Worldcolor, Kodak launch FastBook digital printing system

Worldcolor has partnered with Kodak and Muller Martini to create the FastBook Digital printing system for short-run books. The platform will be eventually used to produce versioned and variable magazines, catalogs and high-end direct mail.

The system, announced May 17, integrates and automates book prepress, digital printing and finishing in line, according to a statement from Worldcolor.

The platform uses Kodak's Prosper 5000XL Press and Muller Martini's SigmaLine finishing line. Connex, Muller Martini's end-to-end workflow system, will manage the digital system.

“The first application is to digitize book publishing, however the attributes of the technology lend themselves to also digitize and transform direct mail, then catalogs, then magazines, then high-end advertising collateral and then finally packaging,” said Kevin Joyce, worldwide VP of sales and marketing for digital printing solutions at Kodak.

Worldcolor's first FastBook Digital installation, located at its Dubuque, IA facility, will be operational in this year's fourth quarter, according to a Worldcolor statement.

The companies created the platform in response to customer demand for a variable production solution that delivers smaller quantities and quicker turns, according to a statement from Kodak.

A Worldcolor representative could not be immediately reached for comment.