Goss Graphic Systems (China) is taking a promised step towards development of an intelligent printing machine model through a cooperation with a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

GGSC and Beijing Zhongke Printing have signed for a CNY100 million (A$21.5 million) strategic cooperation project which is expected to challenge the way in which books are produced.

The M-700s 'intelligent demonstration production line for book printing' - a first in China - is seen as a step towards intelligent production, integrating printing, folding, page inserting, bundling, stacking and other processes.

It is based on the highly-automated Wisprint M-700 commercial web, designed for quality short to medium run length book and commercial operations with a top speed of 40,000 cph.

As the Chinese book printing market goes through rapid changes in recent times, expectations of improved quality, faster turnaround and lower labour costs have sounded the death-knell for traditional sheetfed production.

After studying the book printing production process, leading printer Beijing Zhongke Printing - which is a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences -started to focus on the idea of replacing its sheetfed offset with web-offset, and of integrating printing, postpress and other processes.

General manager of Goss Graphic Systems (China) Peng Yong says the M-700 series is the company's highest specification option in the book printing sector: "I believe this new printing solution will help to elevate Beijing Zhongke Printing to new heights and strengthen its leading position in China in the national book printing field."

Goss Graphic Systems (China) Co has a history in press manufacturing dating back to 1939, and offers a range of products for newspaper, book, commercial and packaging print. It opened a new 38,400m2 factory in Shanghai in 2018.

At a global launch for the brand that year attended by 1000 people, Peng Yong spoke of his company's plans for innovations to drive the future of printing.