HP and manroland Goss sign reseller agreement for FormerLine and FoldLine

Print Solutions

HP and manroland Goss have signed a reseller agreement for the digital finishing solutions FormerLine and FoldLine. These high performance folding systems complement the PageWide web press series of inkjet printing platforms, enabling fully integrated production lines from print to finished book blocks or newspaper products. While the FormerLine is designed as a roll to book block solution for short and medium book runs, the FoldLine offers a flexible multipurpose system suited for a wide range of applications – from traditional newspaper formats to stitched products and various book block configurations.

The FormerLine is ideally suited for producing book blocks, short print runs, customised titles, and on-demand projects. Its innovative roll to book block technology enables the efficient and cost effective manufacturing of print runs of up to 10,000 copies in industrial digital printing. Combined with PageWide systems, this creates a highly productive environment for industrial digital book printing, achieving a throughput of up to 7000 book blocks per hour, each with 160 pages.

The FoldLine handles newspapers, commercial print, and direct mail reliably and efficiently. As a true multipurpose system, it covers applications ranging from classic newspaper formats to stitched products and book block production. Designed for high web speeds of up to 305 metres per minute, FoldLine delivers exceptional production performance and flexibility.

Supported by the powerful Pecom-X automation platform, both folding systems ensure easy operation and minimal operator effort. Specifically developed for industrial digital print production, FormerLine and FoldLine perfectly complements PageWide presses.

A successful example of this cooperation in action is GGP Media, a part of Bertelsman Marketing Services, with three PageWide T490HD monochrome presses in line with FormerLine machines, together produce over 400,000 books per week across up to 190 titles, totalling around 11 million signatures and approximately 135 million printed pages – fully automated and without manual intervention between jobs. The FormerLine achieves a paper waste rate of about 4% per production run. With more than 28,000 operating hours accumulated over nine years, the solution demonstrates outstanding reliability in continuous industrial operation.

Barbara McManus, vice president and general manager of HP PageWide, commented: ‘Working with partners like manroland Goss we are able to provide a complete solution that allows printers to move more work from inefficient, costly analogue production into a digital environment – enabling them to grow their businesses.’

Franz Kriechbaum, CEO of manroland Goss, added: ‘Together with Hewlett-Packard, we are setting new standards in digital printing. Our fully integrated solutions deliver outstanding print quality, very high production speeds, and efficient workflows – providing clear competitive advantages for our customers.’