For decades, book printing has been built around a simple principle: print more copies to lower the unit cost.

The challenge is that the commercial realities do not end when the books leave the press. Warehousing, insurance, inventory management, obsolete stock and capital tied up in storage add costs that rarely appear on a printer’s quotation. According to Novus Print, these hidden costs have become a growing concern for educational publishers, prompting the company to rethink how books are manufactured and supplied.

Following its recent commissioning, the Canon ColorStream 8000 now sits at the heart of Novus’s new automated digital book line. The goal is to solve a challenge that extends beyond printing: the cost of holding stock.

‘The concept was not solving a print problem,’ says Johnny Singh, head of books at Novus. ‘The concept was solving an economic problem.’

The project originated through ongoing discussions with educational publishers, many of whom were under pressure to maintain competitive pricing while managing increasingly complex inventory requirements.

Traditionally, achieving the lowest unit cost meant committing to large lithographic print runs. While that reduced production costs, it often resulted in thousands of books sitting in warehouses waiting to be sold or distributed. ‘The true cost is not always the print cost,’ explains Johnathan Rose, head of operations at Novus. ‘You’re paying for warehousing, insurance, stock management and the risk of write-offs. Those costs add up.’

The result is a model that ties up working capital while forcing publishers to make long-term demand forecasts in an uncertain market. Novus believes there is a better way.

Now, with the Canon ColorStream 8000 in place, Novus can produce short-run educational titles at a fixed unit cost from a single copy up to approximately 2 500 books, with turnaround times of as little as 72 hours.

Instead of printing stock, publishers can print on demand.

More than a press

‘The Canon ColorStream 8000 is only one-third of the solution,’ says Johnathan. The press forms part of a fully integrated digital book manufacturing line that combines Canon’s latest inkjet technology with Hunkeler web handling and folding equipment and a Müller Martini finishing system.

The ColorStream operates reel-to-reel before feeding into a Hunkeler plough-folding line. From there, book blocks move through a Müller Martini Vareo perfect binder and finally into a Müller Martini InfiniTrim finishing system.

Every stage is linked through barcode-driven automation and workflow software.

‘The machine automatically knows which signature belongs to which book, how it must be folded and how it must be assembled,’ explains Johnathan. ‘If there’s an issue, it gets detected and removed automatically.’ Once configured, jobs can be reproduced with minimal operator intervention, helping support the rapid turnaround model Novus is targeting.

Printed signatures, folding systems, binding equipment and finishing devices continuously exchange data, creating an automated environment where software plays as important a role as the machinery itself.

During a research trip to Europe, Novus visited manufacturers and production sites running comparable digital book production lines. The exercise formed part of an evaluation process that examined workflow design, automation, finishing and service support. ‘We travelled to Europe and saw similar equipment running, but none of the installations were integrated to this extent,’ says Johnathan.

Building a digital ecosystem

To support the project, Novus tasked business systems architect Brett Lunt with driving automation and integration, including an automated stock replenishment system that enables publishers’ inventory platforms to communicate directly with Novus. When stock levels reach predefined thresholds, orders can be generated automatically.

To make that possible, Novus developed a pricing matrix covering thousands of possible combinations of pagination and print quantities. Artwork is pre-certified and prepared

in advance, allowing orders to move directly into production.

‘When that trigger hits, the system automatically picks up the price, links to the approved artwork, populates the order and sends it to us,’ explains Johnny. ‘Three days later the books are in the warehouse.’

For publishers not yet ready for full integration, Novus has also developed lower-level automation tools that can process existing specification sheets and quotation requests automatically. The objective is not to replace people, Johnny adds, but to eliminate unnecessary touchpoints that slow down the process.

Why Canon?

The project team spent more than a year researching technologies before selecting the final equipment configuration.

Novus began by defining the business problem before evaluating finishing systems, workflow requirements and printing technologies. Paper samples were flown to manufacturers in Europe for testing, while blind quality assessments were conducted using both internal teams and customers.

‘We tested everything. Quality, uptime, service agreements, partnerships and running costs,’ says Johnathan.

While several suppliers were considered, Canon ultimately secured the project.

Johnathan adds that the decision was influenced by a combination of operating costs, service commitments and the willingness of Canon’s team to work collaboratively throughout the evaluation process. ‘The partnership was one of the biggest factors for us,’ he says. ‘They spent a lot of time helping us build models and determine whether the solution would work for our environment.’

Beyond the partnership and service agreements, the ColorStream 8000 offered Novus access to Canon’s latest generation of continuous-feed inkjet technology. Combining native 1 200dpi printheads, water-based pigment inks and speeds of up to 200m/min, the platform delivers industrial productivity while retaining the flexibility required for shorter print runs and rapid turnaround times.

Canon says the ColorStream 8000 was selected not only for its proven performance in high-volume production environments, but also for its ability to integrate seamlessly into Novus’s vision of a highly automated, on-demand book manufacturing ecosystem. The platform’s reliability, workflow automation capabilities and compatibility with finishing systems from Hunkeler and Müller Martini were key considerations. ‘The ColorStream 8000 is a market-proven solution with a long track record of delivering consistent commercial value,’ says key account manager Lee-ann Saunders. ‘Its stability, automation capabilities and ability to integrate with complementary technologies made it an ideal fit for Novus’s long-term objectives.’

According to head of B2B sales Hennie Badenhorst, the success of the project was underpinned by a collaborative partnership rather than a conventional supplier-customer relationship. ‘Novus wasn’t simply investing in equipment; it was investing in a future-focused production model,’ he says. Hennie adds that global demand for digital book production continues to be driven by shorter print runs, faster turnaround times, reduced inventory risk and growing sustainability requirements, all of which are accelerating the shift to on-demand manufacturing.

The next chapter

Internally, Novus views the installation as Phase One of a broader strategy focused on educational publishing. Phase Two, already under development, will target the trade publishing market, where the company sees similar opportunities to reduce inventory and improve supply chain responsiveness.

Additional investments are also underway, including a digital embellishment system that will bring spot UV and foiling capabilities in-house. But for now, the focus remains on proving the model.

Within weeks of commissioning the line, Novus had produced dozens of short-run textbook titles for local and regional publishers, including customers in Zimbabwe who have already returned with repeat orders.

While digital printing is often framed as a challenge to conventional lithography, Novus sees the two technologies as complementary. ‘Our digital line runs parallel with litho,’ says Johnathan. ‘It’s not replacing it. It’s addressing a different need.’

That distinction helps frame the investment. The Canon ColorStream 8000 is a significant addition to Novus’s production setup, but the bigger story lies in the system built around it, which is changing how publishers approach inventory, replenishment and the cost of producing books.

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