically meaningful print-run management can be offered as a service to publishers.
Georg Lindner is convinced that the Océ Digital printing solution is also eminently equipped for the future: “The systems deliver quality that is absolutely compatible to that of offset printing. They all offer simultaneous perfecting printing, important for high productivity and reliability. Moreover, the Océ ColorStream 10000 Flex, which is at the moment installed as a pure b/w system, can be upgraded to a full-color system. This means that not only is our investment safe, it can bring us a decisive competitive advantage in future in the areas of technical documentation, book printing and mailings.”
About Hofmann Druck + Medien
Hofmann Druck + Medien is a highly innovational yet traditional midrange graphics industry company. Throughout the company’s history, which stretches back for over 50 years, the service provider has made a name for itself in the development of individual solution concepts for print production. Just-in-time, ship-to-line and worldwide distribution utilizing its own logistics center now form part of its daily business. Hofmann Druck + Medien serves a large range of customers in the industrial and commercial, financial and insurance, and publishing and advertising industries.
For more information, please contact:
Nick Gale
Manager Media Relations
Tel +31 77 359 5628
Email nick.gale@oce.com
About Océ
Océ is one of the leading providers of document management and printing for professionals. The Océ offering includes office printing and copying systems, high speed digital production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and color display graphics. Océ is also a foremost supplier of document management outsourcing. Many of the Fortune Global 500 companies and leading commercial printers are Océ customers. The company was founded in 1877. With headquarters in Venlo, The Netherlands, Océ is active in over 100 countries and employs more than 20,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in financial 2010 amounted to approximately €2.7 billion. Océ is listed on Euronext in Amsterdam. For more information visit www.oce.com.
Océ and Canon: Stronger together
In 2010 Océ joined the Canon Group of companies with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, to create the global leader in the printing industry. Canon develops, manufactures and markets a growing line-up of copying machines, printers, cameras, optical and other products that meet a diverse range of customer needs. The Canon Group comprises over 197,000 employees worldwide. Global net sales in 2010 were more than USD 45 billion. For more information visit www.canon.com.
“Océ”, “Océ ColorStream”, Océ VarioPrint” and the Océ logo are registered trademarks of Océ-Technologies B.V. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks, are the property of their owners, and are respectfully acknowledged.