André Kern’s brother Holger Kern joins the company.
In March, certification according to PSO – Process Standard Offset Printing (ISO 12647) is successfully achieved for the first time. This ensures consistently high colour reproduction quality across the entire offset production chain, from data creation and processing through plate imaging to the printing process itself. Compliance with this standard is audited externally every two years.
The strong cooperation with Kodak also had a positive impact on the digital printing department. The former OCÉ CPS 900 was replaced in 2011 by a Kodak NexPress SX 3300 production digital printing system. The enhanced feeder system for formats up to 66 × 35 cm, first presented in February at the Hunkeler Innovationdays in Lucerne, is used at Kern for the first time worldwide in a field test. Improved print quality with HD toner, which is now almost indistinguishable from conventional offset printing, as well as special transparent toners for spot varnish or high-gloss effects, significantly expand the product range in the print-on-demand segment.
Black-and-white digital printing was also renewed in the summer. The OCÉ VP 6250 is replaced by a Xerox Nuvera 288 EA.
A new extension houses a perfect binding department equipped with a Horizon Book Binder BQ-470, including a collating machine and trimmer. The system is complemented by a Horizon SPF/FC-200A booklet-making system. This enables highly flexible, waste-free book and brochure production from a run length of one copy. The upper floor of the extension is completed and inaugurated in a second construction phase in September. In addition to management offices, an additional seminar and conference room is also created.