This includes the perfect binding machines from Wohlenberg and paper cutting and handling machines from Baumann encompassing a "number of Wohlenberg patented features," according to Michael Euler, managing director of Wohlenberg.

Team members from Welbound will be available throughout Drupa at the booths of principal companies Wohlenberg (Hall 6 / A 43 and A59) and GUK  (Hall 13 / A 15).

Euler added: "We held multi level discussions with Welbound during the past few months. We appreciate the company for its in-depth understanding of the market; it has also been successful in building cost effective bookbinding machines and supporting the customers with after-sales."

The association with Welbound will go beyond the general sales agreements. Wohlenberg is looking at technology partnerships to manufacture machines and accessories in India. "The first such project will be Lucro 5000 - an in-line perfect binding system," added Euler.

Christian Baumann, the president of Baumann group, who was in India to be a part of the first NBPC, mirrored these views.

Euler mentioned that both China and India were on their radar while considering an alternate destination for manufacturing. The focus will also be brining in the best practices from Wohlenberg which are followed on the shopfloors world-over. "From my few visits to India, in the past I have realised that a gap exists and we may have to conduct training sessions for operators and maintenance engineers at the Welbound facility in
Thiruvananthapuram.

K Sanjeev and P Sajith of Welbound felt that with the partnership "the task at hand is not small and will involve bringing in best practices, across all the links of logistics and workflow. The savings - in terms of less energy, low wastage and manpower can be tremendous. This partnership with Wohlenberg can go a long way in providing efficient, at the same time, cost effective solutions for the Indian book print industry".

Earlier, Baumann Cutting Systems, another subsidiary of the Baumann group, which manufactures Wohlenberg cutting machines and paper handling systems, had appointed Welbound as their distributers for SAARC countries. Volkmar Assman, the managing director of Baumann said: "The modern day cutting systems are much beyond the ubiquitous guillotines. They need to be employed efficiently in order to derive the maximum return on investment. This means training the operator on features of the machine, workflow and best practices."