The Red Arrow is a fully automatic, modular system which gathers printed cardboard sheets, folds them into 4-page signatures, glues these over the entire surface and mounts them on top of one another. The end result is a book block that can be opened completely flat. One operator is sufficient to feed boards, oversee production and unload finished products. A 15” touch screen enables easy programming and control of all the functions. The gathering and feeding unit allows non-stop operation. It consists of trays, each containing one type of sheet. It is possible to combine sheets of different thickness and made of different materials. The extraction is performed with suckers.

In the folding unit thin cardboard is creased while thicker cardboard is kiss-cut. Subsequently the sheet is closed at the fold. The folding unit can handle even sheets with die cut windows. The gluing unit works with cold (vinyl) glue which is kept in a stainless tank. The glue can be applied either with gluing pens or contact-free nozzles. Control software allows the glue to be applied only in certain areas (in case of windows). In case of a jam or a misfeed the glue is not applied. The system guarantees high gluing precision and keeps the material flat. No particular maintenance is required – the machine can remain idle for a week without being cleaned.

After having been glued, the board sheet is mounted in perfect register onto the previous sheet of the book and pressed lightly to ensure perfect adherence. In case of soft cover book production finished bookblocks are forwarded to a casing-in unit followed by a press. In case of hard cover production book blocks first go through a three-knife trimmer.

The Silver Arrow employs the same technical solutions as the Red Arrow but has a lower speed, having been developed for short run production. It is the ideal solution for digital printers wishing to produce full colour books that must open perfectly flat due to photos being laid out over two pages, such as reference catalogues of luxury goods, exhibition catalogues, etc.
Both the Red Arrow and Silver Arrow can handle a wide range of sizes and have an easy and rapid size change.