Duplo debuted two new UltraBind machines at the Ipex expo (Excel-London, 24-29 March 2014). The UltraBind 2000 PUR and the UltraBind 6000 Duo both feature a patented orbital PUR system. The machines are built by an unnamed European manufacturer, but designed by Duplo.
The binders will join Duplo’s OEM UltraCut slitter-cutter-creasers and the Ultra coaters, creating the ‘Ultra by Duplo’ range. ‘The Ultra brand is really our mechanism of responding quickly to what the market needs. Of course our Duplo own brand products are our bread and butter and we’re dedicated to developing best-in-class technology through extensive R&D, but with the Ultra products we can combine Duplo design and engineering quality but have them manufactured by partners so that we improve their speed to market,’ said Duplo UK managing director Peter Jolly.
According to Jolly, the Ultra products complement Duplo’s existing range of binders, which includes its flagship DPB-500 DuBinder. To launch the UltraBinds, Duplo has taken an additional 24 sqm stand at Ipex, where it demonstrated the two machines. In addition it also had a second UltraBind 2000 on its main 121sqm stand nearby.
The UltraBind 2000 is a manual set-up single-clamp perfect binder offering 290 cycles per hour (cph). It can bind products from 1-40mm thick in formats from 90 x 80mm up to 340mm by ‘any manageable height’. It features a standard 20-minute start-up time and only requires a five-minute daily clean-up.
The UltraBind 6000, which was shown as a technology demonstration at Ipex, features a fully automatic set-up, including auto book-size measurement and automatic cover feed, and at 600cph is more than twice as fast as its entry-level sibling. The single-clamp 6000 can also handle larger formats, from 1-50mm thick and 420x460mm, and also switch between hotmelt and PUR glue.
The UltraBind 2000 is available for order at Ipex, with shipping to begin almost immediately after the show. Pricing is yet to be finalised, but Jolly said it would be ‘extremely competitively priced.’
‘I think Ipex is coming at the perfect time, with the growth in the UK economy and the general sense of optimism in the print industry, the feedback we’re getting from customers is that Ipex only comes around every four years and they’re looking forward to seeing some of the innovations on show, we think the UltraBinds will certainly fall into that category,’ said Jolly.
