Printforce, a specialist in print-on-demand in the Netherlands, has taken a major step in automating its e-commerce packaging process for digital book production with Sitma. Recently, Sitma supplied its e-Wrap automated mailer system, enabling Printforce to pack single-copy books and magazines to size, complete with packing slips and shipping labels, including camera-based verification.
Printforce produces books and magazines using inkjet technology, starting from print runs of just one copy for book-of-one or short productions. The company prints, then folds, cuts and binds the output into fully finished books. Operations Manager Rik Thijssen describes the operation as highly automated: “On peak days we can ship up to 25,000 books. Not every day, of course, but it shows what’s possible when your processes are designed for productivity and reliability.”
According to Thijssen, the market is shifting toward more titles and smaller print runs. “Volumes per title are going down, while the number of orders and titles is increasing. That’s exactly where our strength lies.” Book availability and the ability to keep titles in stock with very short lead times is becoming increasingly important, especially when demand suddenly spikes. “If a title shows as out of stock, a large share of customers drop out. That means lost sales. With our digital book production, we can restock quickly, usually within 24 hours, and avoid losing orders.”
“Packaging is labor-intensive,” Thijssen explains. “There’s a lot of movement and manual handling of each individual item, which wastes time and increases labor and the risk of errors. That’s why we started looking for ways to improve our packaging department by automating it and making it smarter.”
The first contact with Sitma and Kentie Smart Packaging Solutions came at drupa 2024, when Printforce visited the booth of Tecnau, its long-standing provider of digital print finishing solutions. There, an e-Wrap solution for e-commerce based on kraft paper packaging was on display. “The machine was interesting, especially for right-size packaging of individual products, but our first reaction was: is this strong enough to protect books?” says Thijssen.
While magazines could be packed in kraft paper using the e-Wrap, there were doubts about books.“ A softcover or hardcover book is a high-value product. If it goes through the mailbox and lands on a corner, it can be damaged very easily, and you really don’t want that, especially for a premium or customized product.”
Arnoud Schreutelkamp from Kentie confirms that the application at Printforce was different from typical e-commerce use cases: “In e-commerce, the product is often already in a box, and you mainly add an outer wrap with the shipping label. At Printforce, the packaging itself must provide real protection throughout the entire shipping process.”
The solution was found in Monowell lightweight board, a paper material with a coated corrugated layer on one side that creates a protective buffer all around the product when folded. The e-Wrap system was adapted to process this material, ensuring adequate protection for books of different formats and weights.
The Sitma e-Wrap is designed to handle packages in a wide range of formats. The machine processes items automatically and applies custom-cut material. Multiple operations are combined in a single integrated line, including cutting, folding, wrapping and labeling.
At Printforce, variety is key: many single-item shipments, each with a different address and sometimes different documents that must be included in the package. “When a customer orders 100 copies, for us that’s actually 100 unique books,” says Thijssen. “Each book carries a data matrix code that records the product ID and allows us to track it throughout the entire workflow.”
This data matrix is the key to the packaging line. Once the code is read, the system sends the correct label PDF and, if required, the packing slip PDF to the machine, which prints and applies them. A dimension scan then determines width, length and height so the packaging is made to size. At the end of the line, a camera checks whether the correct label has been applied to the correct package. “We want to be absolutely sure that what goes in comes out correctly. You really don’t want a personalized product ending up with the wrong recipient.”
According to Francesco D’Amico, Area Sales Manager at Sitma, the Printforce installation represents an especially interesting case for the publishing market. “This was a challenging application, particularly in the book-on-demand sector, where products can change dramatically in size and weight from one to the next,” he says. “For us, it was a great opportunity to learn more about the specific needs of the publishing industry and to further refine our solution to meet this market challenges.”
He also highlights the collaborative approach taken during the project: “The customer was happy to share his knowledge and to work together with us and Kentie to improve results, providing valuable feedback and insights, especially on book types, quality levels and cover finishes. This allowed us to test and study the most suitable materials to properly protect and wrap these products.” D’Amico adds that Printforce’s forward-looking mindset and strong focus on e-commerce place them among the more advanced players in Europe in terms of automation capabilities and business model.
During start-up, some challenges had to be addressed, mainly related to product infeed due to the highly variable nature of Printforce production. “One item is large and light, another is small and heavy, so they don’t always behave the same way on the infeed conveyor,” Thijssen explains. “If a book enters the cardboard sections at an angle, it can remain misaligned and create stoppages. Kentie technicians, with support from Sitma, quickly resolved this through hardware and software adjustments.”
The camera system also required fine-tuning. “Because of the variation between products, the label was not always read correctly at the outfeed. The camera position and timing were adjusted, and the system is now running stably.”
The e-Wrap line can pack up to 900 parcels per hour, but Printforce deliberately operates at a lower speed. “We run at around 600 per hour, because we want every product to be placed neatly and packaged correctly, without risking damage,” says Thijssen.
The main advantage of the Sitma solution lies in the automated flow and the reduction of manual handling, which eliminates several touchpoints and related risk of errors. “Before the installation, we had stacks of single items waiting to be packed, which caused delays and logistical issues. Now they go straight to the e-Wrap.”
According to Thijssen, the machine has ample capacity for current volumes: “We are nowhere near the system’s limit. We can further grow our workflow and productivity without the need for additional staff or equipment.”
Harm Jan, Sales Director EMEA at Tecnau, adds: “Printforce is a long-standing partner of Tecnau, with several finishing systems installed for book production. It has been very interesting to see how the workflow now extends seamlessly from print and finishing into the final packaging stage. E-commerce is a rapidly growing market, and customers increasingly expect highly variable products to be delivered quickly. This is exactly where Sitma’s solutions help avoid bottlenecks and ensure a high-quality, personalized product reaches the end customer.”