Totem Expands Monochrome Book Production with Installation of Two SCREEN Truepress JET 520HD Mono Presses
Totem has expanded its on-demand digital book printing capabilities by installing two SCREEN Truepress JET 520HD Mono presses, boosting capacity, efficiency, and flexibility as the company continues its rapid growth in European short-run publishing printing.
Inowrocław, Poland – Totem, a fast-growing Polish digital book printing specialist, has strengthened its production capabilities with the installation of two new SCREEN Truepress JET 520HD Mono presses, supporting the company’s ongoing expansion with high-quality monochrome book manufacturing.
Based in a town in central Poland, Totem has grown into one of the country’s most successful book printing businesses, employing more than 150 people and a rapidly expanding market share. What sets the company apart is how it operates a fully digital, end-to-end on-demand book production workflow, supplying publishers across Europe with short-run, high-quality titles delivered on tight schedules.
Michał Stasiak, Totem’s Research and Development Manager, explains the strategic importance of this latest investment after previously installing a colour Truepress JET 520HD+, “We ultimately chose two new Truepress JET 520HD Mono presses to increase our monochrome book production capacity. Dedicated monochrome systems have enabled us to specialise our different production lines based on the required products, accelerating our throughput and improving our overall digital book printing efficiency.”
The Need for Digital Inkjet in the Polish Publishing Sector
Currently, around 60–70 percent of Totem’s book output is exported to customers across Europe, with the remainder serving domestic Polish publishers. As book buying habits evolve, Totem’s clients are increasingly avoiding large-volume orders, preferring smaller, more frequent print-on-demand batches that reduce storage costs and improve supply-chain flexibility.
“Digital printing gives us the ability to train new people quickly and expand our team more easily,” notes Michał. “Anyone can learn digital press operation relatively quickly, and across our various SCREEN lines it’s even easier with a single consistent user-interface. It gives us full flexibility to move operators between different production lines or applications whenever needed based on our current printing orders.”
SCREEN’s digital inkjet also enables Totem to increase their overall throughput with fewer labour requirements, as well. Thanks to SCREEN’s intuitive operating environment, a single operator can manage two presses simultaneously, an important benefit in a market where skilled offset press operators are becoming harder to source.
The Truepress JET 520HD Mono for Book Printing
Totem was already running SCREEN colour inkjet technology before deciding to reinvest in two additional monochrome presses. Michał explains, “The market for affordable books is expanding while delivery expectations are becoming shorter. We needed to increase our speed while maintaining the same quality. With the two Truepress JET 520HD Monos, if a job requires only black-and-white printing, we can dedicate the right machine to them and while our colour Truepress JET 520HD+ remains free for full-colour work.”
The Truepress JET 520HD Mono presses deliver the precision and consistency required for text-heavy novels, as well as titles with photographs and illustrations, without compromising speed. The integration of SCREEN’s JetInspection real-time print monitoring ensures that nozzle blockages are identified instantly and uses Intelligent Nozzle Control (INC) to utilise adjacent nozzles compensate for the issue automatically, preventing waste and avoiding reprints. “There is no need to stop the press if a defect is detected and the operator can make corrections while the press continues running,” says Michał.
In addition to these unique SCREEN inkjet innovations, Totem’s team has found the Truepress JET 520HD Mono’s to be an overall reliable and productive system with features like larger ink tanks for longer uninterrupted production runs, speeds as high as 150m/min while maintaining crisp text, and being easily integrated with a wide variety of book finishing equipment.
“The new monochrome printing lines have already been a success for our customers,” Michał adds. “They didn’t notice any changes after we switched to the new equipment, except that now we can handle more orders, faster.”
Growth Built on Continuous Innovation
Totem’s team places a strong emphasis on collaboration. “We want to be open with our customers and help turn their ideas into reality,” says Michał. “Demand for customisation is increasing, and SCREEN’s digital technology allows us to produce either a single personalised book or thousands of copies of the same text profitably.”
This collaborative approach extends to Totem’s relationship with SCREEN. “From service to development, SCREEN listens to our feedback and helps us build new solutions,” he explains. “With the latest presses, operators can carry out more maintenance themselves reducing downtimes and service visits, something I know we and their other partners have requested”
Looking ahead, Totem sees strong potential for expansion into new applications and is already using SCREEN Truepress JET 520HD Mono in its “green book” range. This offering responds to the needs of demanding customers for whom ecology matters in every aspect of life. Totem can then delivers books that are more environmentally friendly, produced from raw materials, with minimal consumption of energy and water with lowered CO₂ emissions.
“We feel confident working with SCREEN as we continue to develop new capabilities,” concludes Michał. “Together, we are ready to explore new markets, new applications, and the next stage of Totem’s growth.”
