Children's books: efficient and competitive production in Europe

The market for early childhood books with cardboard pages is a particular and demanding one, requiring specialised technological solutions. A look at this sector - apparently niche but significant in terms of numbers - tells us of substantial expansion: the growth rate in recent years is 5.6% (source Technavio CAGR 2022-2027), with an increase in production value compared to 2019 of $755.13 million (source Technavio). We asked Roberto Zechini, CEO of the company Zechini in Vimodrone (Milan) - a manufacturer of automated solutions for producing children's books with cardboard pages - how and why it is possible to produce in Europe at competitive prices right now.

"With our Red Arrow line solutions, we have contributed significantly to the return of production in Europe," says Zechini. "The line was also produced and developed with the contribution of our customers, which is why I would like to give the floor to three companies operating in the sector: Livonia Print based in Latvia, PE Unisoft based in Ukraine, and Interdruk based in Poland."

"We cooperate with many publishing houses around the world, and in recent years the demand for children's books has proliferated," explains Trond Erik Isaksen, CEO of Livonia Print. "The production of board-on-board books has always been concentrated in Asia, particularly China. The variety of combinations within the book, from windows to puzzles, from scrolling to ringing pages, has always caused difficulties in automating production, with the need for manual intervention. Hoping to fight Chinese labour in terms of efficiency - but above all cost - is impossible: automation is the only way to beat it. Zechini proposed fully automatic machines to us, and by developing some tricks together, we obtained flexible yet fast solutions that allowed us to beat the Asian competition".

The machines of the Red Arrow line are built according to the Industry 4.0 production model, allowing a fully automated workflow. “What is happening,” Isanksen continues, “is a return of production in Europe. The market is growing, and our group, as a keen observer, is aware of this; but growth or not, for us, what is important is that the productions are done locally."

"Our company, our employees, our suppliers and our customers are going through terrible times because of the conflict with Russia," says Oleksandr Popovych, Director of Ukrainian PE Unisoft, "but we managed to react very quickly by moving our factories to an area far away from the conflict and start production again. For us, too, the priority was to differentiate ourselves from Asian competitors not only on price but, above all, on service. This is why we have focused on four key factors: the proximity to the customer - generally the publishing houses - which allows us to offer a quick and tailor-made service; the ability to respond to the demand for low but frequent print runs, which distinguishes us from Asian suppliers interested in very high minimum quantities; the delivery time, less than the 45 days that are often necessary for Asian productions just because of transport; and finally, quality control: the customer is always welcome in our company and can control and intervene in all the processing stages.”

Three of these factors are possible thanks to Zechini's Red Arrow line, which, continues Popovych, "allow us to produce book blocks even in small runs thanks to the swift format changes, have fast delivery times even in the production of complex books, and guarantee excellent quality of the finished product thanks to the control devices installed on the machine".

The Polish company Interdruk has also been able to open up to the children's book market thanks to Zechini's solutions: "Our company has always looked with interest at expanding into the world of children's books, but from a distance because," says Przemyslav Pelka, Interdruk's Export Director, "even though our printing and die-cutting technologies are of the latest generation, we have concentrated on diaries and puzzles. The labour to make the book block with windows, puzzles and other effects typical of cardboard books was too expensive. The turning point came with the investment in Zechini solutions, which allowed us to automate production and achieve lower costs than our Asian competitors. We knew we were making the right choice but did not expect to expand this business so quickly. In just one year, we doubled our production capacity for books with cardboard pages to cope with the boom in demand."

"We are delighted to have satisfied many customers," Zechini concludes, "proving that producing children's books in Europe is not only possible but also cost-effective and with a large margin for growth.

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Zechini's automated solution for producing children's books with cardboard pages consists of two units: Red Arrow 2 to make the book block and Bombardier 2 to embed it. In the last four years, ten Red Arrow 2 and six Bombardier 2 have been installed in Europe.

RED ARROW 2
This is a modular automatic line for producing book blocks for children's books with cardboard pages featuring interactive elements such as windows, puzzles, moving figures etc. The mechanical speed of the machine is 400 pages/minute. The line consists of signature feeders (up to 12), a folding station with a calender, a reinforcing board feeder to increase page thickness or to insert interactive moving elements, a programmable selective glueing station, and a book block assembly station with pressing. The modular system of Red Arrow 2 allows the formation of a customised line to produce different types of board books. Additional units, such as sign feeders (up to 12), a second folding unit, special units on demand, etc. can also be added at a later stage. The line can be networked with Zechini headquarters for remote control or software updates.

BOMBARDIER 2
This is an automatic case packer that joins book blocks with cardboard pages with all types of covers, such as rigid covers, cardboard covers, padded covers and die-cut covers.  The special feature of the machine is that the glue is applied to the cover and not to the endpapers, as is the case with conventional machines. This detail, together with the presence of a programmable glueing unit, allows a wide range of interactive children's books to be produced. The speed of the machine is 2400 books/hour. For more details: info@zechini.com