Standard FinishLine Fall 2017

Fall 2017

STANDARD FINISHING SYSTEMS

New Systems Unveiled Horizon and Hunkeler raise the bar with North American debuts in feeding and finishing

Print 17 Review

Customer Profiles

Alliance and Printers 3 discover growth potential with high-speed automated solutions

Excellent booth traffic, live presentations, and new products drive interest and discussion

www.standardfinishing.com

Welcome I Contents

Customer Snapshot

The new Standard Horizon equipment has allowed Printers 3 to meet the fast turnaround needs of their clients with next day delivery. The SPF-200A Bookletmaker (near right) features speeds up to 4,500 booklets/hour, while the BQ-270V Perfect Binder (far right) offers full automation and repeat job settings. Bindery operators at Printers 3 appreciate the quick setup and easy operation provided by both machines.

Welcome

Contents

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Printers 3 Speeds Time to Market with On-Site Finishing. Long Island, NY printer produces a wide range of books and manuals Bringing saddlestitching and perfect binding in-house to deliver fast turnaround.

Ready for 2018 and Beyond…

Customer Snapshot

At the recent Print show in Chicago, Standard debuted more new products than ever before – all of which are now up and running at our National Demonstration and Training Center in Andover, MA. Even more exciting is that some of this equipment has already been installed with our customers. We look forward to sharing firsthand success stories in 2018. Inside this issue, we highlight new saddlestitching, folding, and perfect binding solutions from Horizon, along with Hunkeler’s much anticipated POPP8 generation, which reaches new heights of speed, automation and flexibility. Scan the interactive QR code on page 7 to see one of our live presentations from the show floor! As the print industry continues to evolve, Standard solutions are allowing our customers to expand their capabilities and take advantage of new opportunities, instead of turning business away. The stories we present in this issue are perfect examples. Based in Greenville, NC, AccuLink was able to take on a game-changing client with the acquisition of the Horizon SmartStacker to profitably produce hundreds of thousands of personalized cards per day. As a result of the new work and additional volume, they more than doubled the size of their workforce. Houston-based Alliance is serving a new niche with their Roll-

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Printers 3 brings saddlestitching and perfect binding in-house to meet the fast turnaround needs of their clients

Customer Profile

4-5 Standard Horizon SmartStacker facilitates growth opportunities at AccuLink, taking their personalized card business to the next level

saddlestitching and perfect binding in- house to meet the fast turnaround needs of our clients.” Viscuso viewed equipment at Graph Expo in Chicago and narrowed his search to two vendors. “I ultimately decided to invest in Standard Horizon equipment,” he noted. “The equipment

setup with no cycle lag time for books of different thicknesses. The equipment was installed by Standard Horizon dealer Northern Machine Works. “Not only did we eliminate the elapsed time required to send binding out,” Viscuso said, “but we now have the ability to start binding as soon as one book is printed. It has made a huge difference in our turnaround time. Plus, we can store settings for repeat jobs, which basically reduces setup time to almost nothing.” Viscuso cited a recent job for an author who needed next day delivery of 300 copies of his book for a conference. “We were able to turn that around, no problem,” he said. Printers 3 also produces perfect bound common core math books for several school districts, as well as journals, both perfect bound and saddlestitched. “We also do a lot of event- related materials, typically perfect bound books that include ads. It’s a blessing to have perfect binding on-site to be able to handle all of these requirements in a timely manner.” Viscuso also described work for a health care client in the 4th quarter that has them running seven days a week. “These are perfect bound books and some saddlestitched materials. There is no physical way on earth we could get this job done without having the Standard Horizon equipment in-house.”

Anthony Viscuso explained that his father founded Printers 3 as a small offset commercial printer in 1985. He said, “It wasn’t too long before I saw things beginning to change and acquired our first digital press, a Xerox DocuTech, in the early 1990s.” Anthony bought his father out in 2006 and completed the analog-to-

Showtime

6-7 Print 17 in Chicago provides perfect platform to unveil Standard’s new finishing solutions, including advanced saddlestitching solutions from Horizon and the next generation of Hunkeler paper handling systems

digital transformation, with only two small offset presses remaining. “Today, we’re a general commercial printer, producing a wide range of applications with a primary focus on books and manuals for various businesses, and authors who are interested in self- publishing,” Viscuso added.

basically sold itself, but I also appreciated the knowledge and effort of the Standard team that helped me make the best choice for my business.” Viscuso initially chose to acquire the Horizon SPF-200A Bookletmaker with HOF-400 Sheet Feeder. This fully

Customer Snapshot

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Hunkeler/Horizon Roll-to-Booklet solution at Alliance streamlines production while reducing labor costs

to-Booklet solution and near-line digital press, producing manuals at levels that could not realistically be achieved with their traditional equipment. Meanwhile, Printers 3 on Long Island brought their saddlestitching and perfect binding work in-house with the help of Standard Horizon systems and now provides next day delivery for their bound products. Whatever your finishing challenge, we welcome the chance to help you solve it with the right mix of Horizon and Hunkeler solutions. Please continue to include us in your feeding and finishing discussions and enjoy this issue! .

Anthony Viscuso, President

automated combination stitcher/folder and face trimmer has production speeds of up to 4,500 booklets per hour and features fast setup. “This worked so well for us,” Viscuso reported, “that two months later we added a Horizon BQ- 270V Perfect Binder. Now we are able to provide next-day delivery – or even same day in some cases – on many of our bound products.” This single-clamp binder also features fully automated operation for binding of variable thickness books at up to 500 books per hour. It includes a sensor-activated digital caliper system which consistently measures book block thickness and automatically transfers this data to the binder for quick, automated

Printers 3, located on Long Island, had an older saddlestitcher in place, but it was complicated and took a long time to manually set up, typically as much as 30 minutes. “Plus,” he said, “I only had one operator who knew the machine, so it was problematic.” As a result, Printers 3 was outsourcing most of its bindery work. “This was challenging for us,” Viscuso said, “since it typically added at least two days to the process. And although it didn’t happen often, if there was a problem, for example with the size of the spine, the times could be longer. We needed to bring both

On the Cover AccuLink, Greenville, NC

(Left to Right) Tom O’Brien, Operations Manager Wayne Renn, VP of Manufacturing

Doug Reny Vice President of Operations David Reny Executive Vice President

Publisher: Standard Finishing Systems

Steven Reny President

10 Connector Road Andover, MA 01810 Tel. 978-470-1920

Follow Us Online! www.standardfinishing.com/followus

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Customer Profile I

Up to 4,500 B2 Sheets/Hour!

Increasing Productivity!

AccuLink’s new Horizon SmartStacker has replaced two 45” cutters that required four operators, and currently runs at only 25% capacity, leaving plenty of room for growth. At right, Bindery Manager Ken Cortright monitors the system.

At left, Bindery Operator Melissa Pauley runs the Standard Horizon CRF-362 which has allowed AccuLink to bring in more creasing and folding work, while Mike Bomar, Production Manager, operates the company’s Standard Horizon AFC Folder.

Operating in an 80,000 square foot facility in Greenville, NC Automation Drives Bottleneck Out of Finishing for AccuLink.

time partner, Standard Finishing, for a solution. I’ve been a Standard fan since I bought my first piece of equipment from them 30 years ago. If Standard makes a solution that meets my needs, I’m not going anywhere else.” AccuLink chose to acquire a Standard Horizon SmartStacker to address its finishing bottleneck for business cards, invitations and other types of cut cards. “The new addition has completely streamlined this part of our business,” O’Brien added. “We use HP’s Direct-to-Finish solution to place a barcode on the cover sheet for each job to automatically set up the SmartStacker, and it works like a dream.” Now AccuLink moves skids of work from its digital printers to the SmartStacker. The operator basically pushes a button and walks away. “The SmartStacker reads the barcodes and automatically sets itself up from job to job,” O’Brien noted. “In

AccuLink depends on other Standard Horizon equipment in its shop as well. A CRF-362 Creaser/Folder has been in place for about two years following installation of an HP Indigo 10000, which brought more creasing/folding work to the shop. “We couldn’t turn that work around quickly enough on our previous equipment,” O’Brien said. “We had to crease first and fold second, and that simply took too much time in the fast-turn, short-run world we operate in.” O’Brien reported that, like the SmartStacker, the CRF-362 is a “set it and forget it” device that his Bindery Manager Ken Cortright loves working with. The company also uses an RD-4055 Rotary Die Cutter, which can die-cut, crease, perforate, slit, hole punch, and round corner in one process for digital and offset printed sheets. “This one requires an operator because it puts out work so fast,” O’Brien explained. “Someone has to be present on the delivery end to keep up with the output. It’s a real workhorse.”

Embracing the fast-paced world of communications with a blend of creativity, technology, manufacturing, and fulfillment.

in. Serving the trade has been an excellent business for us, and we have never looked back.” The opportunity presented by this new customer, however, wasn’t your ordinary trade print deal. “We could foresee this adding huge volumes to our business,” O’Brien commented,

When a new opportunity walked in the door a little more than a year ago, AccuLink was eager to take on the business, but knew their growth path would have to be carefully managed. “We were one of several companies recommended by our Dscoop colleagues when a large provider of personalized printed products was seeking an East Coast manufacturing

In the bindery at AccuLink, Alex Cortright works with the Standard Horizon SmartStacker.

Tom O’Brien, Operations Manager, and Wayne Renn, VP of Manufacturing, show B2-format samples, which are moved directly to the SmartStacker.

Bindery Specialist Liz Smith uses the Standard Horizon RD-4055 Die Cutter to produce business cards and other die-cut materials at lightning speed.

“and we knew we needed to review our entire operation to ensure we could handle the work.”

partner,” said Tom O’Brien, the company’s Operations Manager. “The scenario they presented, and the volumes they predicted, were scary, but my brother Paul, our IT guru, and I were up for the challenge.” Since 1980, AccuLink has embraced the fast-paced world of communications with a blend of creativity, technology, manufacturing, and fulfillment. The company operates an 80,000 square foot facility on a 12-acre campus in Greenville, NC, and has clients in all 50 states, as well as internationally. AccuLink produces high value-added solutions for marketing campaigns, fundraising programs, employee benefit initiatives, self-publications, and packaging challenges, primarily serving the trade. “After a number of years operating a retail copy shop,” O’Brien explained, “we kind of backed into trade work when a major East Coast supplier to the trade failed and we were able to step

addition to the 150,000 to 200,000 cards per day we produce for the provider of personalized printed products, we are also serving the card needs of several other large players. There is no way we could have profitably supported this business without this fabulous piece of equipment.” O’Brien pointed out that not only has the SmartStacker replaced the two 45” cutters that required four operators, it is currently running at about 25% capacity, leaving plenty of room for growth.

Perfect bound books at AccuLink are produced using Standard Horizon BQ-160 and BQ-270 Perfect Binders that work in conjunction with an HT-30 Three-Side Trimmer. A Standard Horizon bookletmaker provides fast, accurate production of booklets, and a Standard Horizon folder rounds out the finishing operation.

The first step was to engineer a workflow that could take the job stream sent by the customer and others, and automate it to the fullest extent possible. “Paul did a great job of writing this workflow in less than a month,” O’Brien reported. “We catch files of all kinds for all types of different products as they are coming in 24/7. The workflow automatically sorts out applications, from business cards and invitations to dye sublimation jobs, aggregates like products, and imposes jobs according to the target press and substrate.” With this configuration, AccuLink had no problem keeping up with the printing, QC, pick-and-pack and fulfillment, but finishing was still a bottleneck. ”We had four people working 10 to 15 hours per day operating two 45” cutters and we couldn’t keep up,” said O’Brien. “That’s when we turned to our long-

“Because we are a trade shop,” O’Brien said, “we need to have everything in-house so we can quickly turn jobs around without the associated delays when work has to be outsourced for finishing. Our

“I’ve been a Standard fan for 30 years. If Standard makes a solution that meets my needs, I’m not going anywhere else.”

Prior to acquiring the large volume of personalized work, AccuLink employed 50 people. “We now have 115 employees,

and during peak season last year (Black Friday through Christmas Eve), we added 70 additional temporary workers to handle the volume. 2017 looks like it will be even busier, and we expect to end the year at about $15 million in annual revenue.”

customers just want to send the work, and have us drop ship it back or white label direct to their customer, with no fuss or muss. Standard Horizon is a key partner that helps us get this done!”

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Show News

An Evening at Buddy Guy’s!

Hunkeler Milestone Celebrated!

Continuing the annual tradition, Standard hosted customers, partners, and dealers for dinner, live music, and dancing at Buddy Guy’s Legends in downtown Chicago. The event saw a great turn- out, and the crowd was even treated to a performance by the legendary Buddy Guy himself!

2017 marks 20 years of partnership between Standard and manufacturer Hunkeler AG of Switzerland. In honor of the occasion, brothers Michel and Stefan Hunkeler presented Standard with a traditional Swiss instrument – the alphorn – on stage at the party.

booklets per hour, and can produce a wider range of applications. The Standard Horizon FoldLiner takes an innovative BIG at PRINT! BIG

From September 10-14 in Chicago, PRINT attendees crowded the Standard booth for equipment demonstrations, a series of live presentations on several new systems, and a compre- hensive range of finished products being produced at the show. Standard and partners Horizon and Hunkeler packed the booth with equipment, with highlights including the new Horizon BQ-480 Perfect Binder, North American debuts in folding and saddlestitching, and Hunkeler’s anticipated POPP8 finishing line. Standard presented over 35 print applications in one of the largest booths at the show. 8,800 square feet of exhibit space Standard Goes

hybrid approach, combining saddle- stitching and folding to go from digital or

offset press sheet to saddlestitched booklet in one efficient system.

Hunkeler's POPP8 generation, a 2017 MUST SEE ‘EMS Award winner, also premiered in North America at PRINT in Roll-to-Stack and Roll-to-Fold configurations.

A popular attraction at PRINT, the new Standard Horizon BQ-480 was presented as a

standalone system and also as part of the Smart Binding System, converting pre-printed rolls into finished books in a continuous, fully automated, touch-free process. The latest introduction in Horizon’s acclaimed line of perfect binders, the BQ-480 sets new standards in automation and efficiency, reaching speeds of 800 books per

hour for book of one production, at book thicknesses from 0.04” (1 mm) to 2.56” (65 mm). Two new saddlestitching solutions made their North American debuts at PRINT 17. The Standard Horizon StitchLiner Mark III features expanded booklet size and increased productivity up to 6,000

POPP8 builds off of the successes of the POPP6 line, featuring even greater automation, a wider range of formats and paper weights, and increased speeds and web width. POPP8 has been designed with full color inkjet applications in mind, and supports stocks from 27 lb text to 12 point card stock. Also shown was the all new Hunkeler Workflow Manager, a modular platform for workflow management, job setup, production statistics, data interfacing, and service tools. Beyond booth 1231, Standard was pleased to collaborate with a range of partners across the show. Standard Hunkeler Roll-to-Roll and Roll-to-Stack lines were shown in-line in the Ricoh and Screen booths, respectively. PRINT 17 also marked the debut of a new Horizon bookletmaking solution for integration in-line with the HP Indigo 7X00-series presses, shown in the HP booth.

Al Hillmann, President and Owner of Standard Dynamics, Inc., was recently named PIM’s Minnesota Graphic Arts Leader of the Year. Standard Sales Manager Dan McDonough (R) stands with Hillmann (L) at PIM’s annual Star of Excellence Awards Banquet where Hillmann was honored for his many years of service and dedication to the industry. Standard is pleased to recognize the efforts of our valued dealer partner who has been providing our best-in-class finishing solutions since 1983. MN Dealer Receives Honor

Graph Expo 2018 is scheduled to be held in Chicago from September 30th to October 3rd, 2018.

The StitchLiner Mark III can produce a wider range of applications, including landscape-size booklets, 12” by 12” calendars, and pocket booklets as small as 4.5” by 3.5”, at speeds of up to 6,000 booklets per hour!

T

Scan the QR code to watch one of Standard’s live presentations at PRINT 17!

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Customer Snapshot

Lead Operator Paul Releford (left) operates the Standard Horizon StitchLiner 6000 Digital high-speed saddlestitcher integrated with Standard Hunkeler’s UW6 Unwinder and CS6 Rotary Cutter, while Anna Benitez and Teresa Reyes (right) prepare finished booklets for shipping.

Customer Focus Drives Investment Strategy for Alliance. Houston, TX printer prides itself on listening to its customers and finding solutions

Hunkeler/Horizon Roll-to-Booklet Solution serves new niche.

Ultimately, Birmingham worked with local Standard Horizon dealer LSS Digital to install and support an off-line Roll-to- Booklet solution. The system consists of the Standard Horizon StitchLiner 6000 Digital high-speed saddlestitcher integrated with Standard Hunkeler’s UW6 Unwinder and CS6 Rotary Cutter for production of up to 6,000 high- quality booklets per hour. This line was installed alongside the Canon ColorStream 3700 inkjet press, which runs with a Hunkeler Roll-to-Roll solution and provides the printed rolls for processing into booklets. “This customer drives a lot of volume,” Birmingham explained. “We could have used our traditional presses and finishing to produce this application, but we would have needed a significantly higher equipment investment to get up to speed, and a lot more people. It would have taken six to eight people and a 24/7 operation to produce the volume traditionally. With our digital configuration, we are able to meet the demand in an eight-hour shift with one operator and a helper!”

and efficiency, makes color cost- effective.”

“Many of us in the printing industry spend too much time talking to our customers about our equipment,” said Jeff Birmingham, President of Houston- based Alliance, a firm that tags itself as Print Evolved. “You don’t ask a restaurant what kind of stove they use.”

Birmingham was also impressed with the Standard Finishing customer demonstra- tion center in Andover, MA, the company’s range of offerings, and the support he was convinced he would receive with Standard as a partner. “The company is large enough to know what they are doing, but it has a family atmos- phere and you know they are going to take care of you. “The training was amazing as well,” he enthused. “They came on-site for the training, and it was head and shoulders above any other training I have ever been involved with. Not only did they make sure our operators could operate the equipment under normal conditions, but they actually caused major failures and had the operators work through how to correct them.” That being said, Birmingham has been very impressed with the reliability of his Roll-to-Booklet solution. “With the inkjet

Birmingham’s approach is to listen to customer requirements and find the most effective way to deliver against those requirements.

Jeff Birmingham, President

“We are historically a commercial printer,” Birmingham continued. “But a customer wanted us to help them with labels and we invested in flexo, rapidly evolving that to digital label presses. When an air conditioning manufacturer asked us to help with their instruction, warranty and parts booklets, we looked around for the most efficient way to produce those booklets. You need to find your niches based on customer demand, and perform in those niches well and profitably. You can’t be everything to everyone anymore.” Birmingham looked at three different vendors of production inkjet presses as he sought a booklet solution. “The interesting thing,” he said, “was that all three recommended that we work with Standard Finishing, Horizon and Hunkeler for our finishing needs. That made the decision much easier than which inkjet press to choose! It gave me a huge boost of confidence.”

press, basically the only moving part is the paper,” he said. “But with bookletmaking, you have stuff moving at every turning point;

Three different print manufacturers recommended we work with Standard.

As Birmingham has done with

other investments in the business, he

it’s complex. This equipment just keeps churning out high quality booklets. It’s a very solid machine, and I have a local representative that can service it if needed. Very seldom do you get to say, ‘hey, I made the right decision, unequivocally.’ This is one of those times.”

views the air conditioning company as an anchor that justifies the investment, and he is now looking to add additional volume from other customers. “While the anchor work is monochrome, we see opportunities with other clients to produce digitally printed booklets, adding color as appropriate. This configuration, because of its cost model

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